Aldi set to knock down store and build a bigger one on A5
Council gives planning permission for a larger store
PLANS have been approved to expand a supermarket on a main road outside Hinckley despite concerns about the scheme’s traffic impact.
The Aldi store on the A5 is to be demolished and replaced with a larger one, increasing the size of the store by just over 500 square metres and adding 40 spaces to the car park, bringing the total to 118.
An Aldi spokesperson said: “We’re pleased to have received planning permission to create a new, larger Watling Street store and are grateful for the significant local support.
“The store will be in our new layout, which ensures more space for fresh, chilled and food-to-go ranges as well as simpler layouts and brighter, wider aisles.
“We will keep the community updated on developments.”
The new store will be built in a different position at the back of the site, so it faces the A5, with the extended car park to be in front of the store.
The discount chain said previously: “As well as fulfilling local customer demand, our proposal represents a multi million pound investment and will help to create additional jobs at the site.
“Employment opportunities would also be available during the construction period and through the supply chain.”
The shop is on a stretch of the A5 gets very busy up during peak periods.
It is just to the north of the Dodwells island, where the A5 meets the A47 and Coventry Road, and where a McDonald’s drive-thru is being built, which is set to open in March 2020.
Councillor David Bill, who represents the area on Leicestershire County Council, is calling for traffic easing upgrades on the key roundabout to cope with the developments.
He said: “The Aldi development is yet another reason why there is an urgent need on the part of the Department for Transport and Highways England to sort out a whole range of problems along our stretch of the A5.”
Some £628,000 from the Barwell
SUE was earmarked to go towards widening the key junction, but this was recently scrapped by the county council.
A revised proposal for the use of the section 106 cash - money which developers pay to help offset the impact of their schemes - said that the proposed widening “cannot be constructed” because improvements had already been made.
A £4.7 million scheme to install traffic lights on the roundabout was carried out by Highways England between 2014 and 2015.
Cllr Bill said previously: “The importance of these improvements cannot be stressed enough as without them we can expect to see further congestion on the northern perimeter road, and further rat-running through the residential estates and surrounding villages.
“If these improvements are no longer to be implemented it is difficult to see how any further developments along the A47 can be justified.”
Plans are also moving forward to widen the section of the A5 where Aldi is and to turn it into a dual carriageway.
In August 2019, Aldi opened a new store on Holliers Walk in Hinckley, taking on a former factory site that had been vacant for several years.