Lidl vow to fight on despite Tesco blow

LIDL have said they will continue to work toward opening a store in Calne despite a legal challenge from Tesco which has led to their original planning permission being quashed.

The new Lidl store and ten new employment units which would have collectively created up to 300 new full and part time jobs for the town, was granted planning permission to be built on land to the east of Oxford Road in Calne in April 2023.

However, in May 2023, Tesco submitted an objection and asked Wiltshire Council to quash the planning permission granted to Lidl and reconsider the application as they believed 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'.

Around 4,000 members of the community actively registered their support for the Lidl development but sadly, the Pre Action-Protocol issued by Tesco has now led to the planning permission being quashed.

A Lidl spokesperson told Calne News : "We are disappointed to confirm that the council received a legal challenge from Tesco, resulting in the original planning permission being quashed. As a discount supermarket, we exist to provide households with access to good food at the best value, and while we know that this will come as a huge blow to many in the community, we would like to thank those who supported our plans. We look forward to working with the council to get the planning application redetermined. "

Cllr Nick Botterill, Cabinet Member for Development Management told us:  “Following Tesco’s pre-action response to the Lidl planning permission, and having taken legal advice, Wiltshire Council has agreed to the quashing of the decision. We now await a consent order for this from the Court.  Following receipt of the consent order the planning application will be considered afresh.”