Bosses at garden centre chain Dobbies are “fully committed” to Angus Gateway retail centre and submitted a fresh planning application to expand the site.

Permission was granted to build additional retail units and expand car parking at the retail centre which is operated by Dobbies and includes both the garden store and the House of Angus outlet in 2014. That decision expired earlier this month. However, bosses at Dobbies which was sold by Tesco for £217 million last year have made clear they want to restart the expansion work at Ethiebeaton Park, Monifieth.

“Dobbies is fully committed to Angus Gateway,” says development manager David Clark. “As we’re still currently going through the planning application process we’ll be in a position to give further details in due course.”

Documents for the new application show the firm wants the same permission to be granted again with an extra condition that would allow them to expand the retail park in phases instead of all at once.

A statement from architects DVA says: “Our client has recently been taken over by new owners following the sale of the business by Tesco Stores Ltd in 2016. As part of these changes a new leadership team has been put in place and commenced a full review of the Dobbies Garden Centre property portfolio. An initial priority identified by this review is the permission at the Monifieth site and to allow for greater flexibility in the delivery of the proposals.”

Dobbies say they they wish to build the expanded car park before proceeding with the rest of the retail development in order to ensure that the construction of the latter has “minimum impact” on customer access to the retail park.

“The ability to deliver the car park in advance will contribute toward customer needs and enable the retail development to be delivered in the future, providing an economic boost to the area.”