Morrisons says original Peacehaven store plans ‘no longer commercially viable’: supermarket chain to submit revised proposal
Morrisons has announced that its original plans for a new store in Peacehaven are ‘no longer commercially viable’.
The supermarket chain contacted the Sussex Express on Tuesday, October 21, following a protest by residents and the town’s MP at the Meridian Centre three weeks ago.
A Morrisons spokesperson said: “We appreciate the ongoing patience of local residents regarding plans for a new Morrisons store in Peacehaven. Due to significant increases in construction costs since the site was acquired in 2022, our original plans for development are unfortunately no longer commercially viable.
“We have appointed external property advisers and architects to develop a revised proposal, which we will then submit to the local authorities for consideration.”
Chris Ward, the MP for Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven, had attended a protest with residents on Saturday, September 27, to call for action on the proposed store. The MP had also started a petition in April at chriswardmp.co.uk, urging Morrisons to build the new supermarket at the Meridian Centre. The petition said Morrisons had announced plans for the store in 2021 but the site is still empty.
At the protest, Mr Ward said: “We’re all here for a very simple reason: to tell Morrisons to ‘build it or sell it’.”
Morrisons’ recent statement on the proposed store added: “We will provide a further update to the community as soon as we are in a position to do so and we thank Chris Ward MP and Robert Cottrill, CEO of Lewes District Council for their ongoing input.”
The Co-op at the Meridian Centre shut in January 2024 and it was announced that Morrisons would demolish the site for a new 27,000-square-foot superstore. This received planning consent in 2023 and was set to include 10 smaller retail units, plus a new library space.
But a Morrisons statement said in 2024 that the development had taken ‘a number of years’ to come forward. It said Morrisons were ‘working on a revised proposal’ because of rising construction costs and changes in market demand on the proposed retail units.