Centre is set for £60m expansion

james73 · Centre is set for £60m expansion

Centre is set for £60m expansion (Evening Times)

A shopping centre in Newton Mearns is set to build a £60million extension.

A planning application has been lodged with East Renfrewshire Council to
increase the size of The Avenue by more than half.

The centre, which opened in the early 1970s, currently has 44 stores
including Marks & Spencer, Asda and Next.

If the expansion plan gets the go-ahead it will result in an extra 146,000sq
ft to accommodate 12 new stores, together with a four-storey car park
and 24 flats.

A council spokesman said if the plans got the go-ahead, the current M&S
would be bulldozed to make way for the new stores, while the car park
would be built on the site of the former Mearns primary.

That has angered campaigners, including Mearns' residents' association
secretary George Butler, who fought to save the school site for community
use before it was demolished in 2004.

James H

escotregen

Will this go ahead given the fast deteriorating economic situation? I think there are also wider planning and sustainability issues coming to the fore about possible saturation of the retail market in (West) Scotland.

I also find it strange to read about this development at the same time as I'm hearing about a widespread rash of builder/developers pulling out of existing committments never mind new proposals (i.e. the sad news about the Ruchil development recently).

Incidentally, all of the statistics that I'm seeing coming out just now are seriously scary with regard to where and how deep we are going on the recession (we are now allowed to call it that... of course, that is just as serious commentators are beginning to worry about an actual depression).