Work on Lidl store due to start soon
On the site of the old rail station
BUILDING work on the new Lidl superstore in Loughborough is set to start next month.
Residents have been wondering if the development, on Station Avenue, off Derby Road, was still going ahead, but a spokesperson for the company has confirmed to the Echo that plans are still in place and work would begin soon.
The firm has also been compiling a report on the drainage aspects of the site for Charnwood Borough Council, as part of the planning conditions when it was given permission last December.
A planning application to build the superstore on land to the north of Station Avenue in Loughborough was first received by the borough council in September 2016.
The new store will be built on the former site of Charnwood Forest Railway, the site of Hire Station - a former petrol filling station - Trinity College Annex - and an adjoining section of the Travis Perkins car park.
Loughborough’s Business Improvement District (BID) which represents over 600 businesses in the area, objected to the plans.
The BID said in a letter to Charnwood Borough Council that although the proposal is outside of the BID area, planning policy both nationally and locally seeks to concentrate new developments in town centres to ensure their continued “vitality and viability.”
It said: “Sites outside town centres should only be considered if there is a proven need which cannot be met on a town centre site.”
The borough council passed the plan along with a separate application for a new Aldi store off Allendale Road, Loughborough, on which work has already begun.