A RETAIL park that’s home to major stores including Asda and B&M is set to be completely demolished after controversial redevelopment plans were given the green light.
The move comes despite huge concerns from locals who fear the towering new buildings will “block out daylight” for family homes and strip the community of vital low-cost shops.
The Beehive Centre in Cambridge will be knocked down and replaced with giant office blocks and laboratories after Housing Secretary Steve Reed approved the scheme.
The shopping hub currently has 17 units and is one of the only places in the area where budget-friendly essentials can be picked up without needing to travel across the city.
Cambridge City Council originally tried to block the plans earlier this year, insisting the enormous high-rises would overshadow surrounding homes.
But that decision was overturned following a planning inquiry ordered by Reed’s predecessor Angela Rayner.
Planning inspector Jonathan Bore ruled the shadowing impact would be kept to an “acceptable” level under conditions to protect neighbours’ light.
He insisted Greater Cambridge was “one of the UK’s most vital economic assets” and said the redevelopment would help support the region’s booming life-sciences sector.
Economy boost
The new business park is expected to provide around 6,500 jobs and pump £600million more into the local economy than the current site.
It’ll also provide offices and research spaces aimed at everyone from start-ups to global firms.
Railpen, the company behind the project, has promised financial support for new bus routes and leisure facilities as well as a new open green space called Hive Park.
Matthew Howard, the head of property at Railpen, welcomed the decision and said it was “the start of a significant future investment in the area”.
“We are committed to ensuring that our scheme makes a meaningful and lasting contribution to Cambridge‘s economic and social progress, while supporting the nation’s broader growth objectives,” he added.
Locals’ reactions
Opponents argue that none of that makes up for the loss of essential shops that thousands rely on every week.
Residents said they were devastated by the decision.
One long-time shopper told the BBC: “How many more office blocks do we need in Cambridge. I’ve been shopping here for 50 years, so it’s going to be sad.”
Another added that it would be a struggle for many: “It feels bare to me, they are taking all the things away that we need and leaving it for the students.”
While a local worker said: “It would be a shame to lose out on all the retail stuff… this has been a part of Cambridgeshire for a long time now – I would miss it.”
The council has now accepted the move will go ahead, saying it will work to ensure the build “respects the local community” and becomes “an asset to Cambridge”.
But for shoppers who pop into the Beehive Centre every day, the loss of their go-to retail spot could sting for years to come.
It’s not the only retail centre to take a hit.
Another iconic shopping centre that dates back to the 80s is scheduled for demolition early next year.
The aging Crispin Shopping Centre in Street, which opened way back in 1979, will be flattened to make way for a retirement complex.
Elsewhere, it was revealed that a much-loved shopping centre in the 1960s is being torn down to make way for hundreds of new homes.
The shopping centre home to iconic stores such as Boots, Iceland, Wetherspoons and Woolworths have all been located at Leegate Shopping Centre at some point since it first opened more than 50 years ago.
While heritage enthusiasts have described the current site as an “eyesore”, they have also slammed the new plans as “grim”.
RETAIL PAIN IN 2025
The British Retail Consortium has predicted that the Treasury’s hike to employer NICs will cost the retail sector £2.3billion.
Research by the British Chambers of Commerce shows that more than half of companies plan to raise prices by early April.
A survey of more than 4,800 firms found that 55% expect prices to increase in the next three months, up from 39% in a similar poll conducted in the latter half of 2024.
Three-quarters of companies cited the cost of employing people as their primary financial pressure.
The Centre for Retail Research (CRR) has also warned that around 17,350 retail sites are expected to shut down this year.
It comes on the back of a tough 2024 when 13,000 shops closed their doors for good, already a 28% increase on the previous year.
Professor Joshua Bamfield, director of the CRR said: “The results for 2024 show that although the outcomes for store closures overall were not as poor as in either 2020 or 2022, they are still disconcerting, with worse set to come in 2025.”
Professor Bamfield has also warned of a bleak outlook for 2025, predicting that as many as 202,000 jobs could be lost in the sector.
“By increasing both the costs of running stores and the costs on each consumer’s household it is highly likely that we will see retail job losses eclipse the height of the pandemic in 2020.”
