Council U-turn as it revokes permission for unwanted store Planning department admits wrong decision after residents protested over loss of a gym
PLANNING permission for a controversial Lidl store in Birmingham has been overturned after Birmingham City Council bosses admitted they made the wrong decision.
The supermarket chain was granted permission to build the store on the site of a gym and bowling alley in Pershore Road, Stirchley, last December.
Residents were enraged, claiming the city council had failed to consider the full impact of losing the popular Fitness First gym and Stirchley Ten Pin Bowling facilities.
Campaigners from the Super Stirchley group lodged a legal challenge with the help of experts from the Environmental Law Foundation charity.
Now the council’s planning department has admitted it gave the wrong advice to the planning committee and quashed the decision.
A letter sent by planning official Simon Turner to committee members read: “A legal challenge, an application for judicial review, has been mounted against the council’s decision, based around the application of planning policy with respect to sporting/leisure facilities.
“Regrettably, the council accepts a mistake was made and so the challenge has strong merit and it will not resist the claim. As such, the planning consent will be revoked shortly.”
A spokesman for Super Stirchley said: “We hope this shows that standing up for things that matter really can make a difference.
“As we have always maintained: we are not against Lidl, we were opposing the loss of our facilities.”
Councillor Timothy Huxtable (Con, Bournville) said: “It is another example of Birmingham City Council in chaos, they can’t even get these basics right.”
Lidl may consider a fresh planning application on which correct policy advice would be given.
But the shopping and planning environment in Stirchley has changed considerably in recent weeks with Tesco announcing it will no longer build a long-awaited major store in the area. Plans for an Aldi, on the nearby Magnet store site, are still under consideration.
Lidl was not unavailable for comment.