THE future of the new Lidl store in Calne hangs in the balance following a request from Tesco to quash the planning permission previously granted by Wiltshire Council.
The new Lidl store and ten new employment units are now at risk after representatives for Tesco wrote to Wiltshire Council requesting to quash planning permission, which was granted last month on 19th April 2023.
This latest development follows a spate of challenges and objections by Tesco for new Lidl stores across the country, and would leave Calne without a discount supermarket, limiting choice for households in the area. This is despite approximately 4,000 members of the community actively registering their supporting for the development.
Along with plans for the new store, Wiltshire Council also granted permission for ten additional employment units which would be of great economic benefit to the area. It is estimated that, once fully operational the store and units would collectively create up to 300 new full and part time jobs.
Lidl GB Regional Property Director, Oliver McGuinness commented: “Our plans have received an incredible amount of support from the local community, and we know that many people will share our disappointment with these latest developments. As a discounter, Lidl exists to provide households with access to good quality food at best value prices, and it’s such a shame that a big business such as Tesco is putting pressure on the Council to try and block the new store and employment units. Having increased supermarket choice is of huge benefit to households, as it enables them to keep the cost of their shopping down, and in this instance, it will also create hundreds of new jobs. Tesco will claim that their objections are based on material planning considerations, however, should their request to quash the planning permission be successful, it will benefit no one else but Tesco.”
The Pre Action-Protocol issued by Tesco could lead to a formal legal challenge, which would put undue financial pressure on Wiltshire Council. However, following a similar challenge in Crediton, Devon at the end of last year, Tesco failed in its bid to block planning permission for a planned Lidl store.
Cllr Ashley O'Neill, Wiltshire Councillor for Calne Rural said "I am appalled by the behaviour of Tesco in trying to prevent Lidl from opening a store in Calne through threatening legal action. At a time when many families are facing a squeeze on their household finances we need more choice of supermarkets in Calne and there was huge local support for Lidl's plans when they were announced. It's such a shame that Tesco is putting its own interest above those of residents in the Calne Community Area and I hope that they urgently re-think their decision and publicly withdraw from this action."
Tesco say they don't object to the vast majority of planning applications submitted by competitors and will only submit objections based on material planning considerations. Tesco have asked Wiltshire Council to quash the planning permission granted to Lidl and reconsider the application as they believe the planning policy was not correctly followed in that 'the authority misinterpreted planning policy because the retail element did not accord with the allocation of the site for employment use in the neighbourhood plan' and 'the authority acted irrationally by placing undue reliance on the change to the use class despite the land being allocated for employment use in the neighbourhood plan'.
Cllr Nick Botterill, Cabinet Member for Development Control and Strategic Planning, said, "We can confirm that we have received notification about a potential challenge to Wiltshire Council’s decision to approve planning permission for a new Lidl store and ten employment units on land to the east of Oxford Road in Calne. We are currently seeking legal advice, and as such it would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage.”
Now, Lidl is calling on residents to show their support, to help ensure the future of their new Lidl store, the ten new employment units and the hundreds of resulting jobs. Some ways in which residents could express this includes:
- Via social media, with the hashtag #lidlcalne
- Writing directly to their local representatives, such as the Council or their MP, James Gray
If planning permission is upheld the new store would feature state-of-the-art facilities including Lidl’s much-loved instore bakery, dedicated customer toilets and baby changing, a large carpark with disabled and parent and child bays along with electric vehicle charging spaces.
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