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Supermarkets on industrial estates: Could Lidl move to Sidford?

  • by JW

There is a lot of speculation going on about where Lidl would relocate in Sidmouth:

Supermarkets on industrial estates: Would Lidl moving to Alexandria take Woolbrook back to square one?

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The East Devon Watch blog provides further speculation:

Sidford Business Park already being touted for relocated Lidl

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The only problem is that the current use for the proposed industrial estate at Sidford is for offices, warehousing and ‘light industrial uses’ – and not for a large supermarket:

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… the appellant’s witness Joseph Marchant ‘repeatedly’ said the scheme would not be viable without the warehouse portion for storage and distribution (B8) use. It has been argued the B8 use would bring more HGV lorries onto the surrounding roads.

Now the wait – Sidford Business Park’s fate in inspector’s hands | Sidmouth Herald

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The site is allocated in the Local Plan, but primarily for light industrial uses. When refusing the plans, and East Devon District Council spokesman had said: “The applicants included a significant amount of warehouse space in their application, which would be reliant on HGVs to deliver goods to the site and then distribute them from there.

Date set for controversial Sidford business park planning inquiry | Devon Live

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Moreover, the first full planning application back in 2016 promised very limited retail:

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Limiting retail space to ancillary show room space to avoid adverse effects on local retailers.

All planning proposals from 2016 to the successful appeal by Fords can be found here.