Work starts on H&M store after £2m loan agreed
BBCWork has started on relocating an H&M store to a shopping centre after a council approved a £2m loan for the move.
It is one of two loans from West Northamptonshire Council to the Grosvenor Centre in Northampton.
The authority will also lend the centre's owners, Evolve, £1m to create flexible workspaces to support remote working.
Daniel Lister, from the Conservative-controlled authority's cabinet, said the project would make sure H&M remained in Northampton, when it was likely it would have left otherwise.
H&M is currently open on Abington Street.
It is the latest in a series of efforts by the council to enhance Northampton town centre.
In September, the Market Square reopened after an 18-month refurbishment.
The Grosvenor Centre suffered a blow earlier this year when Next closed, with a replacement yet to be announced, but work is ongoing at the site.
According to signs in the centre the new H&M will open in Spring 2025.
But a meeting of the council's cabinet heard opposition to the loans from Independent councillor Ian McCord, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
He said he did not believe the council should "be providing loans to private sector retailers, particularly global operators with billions of pounds of turnover".
The leader of the council Adam Brown said he had similar reservations but his "mind was put at ease by the level of security being sought for the loan - you couldn't mitigate the risk any more in my view".
The council also agreed to plans to offer 180 two-hour free parking spaces within the shopping centre's multi-storey to attract a new leisure operator to the former Sainsbury's unit, which the meeting's papers said was likely to be a gym.
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