The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
Plans to build 18 new units at the Springfields shopping centre could see £200,000 given over for improvements to Spalding town centre.
The application is recommended to be passed by members of South Holland District Council’s planning committee on Wednesday.
But the amount recommended to fulfil the Section 106 agreement has been hit by the coronavirus pandemic.
An independent report to the committee says the return on investment for the new development is currently believed to be around seven per cent.
Pre-pandemic rates would see the return on investment all but doubled and a higher profit could have equated to a higher Section 106 amount.
The council instructed consultants Rider Levett Bucknall to review the submitted figures for a viability appraisal report. It said profit from the scheme is likely to be £1.7m which equates to 7.22 per cent of the development’s total value. The company said the figure was below the industry standard 15 to 20 per cent.
“The viability of the proposed development is considered to be marginal, with accompanying concerns relating to the impact of COVID-19. Officers, having taken this review into account, consider that they do not have a firm evidence base from which to dispute the report,” says the documents to go before the committee.
The £200,000 will be used for town centre improvements. The role of Springfields Media Coordinator will also be created to allow publicity for the town centre to be promoted and included in the centre’s own publicity channels including Springfields TV.
The new units will include 15 for retail and three for food or refreshment outlets.
The car park will also be increased by a further 300 places to the west of Camel Gate. The existing NFU building will be demolished and relocated to the junction of Camel Gate and Roman Bank. The existing Springfields Horticultural Society offices will also go and it will relocate to the Fens Centre.
