Council says "nein" to Lidl supermarket bid

11:50am Thursday 3rd July 2008

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GERMAN supermarket chain Lidl's bid to open in Bridport got an emphatic answer from the town council this week - NEIN!

Members of the plans committee voted unanimously to object to the application after warnings that it could turn the centre into a "ghost town".

They fear the cut-price supermarket would put many small traders out of business - robbing Bridport of its "viability and vitality".

"We don't need it," was Mayor Martin Ray's message to district planners.

"The overwhelming view in the town is that we should find some reason to refuse this."

Lidl has applied to build its store next to builders' merchants Travis Perkins in St Andrew's Road.

The new supermarket will offer cut-price groceries and create some 35 jobs.

As part of a joint application, Travis Perkins would replace its headquarters with up to date buildings, financed by the money it gets from Lidl, adding some five extra jobs to its current 25-strong workforce.

But opponents say it could turn Bridport into a ghost town, taking business from existing traders and the twice weekly market, as well as causing traffic chaos along the already congested St Andrew's Road.

Coun Ray said that many town centre shopkeepers were only hanging on by the skin of their teeth now.

To gain permission Lidl had to prove a need for the store and that it would not affect the high street - and there was no way they could do that.

Chairman Ros Kayes said Lidl had made much of supplying a niche market with low cost food - a limited range not provided by others in the town. But she said their own figures estimated they would still take some £300,000 worth of business from local traders, which the small businesses and market stallholders could ill afford to lose.

"It's going to have a significant impact on the town centre, reducing turnover in local stores by about six per cent. It's the difference for smaller local business of keeping their heads above water and failure," she said.

Coun David Tett said they did not want to end up with a ghost town. He also opposed the plan because of the increase traffic in St Andrew's Road the new store would create.

Coun Kayes said before deciding the committee should consider the other side. Feedback in the Bridport News showed there were people who wanted Lidl to come to provide cheap food, especially as rising fuel prices meant trips to the company's stores at Weymouth and Chard were becoming more costly.

Travis Perkins also needed the Lidl money to enable it to replace its out of date buildings.

And Coun Mark Parsons said people should have freedom of choice.

"I don't think we should write them off completely but perhaps this is not necessarily the right site," he said.

**The committee reached its decision after hearing protests from a packed public gallery and receiving a petition opposing the Lidl plan, signed by 557, from the St Andrew's Road Residents' Association.

The committee's grounds for objection are that: * There is no proven need for another supermarket.

* It will harm the viability and vitality of the town centre.

*There were concerns over flooding on the site, the extra traffic it would generate and its effect on the sustainability of the town centre.