PROPOSALS to create a £25m extension to a Hartlepool retail park look like foundering after a council planning committee rejected an amended scheme over fears it would hamper the prospects of current town shopkeepers.

Liverpool company Chase Property Developments already has planning permission for a 70,000sq ft extension at the Teesbay Retail Park, on Brenda Road in Hartlepool.

But when it asked Hartlepool Borough Council’s planning committee to approve an amended planning application, which would include an additional 49,000sq ft of mezzanine retail space, councillors threw out the plans. Chase Developments is considering its next move, but it now looks as if the extension, which would have created a couple of hundred jobs in construction and retailing, will not now proceed.

Paul Peart, managing director of Chase, which has owned Teesbay four years, said: "We are contemplating our next moves, but for us to attract the retailers, we will have to be able to give them the additional space.

"That is what is required by retailers now – they need that additional space to make the scheme viable. We really just want to go ahead and build the extension but, we are beholden to the retailers."

A council spokesman said: "Clearly, this application went against the town’s Local Plan and Government guidelines, and council officers recommended refusal. In June 2007 we did give permission to this developer to substantially increase the retail space at Tees Bay, which is more in line with our policies to help lift the retail park.

"However, it was felt that the current proposal would have a significant detrimental effect on the town centre and other major retail areas of the town."

The 2007 permission had restricted sales of various items, including food and drink, clothes and stationery in an effort to protect town-centre trade.

A report by the council’s case officer to councillors said the application should be refused because it would be detrimental to businesses already established in the town centre.

Chase had hoped to attract outlets including Dunelm, Starbucks Coffee and Peacocks to operate alongside the likes of B&Q, Aldi and Halfords, already at the site.