North Norfolk District Council’s Combined Development Control Committee has voted to approve an application by the Greenhouse Community Project for a retail store on Weybourne Road at Sheringham, and to turn down an application by international grocery and general merchandizing retail chain Tesco for a site on Cromer Road, subject to legal advice. The council met on March 4, 2010.
The Greenhouse Community Project, founded by local landowner Clive Hay-Smith, is stated as a sustainable alternative to meet the demand for super market in Sheringham. The plans include a supermarket managed by Waitrose as well as a food academy. Waitrose is a UK-based super market chain, with about 225 Waitrose supermarkets in London, southern England, the Midlands, East Anglia, Wales, and Scotland. Waitrose reached an agreement in December 2009 to develop and operate the supermarket element of the Greenhouse Community Project in Sheringham – a proposal that brings together key principles at the heart of the business; quality food, sustainability and food education.
The Greenhouse Store is designed to be the greenest supermarket featuring solar panels, rainwater harvesting, eco-friendly refrigeration methods, a sedum plant roof and an electric bus service. The site will feature natural areas to sustain local flora and fauna, including bird and bat boxes; rainwater harvesting for on-site recycling; heat will be recycled from supermarket; and sustainable drainage system for car park water run-off with filter drains and natural reed beds.
Tesco’s proposed Sheringham store designed by Wilkinson Eyre is built from local materials, along with integrating modern design and energy-saving green technologies.
