PICTURES: New High Peak B&M store will open this year

Although a date has not yet been given B&M has confirmed it will be opening ‘later this year’.

The company will occupy a new retail unit adjacent to Tesco at Bridgemont, Whaley Bridge, in a move which will create 26 equivalent full-time jobs.

A spokesperson for B&M, said: “Our landlord has started work on the site and we hope to get the keys in the summer to start transforming it into a brand new B&M.

“We’re really excited to welcome new customers through the doors later on in the year.”

High Peak Borough Council approved the plans in February 2017 and speaking at the development and control meeting Councillor Samantha Flower said: “I am really pleased with this proposal. We need more retail shops in the area and this development will create jobs which will be good for the town.”

The recruitment process for store vacancies has not started yet but nearly 30 equivalent full-time jobs would be up for grabs.

The proposed retail unit, which would be reached from the existing access off Buxton Road, would provide 2,231 square metres of retail floor space. There would also be 103 car parking spaces, alongside landscaping and a new boundary fence, although there will not be a garden centre at the rear of the building due to flooding concerns.

High Peak Developments entered into a conditional agreement with B&M in 2015 to build a new shop on the land, provided the covenant - that ensured the surrounding land could not be used for the sale of food, convenience goods or pharmacy products - was released.