Developer SevenCapital has been granted full planning consent for phase 1 of the £270m North Star Village in Swindon
Set to have a game-changing effect on Swindon and the surrounding area, the North Star Village complex will feature circa 500,000 sq ft of retail, dining and leisure, including one of the UK’s largest ski and snow centres, with two real snow indoor ski slopes.
Once operational, the North Star Village development is expected to attract an annual footfall of 3.3 million people, with a projected catchment area of 10 million people reaching into Wales, the South East and South West of the Country.
SevenCapital has already fixed an agreement with a major funder and secured 50% pre-lets ahead of planning consent. Confirmed operators for the North Star Village include The Snow Centre, Empire Cinemas, Hollywood Bowl and top mountain sports retailer Ellis Brigham.
John Watkins, director at SevenCapital said: “We’re thrilled with the decision to grant full planning approval for the North Star Village. Since taking on the project in July 2017 the team has worked tirelessly to deliver on our promises to submit plans for an exciting regional leisure and retail destination that Swindon and the wider UK will benefit from significantly.
“We have delivered on all our planning promises and are now looking forward to getting on site and bringing those plans to life.”
Councillor Dale Heenan, Swindon Borough Council’s Cabinet Member for the Town Centre, added: “This ski slope has been a vision for Swindon for over six years and we are now in the home straight. There has been a tremendous amount of effort going on behind the scenes to resolve the outstanding problems and we are now in a strong position to move forward.
“Last week, SevenCapital announced they had secured the money needed to build the North Star leisure complex and the Planning Committee was the final hurdle.
“Every resident will be praying that SevenCapital start construction as soon as possible because the pressure is now really on to deliver visible progress.”
With funding in place, SevenCapital hopes to be on site in May 2019 and expects the build to take a little under two years.
