News: No objections to new IKEA plans

Rotherham Council has reiterated that it has no objections to the proposed 37,000 sq m IKEA store at Meadowhall, Sheffield, subject to a number of conditions.

Plans were submitted in May 2013 for a new £60m furniture store with a restaurant and bistro plus a 1,000 space car park on the former Betafence site located off Sheffield Road, next to the Meadowhall Retail Park.

Rotherham Council has been consulted due to the close proximity of the application site to the Rotherham Borough. The main issues with the proposal affecting Rotherham would include the impact on Rotherham town centre; on traffic levels within the borough and the impact on air quality. It responded to the courtesy consultation last July.

Additional information regarding the traffic issues and air quality has now been submitted and Sheffield Council has re-consulted on the application.

The impact on the surrounding transport network is a major issue but the report states that: "The proposal is unlikely to have a major impact on Rotherham." However, Rotherham officers are asking that all traffic to and from the M1 to the development be directed from Junction 34 so as not to exacerbate the significant pressure around Junction 33.

The Highways Agency has not raised any objection to the proposed development and it will be up to Sheffield Council to decide regarding the impact on the local network. IKEA is proposing improvements to M1 J34 (North) including an upgrade to the "merge" onto the northbound on-slip, a mitigation scheme at the M1 J34 (North) roundabout and a mitigation scheme at the M1 J34 (South) roundabout.

It has also been agreed between the applicants and Sheffield Council that a number of works are required to the local highway network to accommodate the development. These include widening nearby roads and improving junctions. The developers are also set to provide a financial contribution to the funding of the Tinsley Link, part of the new Bus Rapid Transit system that links Sheffield and Rotherham.

Mainly due to the busy stretch of the M1, the Don Valley currently suffers significant noise and air quality issues and in some areas adjacent to the strategic road network levels already meet or exceed EU limits.

An assessment of the air quality implications by the applicants concludes that "future levels of air pollution in the vicinity are, for the most part, independent of the operation of the store" and that the impact on pollution levels "are largely negligible with, at worst, slight adverse impacts at a limited number of roadside properties."

IKEA is proposing that a sum of £400,000 be made available to assist with air pollution measures. This could include retro-fitting buses with low emission technology, tree planting, and trialling the use of "de-NOX" materials in road surfacing.

The Rotherham Council report concluded: "The development will not have any adverse impacts on Rotherham in transportation terms, provided that traffic is not directed to the site via Junction 33 of the M1; that the applicant submits a Travel Plan.

"Additionally, the air quality matters are to be addressed by Sheffield City Council Environmental Health Officers, who will require mitigation, if appropriate. It is therefore recommended that Sheffield City Council is advised the Rotherham has no objections to the proposed development subject to this."

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News: No objections to new IKEA

Rotherham Council is unlikely to submit any objections to the proposed 37,000 sq m IKEA store at Meadowhall, Sheffield, subject to a number of conditions.

Plans were submitted in May for a new £60m furniture store with a restaurant and bistro plus a 1,000 space car park on the former Betafence site located off Sheffield Road, next to the Meadowhall Retail Park.

Rotherham Council has been consulted due to the close proximity of the application site to the Rotherham Borough. The main issues with the proposal affecting Rotherham would include the impact on Rotherham town centre; on traffic levels within the borough and the impact on air quality.

The proposal is for a retail use in an out of centre location and so applicants have to explain why other preferred locations were not suitable, and that the proposed development will not have an detrimental impact on nearby town centres.

A number of locations were discounted in the long search for a site in the Sheffield area. This included the civic site in Rotherham town centre, discounted as it is currently being redeveloped to provide a new Tesco store. Forge Island, the site of the current Tesco store, was also discounted, as it is has been earmarked by the council as its preferred location for a new cinema and theatre.

In a council report, Rotherham planners agreed with the appraisal of the two Rotherham sites and added that neither of the sites are large enough to accommodate an IKEA of a flexible format.

The information supplied with the planning application identifies that, although a negligible amount, the proposed development will have a bigger percentage impact on Rotherham town centre than the centres of Sheffield, Barnsley and Doncaster, in terms of it drawing trade away.

Total draw trade to IKEA from the Rotherham study area is estimated at £350k, with a trade impact in 2018 of 0.47%. This compares to a total draw trade to IKEA from the Sheffield study area (including developments at Sevenstone, The Moor and Hutton Buildings) of £2.76m (0.28% in 2018). Barnsley (including the proposed Market & Peel Street schemes) has figures of £900k (0.22%) and Doncaster (including the proposed Civic and Cultural Quarter) has figures of £1.03m (0.23%).

However, the applicants admit that, as the goods on sale at IKEA are not comparable to goods usually on sale in town centres, it is likely that the proposal will draw the majority of its trade from other retail warehouses in out of centre retail parks such as Parkgate Shopping and Canklow Meadows in Rotherham and Crystal Peaks and Drakehouse Retail Park in Sheffield.

Planning officers in Rotherham agree with this and add "that the proposed development would have limited impact on Rotherham town centre given the limited range of furniture retailers within the centre."

The impact on the surrounding transport network is a major issue with Rotherham officers asking that all traffic to and from the M1 to the development be directed from Junction 34 so as not to exacerbate the significant pressure around Junction 33.

South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive (SYPTE) has asked for significant sums of money from the applicants to help support the surrounding bus and tram services and a contribution to the new Tinsley Link road and Bus Rapid Transit system that links Sheffield and Rotherham.

Conditions for Rotherham Council not objecting to the scheme, that will result in a net addition of 190 new jobs, also include the submission and approval of a Travel Plan for shoppers and staff, assurances that the impact of the development on air quality is acceptable and that a condition be attached to any permission to ensure that the development is occupied by one single operator and is not subdivided into smaller units at any time.

Members of the planning board at Rotherham Council will discuss the plans and decide whether to submit an objection at a meeting this week.

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News: Rotherham IKEA jobs at risk

138 jobs are at risk as Swedish furniture retailer, IKEA announced proposals to close their Dearne Valley contact centre in March 2011.

The Rotherham centre primarily supports the retail operation in handling customer contacts in relation to general customer service queries, complaints and supports the customer contacts for the shop online channel.

In an announcement to staff, the company proposed to amalgamate all customer contacts to their Peterborough contact centre that primarily supports central customer distribution orders as well as general customer service queries and case handling for our kitchen- and bathroom installation services.

At the beginning of the financial year, the group decided to own the land and buildings where they operate. The Dearne Valley centre is rented and the Peterbrough centre is owned by IKEA.

The group stated that "both sites are under-utilised in terms of seating capacity."

In an announcement to staff, IKEA said: "The fact that we operate in two sites comes with some significant drawbacks in terms of cost, consistency, productivity, duplication, impact on the shared resources.

"Further to a comprehensive review, in which a number of different scenarios were considered, IKEA proposes to amalgamate all customer contacts in the IKEA-owned Peterborough site which would result in the closure of the rented Dearne Valley contact centre facility on the 23rd of March 2011.

"These changes would allow us to serve our customers in a better, faster and more consistent way by offering them a complete and integrated experience through a combination of self-service technology and multi-skilled co-workers."

"This proposal remains at a formative stage with 138 IKEA co-workers and will be subject to extensive consultation with the appropriate site committees. IKEA very much regrets any potential loss of a significant number of valued competent co-workers.

"We will consult thoroughly with the site representatives about this and we will aim to minimise the impact of the proposed changes as much as possible."

This month IKEA published its financial results for the first time, revealing a 7.7% rise in sales. Total sales were 23.1bn euros ($31.7bn, £20bn) for the year ending in August.

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