PLANS by Aldi to open a supermarket on the edge of Wellington have generated a torrent of support from local residents.

More than 80 comments have been submitted to date to Somerset Council, which will determine the company’s planning application.

All but three people were in support of the plans.

However, 85 per cent of those supporting Aldi used a pre-written template which is believed to have been orchestrated by the firm’s planning agents, a tactic which was previously used when Lidl applied for its store on the Cades roundabout.

Aldi wants to open a 14,000 sq ft store on a 2.8-acre site off the A38 Wellington Relief Road opposite the Westpark business park, Chelston.

The similarly worded templates of support for the plans each highlighted two or three positive points, such as it represents a £7 million investment in the town, will create about 40 jobs paid at more than the ‘real living wage’, and will ‘improve access to Aldi's award-winning range of high quality products at low prices’.

Each one finished with the appeal: “I hope the council will act in the interests of local people by approving this application.”

Only 12 people were able to word their own letters of support, with some suggesting that while they wanted Aldi to come to Wellington, a better location would be in Rockwell Green.

Those who objected to Aldi pointed to the existence of Asda, Co-op, Waitrose, and Lidl stores which already catered for the town’s shopping needs.

Avison Young, which describes itself as a ‘strategic real estate partner’ said a community engagement exercise carried out before the planning application was submitted showed 81 per cent of responses were ‘supportive in principle of the proposals’.

It said a social media advertisement publicising the consultation reached 8,710 Facebook accounts, with 946 ‘click-throughs’ to the project website.