Anger over plans to flatten pub for superstore

The supermarket giant has submitted plans for the site of the Old Cart and Horses in High Green, Sheffield, which would see the building make way for a Sainsbury’s Local.

Parish council members are leading the protests, with Coun David Pepper, the chairman, claiming the building is “part of the character of the area”.

A well as the petition, 153 individual objections have been received by Sheffield Council’s planning department, but officers are set to recommend the plan be approved.

The building no longer trades as a traditional pub and is now operated as a Chinese restaurant, although neighbours say the supermarket, and a fish and chip shop which is also proposed, would increase traffic and congestion.

The parish council has made formal representations over noise, traffic and the impact of the scheme on other businesses, while letters to be shown to planning councillors today express “disbelief” at the loss of an old building.

The pub is not listed, but one objector says its removal and replacement would “erode the village environment and create more of a suburban high street”.

Planning officers are expected to tell Sheffield’s planning committee there are no reasons to refuse the scheme under planning law.

They will, however, insist that the store and takeaway stick to stipulated opening times, with the supermarket trading from 7am to 11pm and the fish and chip shop from 9am to 11pm.

Planners will also examine an application by another supermarket operator today, which wants to extend its opening hours.

Aldi is currently building a store on The Common, in nearby Ecclesfield, and has permission to open until 8pm. It now wants to extend that by an hour, causing upset among neighbours who say they will be disturbed.