York Lidl plans get green light (From York Press)

York Lidl plans get green light

2:50pm Thursday 11th March 2010 in

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THE site of a former York swimming pool is set to become a food store after planners gave their backing to the scheme.

Supermarket giant Lidl has applied for permission to demolish the now-disused Edmund Wilson pool in Thanet Road and replace it with a branch of its business and a shoppers' car park.

City of York Council's planning department has now recommended the project, which is expected to create about 25 full and part-time local jobs, for approval, with Lidl forecasting the annual turnover of the store could top £3.3 million.

It follows a public consultation exercise last year which saw the majority of residents who responded support the scheme, saying it would provide a shopping destination which the Westfield and Foxwood areas urgently need.

Lidl has also said the store, if it gets the go-ahead, would be expected to draw some trade away from nearby shops and the Tesco outlet on Tadcaster Road, but it added: “This is consistent with the forecast annual rate of growth in expenditure and therefore would have a negligible impact on the vitality and viability of Acomb district centre, which the current retail study tells us is healthy.”

The proposed store would cover 1,063 square metres of retail space and Lidl plans to open it between 8am and 10pm between Monday and Saturday and between 10am and 5pm on Sunday. However, the council has said the car park should be reduced to 59 spaces from the 66 originally drawn up by the German firm.

Among the objections raised were those of York Natural Environment Trust, which claimed the council could not make an impartial decision because of its “commercial interest in the sale of land”, but the authority is expected to approve the plans next week.

The Edmund Wilson pool, on the edge of Hob Moor, closed following the completion of the new Energise leisure hub on the site of the former Oaklands Sports Centre.