BROMSGROVE District Council has offered supermarket giant Aldi a time extension so it can work with the authority on amending the plans for its new town centre store.
The application was due to be heard at the council’s planning meeting on Monday (December 7) and officers had recommended the proposals be refused.
The new food store, on land off Birmingham Road, would bring 40 jobs to the town and a survey carried out by Aldi showed 83 per cent of the public supported the proposals, which would also see the area benefit from a multi-million pound investment.
But officers outlined concerns about the development and had urged councillors to throw out the application at Monday’s meeting.
They claimed the assessment of the site in relation to the possibility of bats living there was inadequate and more checks needed to be done including the ‘extent to which compensation for loss of habitat including foraging areas and roosting opportunities, may be needed’.
They also stated in their report that the siting, scale, bulk and design of the frontages which faced out onto Stourbridge Road and Birmingham Road were too bland, especially with four Grade II listed buildings in the area.
We broke the news of the refusal on our website last Friday (November 27) and, since then, a deal has been brokered to give Aldi more time to amend the application.
An Aldi spokesperson said they were pleased the council had agreed a time extension so the plans could be looked at again.
“We look forward to bringing forward an updated proposal in the near future which works for all parties.
“A new store would play a major part in the regeneration of the area, offer residents in the north of Bromsgrove convenient access to a discount food store, and enable people to continue their shopping in the town centre.
“We would like to thank the local community for their continued support and we will hopefully be able to bring a second food store to Bromsgrove as soon as possible,” he added.
A Bromsgrove District Council spokesperson said: “We (the council and Aldi) have mutually agreed to extend the deadline to determine the application until mid-March 2016 to address the planning issues raised as part of the consideration of the application.”
