Supermarket chains battle over new store in Downham Market
Lidl wants to build a new store but Tesco is objecting
A battle between two supermarket chains is taking place in a Norfolk town.
Lidl wants to build a new store in Downham Market, but Tesco is objecting to the plans, saying that the impact on the town’s retail sector has not been properly considered.
The proposed new Lidl branch, on the town’s edge at Bexwell Road, received permission from councillors in May 2022, but that approval was quashed in the High Court following a legal challenge.
It is not known who launched the challenge, or on what grounds the permission was quashed – and West Norfolk Borough Council has refused to provide answers to either of those questions.
The council’s planning committee had been due to issue a decision on whether to grant fresh permission to a slightly altered version of the Lidl, at a meeting on Monday, January 9.
But councillors voted to defer making a decision, to have more time to consider the most recent documents detailing the new store, and to consider “further representations” from other parties.
A lawyer acting on behalf of the council said that if they didn’t delay making a decision, the authority could be “putting itself at risk” of a further legal challenge.
One of the most recently submitted documents has been sent into the council from a lawyer writing on behalf of Tesco.
They say that the authority has not properly considered its own policies, which seek to “resist proposals for out of town retail uses that…would undermine the attractiveness and viability of the town centres”.
Tesco themselves have a large superstore in the centre of Downham Market.
The latest version of the plans suggests scaling the Lidl down slightly, adopting an ‘economy store’ format and offering a selective range of “more value-orientated convenience goods”.
Tesco’s lawyer said the council had not fully considered the impact of this more specific offering, in terms of the number of customers that would be drawn to it.
The project has so far received some 442 letters of support, 25 objections and five neutral comments.
A similar struggle took place over a new Lidl in Watton last year, which Tesco also objected to.
Tesco, who have a large store in the centre of Watton, took Breckland Council’s permission to the High Court, and had it quashed.
After Lidl slightly scaled down their plans, councillors granted the project fresh permission, and it is now set to open on January 26.