Aldi considers new store site on business park
SUPERMARKET giant Aldi has sent a leaflet to residents of Hook setting out proposals for a new store.
The leaflet details plans for an “underused office building” within the Bartley Wood Business Park, between Basingstoke and Fleet, to be transformed into a 10,000sq ft “high-quality” Aldi. It states how the area is in need of rejuvenation, with the business park having “struggled to evolve” and “almost 70%” of its buildings currently being vacant.
The site has been earmarked due to its proximity to Junction 5 of the M3, located less than a mile away, as well as being within 700 metres of Hook Railway Station.
While a planning application is yet to be formally submitted to Hart District Council, the leaflet seeks to obtain the feedback of residents before a masterplan is drawn up.
It says: “The business park hosts a range of employers including trade and industrial uses, but is principally home to large offices. However, the office market has changed in recent years with businesses increasingly looking for a plan to rejuvenate this part of the business park. The plan for this section of Bartley Wood will see an underused office building redeveloped to provide a new employment site that better reflects the demands of the market.
“The proposal will not only address the oversupply of office space, but also reinvigorate the economic purpose of the business park, delivering new jobs for local people”.
Among the features included within the proposal are “a new high-quality Aldi discount food store, delivering an enhanced consumer offer”.
If given the green light, there would also be “extensive new landscaping, car parking and public realm improvements”.
It comes amid current plans for two new Aldi stores to be built in Petersfield and Farnborough by the end of the year.
That is despite Rushmoor Borough Council having refused the supermarket giants planning permission for a site at Blackwater Shopping Centre, in Farnborough, following a long-running battle. A decision on the Petersfield store has not been made at the time of writing.