ALDI is still waiting for the green light to build a store in Stroud after councillors deferred a decision on the plans due to a potential redevelopment of the Merrywalks Shopping Centre.
Stroud District Council’s development control committee was due to make a decision on Aldi and Wagner Developments Ltd’s application for Bath Road Trading Estate today.
But members agreed to wait after receiving a last minute letter from Dransfield Properties saying it has plans for a £10million revamp of Merrywalks.
Development control manager John Longmuir told councillors that the letter stated that Dransfield wanted to make a ‘significant’ investment in Merrywalks which was likely to be in excess of £10million.
He told councillors that Dransfield were aware of the existing planning permission granted for a possible Lidl on the Stroud Metals site at Dudbridge and were concerned about further planning applications for more supermarkets.
“They want to create a high quality space in Merrywalks which will include smaller units and a number of larger units in excess of 10,000 ft,” he said.
Development control committee chairman, Cllr Tom Williams, proposed deferring the decision on Aldi, saying: “We need more information on the Merrywalks plans. My view is to knock it on the head now, see what the plans are for Merrywalks, come back in a couple of months’ time and start again.”
But this was not received well, with a frustrated Cllr Chris Brine saying: “So many people here want a decision. We have to look after Stroud district, not just Stroud town. All we’re being told is put it off again, put it off again – let’s put a date on it, we need a decision made. People want this made.”
The plans are now expected to be brought before the council again in June.
They include the refurbishment and reconfiguring of part of the existing commercial buildings, the demolition of the current auction house building, a row of industrial buildings and the 1960s office tower to make way for the Aldi.
This is not the first time Aldi has put forward plans to build a store on this site. The first application was controversially refused in November 2016 by the development control committee.
There was a public outcry as a result, with a SNJ poll seeing overwhelming support for the store.
More than 300 people took part in an online ballot, of which 82 per cent said they were in favour of an Aldi on the Bath Road estate.
However, the issue has divided many in the community who disagree on whether Stroud town needs another large supermarket, and whether the Bath Road site is the best place for it.
SDC councillors voted against their own planning officer’s advice last November to throw out the original blueprint.
They argued the supermarket would damage the vitality and viability of town centres, displace businesses on site and cause traffic problems along the A46 through Dudbridge.