Echo News
Burnt-out Co-op in Hamworthy is to be rebuilt after 5 years
6:00pm Wednesday 22nd February 2012
A temporary cabin which has served as a neighbourhood store for five years, could finally be replaced by a larger supermarket.
The Co-op has submitted a new planning application to replace the Blandford Road, Hamworthy, Poole store which burnt down and was demolished in late summer of 2007.
Loyal residents have been doing their shopping in a 4,500sq ft temporary cabin built on part of the site, after it was given temporary planning permission in December of that year.
After a couple of false starts and extensive consultation with residents, the company hopes that work on a 10,500 sq ft new store will begin before the end of the year.
The scheme on the one-acre site includes a smaller retail unit fronting the junction of Blandford Road and Hinchliffe Road and 46 car parking spaces while the council-owned public toilets will be relocated to the south-west corner.
A spokesperson for The Co-operative Food said: “The plans we’ve submitted for our new store in Hamworthy very much reflect the needs of the community, and we’ve achieved this by ensuring to maintain a dialogue with the local council, but also with local people themselves.
“The consultation sessions we held last year were extremely helpful in putting together our final proposal, and we're very much hoping we will be able to put our plans into action before the end of the year.”
The new supermarket will be built on the site of the old one allowing shoppers to continue to buy groceries at the cabin during construction.
And colourful artwork on hoardings fronting Blandford Road, created by local youngsters, will be displayed outside the new store.