Fresh bid to demolish shopping centre rejected

A fresh bid to demolish a shopping centre in the middle of Loughborough has been turned down.

Developer Leicester Commercial Ltd wants to knock down about 70% of the Carillon Court Shopping Centre and car park and build student flats.

The firm plans to flatten the building without having to apply for planning permission, according to a reapplication submitted earlier this month.

But Charnwood Borough Council planning officers rejected the developer's second bid to flatten the building, in Market Place, under prior approval rules.

In a decision notice, issued on Wednesday, officials said the company had provided "insufficient" details on how the demolition would affect Tyler's Department store and the former Green Man pub.

The store is attached to the shopping centre and the pub, which closed in 1993, is below it and accessed by a hatch.

The developer's application said both would be excluded from the demolition works but the council said it had not clearly stated how that would be achieved.

Leicester Commercial Ltd had said to keep the site "viable", it planned a £70m redevelopment to turn part of the site into housing.

It said "a significant part" of Carillon Court, branded a "ghost town", would be retained for retail in the proposals.

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