COUNCILLORS have opposed plans for discount supermarket chain Lidl to open a new store on the outskirts of Wellington.

Members of Wellington Town Council’s planning committee voiced concerns about proposals for a 22,500 sq ft store to be built on land at the Cades Farm roundabout on Taunton Road when they met in a Zoom conference call last week.

Although local councillors voted against the proposals, a final decision rests with Somerset West and Taunton Council.

Local planners saw the benefits of a Lidl-style store in Wellington but were not happy about the proposed location.

Cllr John Thorne read out a statement he had prepared in opposition to the application. He said: “I am sure many people would welcome a Lidl supermarket in Wellington because it means cheap shopping for them and I know lots of families struggle to make ends meet, so Lidl would genuinely help them to put food on the table. I struggle financially myself, so I know only too well what it is like to be in that position.

“But this is not about affordability of shopping, this is about doing right for the future of the Wellington community long after I have passed on, and what is right is to have a Lidl supermarket in the right location. Cades Farm/Longforth Farm, green fields remote from the town itself, is not the right location.”

Cllr Thorne said the proposed site for the store was on land allocated – by the former Taunton Deane Borough Council – for employment use and not for a supermarket.

“People are saying, ‘but Lidl is bringing jobs to Wellington’. Yes – 23 full-time equivalent jobs to be precise. It does not compare with the several hundred jobs envisaged by the district planners if Relyon and Swallowfield relocated there – whether or not they ever do relocate is actually irrelevant to this discussion despite Lidl trying to argue the opposite,” said Cllr Thorne.

“We have already seen the consequences of the district council planning department making poor decisions at Westpark, which was built to provide space for jobs in industry and warehousing, and where the planners have allowed retail such as Budgens, Costa, Subway and McDonald’s, not to mention two gyms with next to no employment.

“They are now allowing those decisions to affect the Chelston Business Park by using them as a precedent to undermine the development of businesses there, which bring the sort of jobs we need for Wellington.”

Cllr Thorne warned: “If we are not careful, they will allow Lidl to open at Cades Farm, followed by Starbucks and KFC on the basis that a precedent has been set at Westpark, too.

“This employment land off the Nynehead Road needs to be preserved for the sort of employment we need in Wellington, not for a supermarket.

“I am aware Lidl have used the sequential test to say there are no available and suitable sites closer to the town centre.

“But that does not mean they have to be given consent under the National Planning Policy Framework simply because they cannot find anywhere better. The NPPF makes the point that such development should not cause unacceptable damage to a town centre.

“Clearly, by Lidl’s own admission in their application documents, they expect to take more than £3 million out of the town centre, just from the three existing supermarkets. That is not to mention the business they would also take away from other retailers.”

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