A new gym and discount home store in Gloucester were approved last night despite the city council opposing it.

Developer Robert Hitchens Lts wants to build a new B&M Home Store with a garden centre and a PureGym in Kingsway, Newhaven Road.

Officers at Gloucester City Council however recommended the two large units be refused at a city council meeting on Tuesday evening, arguing there are "other places in the district which are available".

An officer highlighted the Peel Centre and Quedgeley District Centre as possible alternatives.

Councillors believed that Kingsway, a ward with 12,000 people and 3,200 homes, would benefit more from the gym and store than other areas.

A file image of a B&M store

They voted in favour of the development by a majority of one, with one abstention.

A council report stating why the authority believes it should be refused, which was presented to the planning committee, said: “The sequential test requires ‘town centre uses’ to be located in town centres, then in edge of centre locations, and only if suitable sites are not available should out of centre sites be considered.”

Speaking before the committee, the application told members none of the recommended site are suitable because "they're not large enough".

Marcus Pillinger, owner of BodyFlex gym in the Quedgeley District Centre, told the committee a new, larger gym would "cause job losses and my business will blow".

However Mr Cook believes that the other proposed sites for the B&M and Pure Gym are not suitable.

Conservative councillor Richard Cook, who represents the Kingsway ward, told the committee: “The space available there totals some 2,400 square metres, whilst the proposed B&M store would need over 3,000sqm including a garden centre, which could not actually be built at the Quedgeley site because of shared access requirements for deliveries.

“The second is the Peel Centre, less than half a mile away from one of B&M's stores on Southgate Street. In addition Home Bargains have a clause in their lease which restricts stores offering similar product lines from opening in competition at this site.

“The gym would not want to move to either site for competition reasons. There is a Bodyflex Gym just across the road in Quedgeley, whilst 300 metres along the canal from the Peel Centre is The Gym Gloucester.”

The development will also hold 205 car parking spaces, and will be built on a brownfield site on the main gateway into Gloucester from junction 12 of the M5, next to the Asda superstore.