Lidl's latest Walsall store plan 'cannot be supported' over road safety and loss of trees

The company had put forward a proposal to take over the former bingo hall site on Park Lane in Darlaston for a new branch, creating 40 new jobs in the process.

But planning officers said concerns had been raised over highways safety and the loss of trees on the site to make way for the supermarket and recommended refusal.

The proposal is due to be discussed at a Walsall Council planning committee meeting on Monday, January 15.

A report to members said: “On balance, weighing up the merits of the scheme, the proposal cannot be supported in relation to highway safety due to the introduction of a new access on Park Lane and inadequate car parking to serve the development.

“In addition, the proposal would result in an excessive loss of trees on site with limited scope for replacement planting.

“Given that there are no material planning considerations in support of the proposals it is concluded that this application should be recommended for refusal.”

The retail unit was formerly occupied by Buzz Bingo and has sat empty since 2020. Lidl wanted to erect a 1,251 square metre store with a total of 133 car parking spaces on site.

In the application, agent Rapleys said: “The proposed food store development will provide numerous economic benefits including up to 40 new well-paid jobs with a minimum hourly rate of £11, no zero-hour contracts and opportunities for training and progression within the company."

The agent described it as: “A multi-million pound investment for the local area, making use of disused land and new discount shopping facilities for residents, which could help locals save money on their groceries spending.

“Given the ongoing cost of living crisis, it is considered the economic dimension of the development is particularly important as the proposed development may help to offset the impacts of the economic downturn.

“(An) assessment has found there are no suitable or available sequentially preferable sites to accommodate the proposed development.

“The proposed development site comprises a former bingo hall with associated car parking and landscaping, which is understood to have been vacant since mid-2020.

“Given this, it is clear the site constitutes derelict, previously developed ‘brownfield’ land. It is considered the principle of redevelopment of the site is supported by policy which promotes the re-use of derelict and previously developed land.”

Lidl has already been granted permission to build two new supermarkets elsewhere in the borough – on the site of the struggling Horse and Jockey pub on Walsall Road in Walsall Wood and on Walsall Road at the borough’s boundary with Sandwell.

But the company was unsuccessful in its bid to create a new store on the site of the Metro Hotel and Broadway Bar on Birmingham Road.