Okehampton Lidl plans thrown out

It would be too damaging for the high street

Lidl’s plan to build a “bigger and better” supermarket for Okehampton on the edge of town which got support from hundreds of residents has been unanimously rejected.

West Devon planners agreed that replacing the 25-year-old store in the town centre with a new one in Exeter Road was likely to cause too much harm to the high street.

They also expressed concerns over road safety as the site was opposite a slip road from the A30 with no speed limits and said it was in the wrong place to adequately serve all the development on the east of the town.

The supermarket giant claimed it had been looking for a suitable site for five years as the  existing store, situated in a cluster of supermarkets next to the East Okement River, was no longer fit-for-purpose and had no room to expand. Its proposal included an increased retail area of 1,529 sq mtrs, better welfare facilities for staff, a warehouse nearly double the size and 119 car parking spaces.

No other sites were deemed suitable and there was demand in the east of the town where lots of new development had taken place.

Some 80 per cent of people who took part in a public consultation backed the plans and more than 400 letters of support were sent to the planning authority but there were also more than 70 people who opposed the scheme along with Okehampton Hamlets Parish Council and Okehampton Town Council.

Speaking on behalf of the Hamlets parish council at West Devon Borough Council’s development management and licensing meeting on Tuesday, Cllr Jan Goffey said the supermarket was on the “wrong A road”: “There may be a lot of public support but the public do not always realise the full impact of proposals like this,” she said.

“Everyone recognises that several hundred new houses on Crediton Road need a local shop but this fails because it is too far to walk and carry shopping home.”

She said there was land available on Crediton Road but it was like a B road and needed widening.

She said there was “a huge increase of traffic “ in this area from all the new development and with key A30 exit/access roads nearby with no speed restrictions and numerous side roads plus a new rail station and 200 space car park in the process of being built it would make an already fraught situation “terrifying”.

The councillor also raised concerns over losing an ecologically important hay meadow and light pollution at the edge of Dartmoor, a designated dark sky area.

District councillor for Okehampton North Cllr George Dexter (Lib Dem) agreed that a speed restriction needed to be put in place but  supported the scheme as he said the east of Okehampton was growing in population and retail outlets were needed to serve the community.

Councillors heard from a retail expert that the economic uplift for Lidl from the new store was likely to be over £4 million but footfall in the town would reduce.

Planning committee chairman Ric Cheadle (Ind, Buckland Monachorum) said, after reading all of the public comments which had been submitted to the council,  one of the main reasons people were supporting the scheme was because they felt they would not need to go into Okehampton town centre as much for shopping.

“I am very concerned about anything which would damage a town centre, we have seen town centres over the last 20 years change and some have almost ceased to be town centres because there is so little of interest in them that people do not come.

“It suggests to me that people will change their habits and it will affect Okehampton. A core policy within our Joint Local Plan is the vitality of town centres.”

The application is subject to a holding objection from National Highways as it could impact a major highway (the A30). It means that the scheme would ultimately be decided by the secretary of state, even if the planning committee supported it.

Members heard that local residents would benefit from being connected to the main sewer as a result of this development and regional head of property at Lidl GB Susannah Clemo said 54 new trees would be planted as part of an extensive landscaping plan.

She told committee members the existing store had been extended twice but was now restrained by rivers on both sides. A bigger store would offer a wider range of stock, improved fridges and freezers and more car parking spaces plus more jobs.

She said all the traffic assessment and road safety audits had been done and there had been no objections from Devon County Highways.

But the scheme was rejected by all ten members.