Debenhams site plan is approved

APARTMENTS WILL REPLACE FORMER DEPARTMENT STORE

- DANIEL CLARK

PLANS to turn Plymouth’s former Debenhams department store into shops and more than 160 flats have been given the go-ahead.

Plymouth City Council planners, under delegated powers, have approved plans to redevelop the site on Royal Parade, formerly occupied by Debenhams as a retail department store. It has been vacant since the store closed in May 2021.

The plan which has been approved envisages creating 167 one and two-bedroom apartments in the extended building. It will also consist of a two-storey rooftop extension, with the two floors containing more than 50 flats. A huge chunk of the rear of the building would be demolished and rebuilt to provide light for flats created in the vast former sales area.

The facade of the building, which fronts onto New George Street and Royal Parade, would remain untouched and no parking would be created for the development. The redundant retail space at the upper levels of the building would be converted into ‘quality accommodation’ for people to live in a ‘highly sustainable way’, with commercial uses on the ground floor.