Aldi supertore bid rejected

Thursday 26th March 2009, 2:57PM GMT.

Low-cost supermarket Aldi has had plans for a new store in Whitchurch thrown out amid fears that it could sound the death knell for small traders.

Fears the supermarket would “destroy” the heart of the town resulted in councillors refusing a planning application by the chain last night.

Aldi was seeking permission to build a shop on the site of the old Meadow View Store, Waymills.

The plans, which would have created dozens of jobs, would also have seen two non-food retail stores built on the site, and Aldi had agreed to extend a bus route in the town as part of a planning agreement.

But members of North Shropshire District Council’s development control committee failed to be convinced and turned down the plans because possible other sites have not been properly explored.

Councillor Jean Mainwaring said the move would ruin small businesses in the town centre as the supermarket was earmarked to be built on the outskirts of town.

“If this goes ahead it will be the death knell for Whitchurch town centre.

“I agree we do need more competition as far as supermarkets are concerned but it must be in the town.

“We can’t afford to take a foodstore out of town,” she said.

Councillor Paul Wynn agreed the proposed location of the supermarket was wrong.

He said: “This has not been looked at properly. To take food retail out of the middle of the town will destroy the heart of Whitchurch.

“It will destroy the town. We are looking to encourage our local towns, but if we take a foodstore of that size out of Whitchurch people will drive there and then go straight back and not go into town.”

Keith Jones, Aldi spokesman, told councillors that the public had been consulted and the foodstore would not have a detrimental impact on town centre businesses.

He said: “There will be no adverse impact on the town centre.

“Throughout the application process Aldi has taken the views of the local population very seriously.

“We have engaged in consultation and people have suggested we provide an extension to the current bus route as part of this application.”

By Abigail Bates


  1. 1
    Andy

    As other Market towns progress with both commercial development and housing construction Whitchurch and its selfish councillors continue to snub progress mainly because they themselves run failing businesses in the town. This town is definately still in Roman mode and will die a death commercially if they dont accept free enterprize. Wake up and smell the coffee stagnating councillors!!

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  2. 2
    andrew finch

    Blimey they do not like anything new in the whitchurch/prees area. The problem is the area will end up full of unemployed people and coffin dodgers all pointless to the area.

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  3. 3
    J.Woodhead

    Iwonder when Andrew Finch will reach the ‘coffin dodgers age and how will he like being thought of as “pointless” when he does. Such inane remarks as these do no-one any good

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  4. 4
    andrew finch

    pointless is the wrong word so i wish to take it back .What i should say is they contribute far less at their time of life and the unemployed are unable to contribute.

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  5. 5
    J. Andrews

    I am fed up of tesco calling the shots. Its about time that place had some competition.

    Report abuse

  6. 6
    Jim Stein

    Yet another chance to bring much needed jobs to Whitchurch gone! and just where would we put another supermarket in the town? There is no where for it to unless it goes on the out skirts.

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  7. 7
    Huw Peach

    Well done to the councillors.

    It is good to see local politicians resisting the advance of clone towns.

    If we want to get our local economies up and running again, all of us need to avoid the big chains when we can and spend our money in local, independent businesses.

    A study by the New Economics Foundation in London found that every £10 spent at a local food business is worth £25 for the local area, compared with just £14 when the same amount is spent in a supermarket.

    Supermarkets like Aldi may create jobs, but they also destroy jobs in the local, independent businesses that fall in their wake.

    If these supermarkets are on the outskirts of town, they also make our infrastructure less sustainable in the long term.

    They generate extra traffic and CO2 emissions, and suck the life out of the town centre.

    Well done to the councillors: buying local is good for all of us and good for the local economy.

    Keeping commerce in the town centre is good for the planet.

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  8. 8
    Tory Boy

    this is a cheap store for cheap people i would not mind a waitrose here, but this is a disgusting idea for the doleys

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  9. 9
    andrew finch

    buy local clap trap over priced and the people are usually on minimum wage utter rubbish aND WHO CARES ABOUT CO2 I DO NOT ITS ALL A BIG CON .

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  10. 10
    Huw Peach

    All a ‘big con’ according to andrew finch.

    A massive problem which needs urgent attention according to the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), the science academies of Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, India, Japan, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, the UK and the USA, as well as the International Council of Academies of Engineering and Technological Sciences; European Academy of Sciences and Arts; Network of African Science Academies; the International Council for Science; the European Science Foundation; the American Association for the Advancement of Science; the Federation of American Scientists; the World Meteorological Organization; the American Meteorological Society; the Royal Meteorological Society (UK); the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society; the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society; the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences; the American Geophysical Union; the American Institute of Physics; American Astronomical Society; the American Physical Society; the American Chemical Society; the National Research Council (US); the Federal Climate Change Science Program (US), the American Quaternary Association; the Geological Society of America; Engineers Australia (The Institution of Engineers Australia); the Stratigraphy Commission of the Geological Society of London; the European Geosciences Union; the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics; and the International Union of Geological Sciences.

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  11. 11
    andrew finch

    ALL A LOAD OF OLD TOSH DESIGNED TO EXTRACT CASH FROM THE GULLIBLE PUBLIC.
    Excellent list above many however would not be around if we had not got the fanasy that is climate change.

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  12. 12
    Huw Peach

    Thanks for getting back, andrew.

    Earlier I talked about a study, which showed that every £10 spent at a local food business is worth £25 for the local area, compared with just £14 when the same amount is spent in a supermarket.

    This suggests that, if you -understandably- don’t want to see money EXTRACTED from local communities, then it is worth buying local.

    Door-to-door delivery box schemes are more and more popular around the country and help consumers connect with producers and save money, too.

    A quick search on the internet shows that ‘Wilkesley Vegetable Hampers’ are operating a scheme in Whitchurch.

    I have never used them, so cannot vouch for them, and I realise that you are unlikely to ever use them, andrew, but the box-delivery scheme my family uses is excellent. You can eat local, organic food which is in season, and save money, too, and keep money sloshing around in the local economy.

    I’m not sure I understand what you meant by ‘many however would not be around if we had not got the fanasy that is climate change.’

    Could you explain this?

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