Shropshire Star

Welcome for delay in Lidl store plan near Shrewsbury Town ground

The delay in building a Lidl supermarket in a town has been welcomed by campaigners.

Published
Greenhous Meadow

Shropshire Council's central planning committee backed plans to build the German chain's store on land at Shrewsbury Town Football Club on Oteley Road at a meeting this week.

But councillors deferred a decision on switching the existing 106 agreement to do with community use to an alternative pitch on the site.

The decision means the land identified for Lidl is still designated for community use.

The football club and Lidl had wanted to move the 106 agreement to the existing training pitch behind the south stand and transfer it to under the management of Shrewsbury Town in the Community.

David Kilby, of the Shropshire Playing Fields Association, said the group were pleased councillors wanted to give the applicants more time to come up with a solution to a loss in playing field space.

He said: "Shropshire Playing Fields Association was delighted that the planning committee listened to our plea to defer the matter and chose that route themselves.

"We believe the deferral will give all parties the time to come to a better outcome than that which was being proposed on the day which will be to the long term benefit of all parties involved, including the local community.

"Firstly, we would like to see a negotiation to recompense the community for the net loss of one playing field from this process.

"Secondly, we would like any revised 106 agreement or covenant to be more tightly worded if it is to be agreed, especially with regards to who exactly would be responsible for the management and maintenance of any future facility.

"Along with this we would like to see a timeline agreed for any changes and a process put in place to ensure that all details of any future agreement are strictly monitored and enforced.

"Thirdly, we would like the local council to carry out the robust open space needs assessment in Shrewsbury as required by national planning policy to provide evidence that would reflect if the location of the community pitch is in the best place."

Councillors on the committee said they welcomed the idea of a discount store in the area but were concerned about the loss of playing field space. Shrewsbury Town chief executive Brian Caldwell said he was disappointed with the outcome of the meeting at Shirehall.

He said: "It was disappointing that some of the councillors didn't seem to grasp the facts and were unaware of the existing investment in community activities of the football club through Shrewsbury Town in the Community to the benefit of the local people and the opportunity to substantially increase the work further with the availability of the training pitch behind the south stand despite the case being made quite clear by planning officers. We as a club cannot understand why Shropshire Council would seek to delay not just the Lidl development but the expansion of the club's activities within our local community."

Sorry, we are not accepting comments on this article.