Chelmsford councillors have given approval for the fifth - and last - of the small shop units on the New London Road frontage of the former Bolingbroke and Wenley site to go for pub use.

It will join the other four units which received the go-ahead to change from prime retail to pub use earlier this year.

Councillors were advised by their officers that the site has become peripheral to the town centre, with retailers preferring the High Street or High Chelmer.

Jeremy Castle, of developers Chartwell Land, told Monday's planning committee there had been no primary retail interest in the five small units.

The only interest had come from pub chain J.D. Wetherspoon.

Planning officer Andy Bestwick said there had been some concern over the provision of a "super-pub" in that location. But, he pointed out, Edwards, in Springfield Road, was three times the size.

Liberal Democrat councillor Graham Pooley said, "The centre of town is highly in demand for retailers, but this particular strip is probably most difficult of all from a retail point of view."

Conservative councillor Ian Wright commented, "This is like a backwater. I feel this is an ideal site for such premises to be located. There is certainly a demand."

Published Tuesday December 18, 2001