Wicor Mill Co-Op, Portchester

Delivery of a new Co-op store on land adjacent to the Wicor Mill Public House on White Hart Lane in Portchester.

With a 50 space car park adjacent to the existing pub being underused, and located on a popular road serving schools, houses and local shops, the brief was to maximise land values by securing consent for a new convenience store and integral post-office.

Traffic impact and servicing of convenience stores are normally contentious issues, and combining this with the loss of an informal 50 space car park made this a sensitive site to bring forward. Establishing a sensible and robust scope of works with Fareham Borough Council highways was an important first step, and successfully negotiating a 75% level of diverted and pass-by trips.

Car parking provision was also a point of negotiation, with the high turnover of parking spaces within a convenience store car park used to agree a reduction from Fareham’s standards for general food-retail, resulting in 20 spaces for the 415sqm store.

The final point of contention was to ensure an appropriate servicing strategy for the store, with other recent pub-to-retail conversions in the area which did not benefit from appropriate servicing solutions and location of local schools making this a political concern. Paul Basham Associates developed with the Coop a strategy that considered frequency, size, timings and routing for the delivery vehicles to secure a favourable highways outcome.

Following the grant of consent in 2013, the store was swiftly constructed and has been successfully trading since.