BOSSES at the Lidl supermarket chain say opening a store on the outskirts of Wellington would have big benefits for the town.

The comments come after Wellington Town Council’s planning committee this week once again said ‘no’ to the proposed building of a 22,500sq ft Lidl store on land at the Cades Farm roundabout on Taunton Road.

The Mayor, Cllr Janet Lloyd, had to use her casting vote at Monday’s planning meeting – held via Zoom video conferencing technology – after the committee was left split with three councillors voting for and against the development, and four abstained.

Councillors have said they have nothing against Lidl coming to Wellington but have concerns that its planned location would have a detrimental impact on the town centre.

Lidl has contested that argument and believes a new store would keep local shoppers shopping local.

Matthias Daly, Lidl’s GB regional head of property, in a written statement said: “Our retail assessment shows that we will claim back a significant amount of trade that Wellington loses to Taunton.

“I hope councillors agree that the more residents stay in Wellington to do their food shop, the more will visit the town centre.

“We do acknowledge that Waitrose and Asda will be impacted by our proposal, however not significantly, and they are forecasted to remain to trade around their company average."

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For the full story, see this week’s Wellington Weekly News.