Planning approval has been secured for the total redevelopment of Bridgford Garden Centre near Nottingham which will create one of the largest garden centres in the UK. The planning team at specialist garden centre design and business consultants, Pleydell Smithyman, secured the planning approval for a 14,500m² building in the Green Belt. 

Designed for Edward Tarbatt of Bridgford Garden Centre, the new development will provide a totally under cover retail space including a major farm shop and massive new indoor play business including the 350 seat play café and three further catering outlets – coffee bar, waitress and self serve. 

"I can only praise the professionalism and persistence of the team at Pleydell Smithyman who have done a fantastic job in securing permission for what will become one of the country's largest and leading destination garden centres" commented Edward Tarbatt. 

The planning permission is unprecedented and is the result of many months of negotiations and close working with the local planning authority, Rushcliffe Borough Council, who were able to see that the benefits of the scheme to the local community, including a variety of new employment opportunities, outweighed any potential harm to the Green Belt. 

Paul Pleydell director of Pleydell Smithyman confirmed, "we have established and maintained a close working relationship with the planners and supported by our in house designers, landscape and ecology professionals, I am proud that our planning team were able to devise and deliver a very persuasive strategy for the application, adding significantly to the value of the site and securing its future place in our industry". 

The new centre has a planned opening in 2018.