A planning application for a new retail development from Ramoyle Ltd to develop land at Crookbridge, adjacent to the A905 Kerse Road, south of Springkerse Retail Park has been approved by Stirling Council.

The 13-acre site has been given the go ahead for a development comprising a potential Asda supermarket, car showroom, offices and business buildings and a vehicle refuelling hub.

The site, which is owned by the Stirling Development Agency, was previously approved by Councillors for a similarly-scaled development from the same applicant, including an Asda supermarket, in January 2022.

However, it was ‘called in’ by the Reporter to the Scottish Ministers, who recommended refusal of the planning application as he could not “safely conclude” that the development would not have a significant or unacceptable impact on the city centre. Scottish Ministers subsequently accepted those reasons and refused the application.

However, in their new application, the developer submitted an updated Retail Impact Assessment (RIA), which was independently assessed with the RIA indicating that the city currently doesn’t provide easy access to all four of the major supermarket operators. It also suggested that supermarkets in the Stirling area are currently overtrading by around £10m, with this growing to £25m by 2030 as the population increases, and that a new supermarket would improve competition and choice.

The RIA also discovered that the impact on Stirling city centre would not be significant, with conditions to limit the amount of retail floor space at the new supermarket and the development would provide an estimated 350 new jobs.