PLANNERS unanimously backed a new Lidl town centre supermarket for Coleford yesterday afternoon (Tuesday, February 12).

Store wars have raged in the town in recent years, and approval of the scheme for a 1,815sq m store on a 1.5-acre site at Pyart Court on Lord’s Hill means Lidl will go head-to-head with the Co-op next door.

Permission from the Forest Council’s planning committee for Lidl to develop the store follows a battle with fellow German retail rival Aldi, who were orginally given the go-ahead for an edge-of-town store in October 2016, only for it to be challenged in court and then overturned.

Lidl say the new store will create up to 40 new jobs and feature an instore bakery, a customer toilet and parking for 76 cars.

The Pyart Court site was previously granted planning permission for a Tesco, but the latter pulled out in 2014 after the company hit financial problems.

Praising the plan before yesterday’s Forest Council planning meeting, Coleford town mayor Nick Penny said: “I am absolutely delighted that at last we have a new high profile retailer choosing to invest in Coleford.

“This will bring huge benefit to the town in terms of retaining shoppers here rather than going to other places like Monmouth and Lydney.”

Aldi was granted permission by the full council to build on Tufthorn Avenue in 2016, only for Mid Counties Co-Op – owners of the town’s existing Co-op store – to succesfully challenge it in the High Court on the grounds that no ecomonic impact assesment had been undertaken, landing the council with a £35,000 legal bill.

Just days before Aldi’s reapplication was due to be heard last April, Lidl suddenly announced it wanted to open a new store on Lord’s Hill, leading to a heated planning meeting attended by senior representatives from both retailers, where the Tufthorn scheme was rejected.

Lidl said they wouldn’t build a store if Aldi won permission, while Aldi claimed that Lidl would not deliver on its proposed scheme.

But Lidl spokesman Ian O’Gorman told the meeting: “I stand here as a food retailer confirming to you that we will develop the Lord’s Hill site.”

The store wars in Wyedean show no sign of abating though, with Aldi opening a new front by announcing last October that it was looking to build another 130 stores nationwide in the next two years, with Monmouth, Chepstow and Caldicot among sites reportedly being targeted.

Lidl has also been given permission to expand its Cinderford store by 25 per cent and will close later this year for several weeks for the work to be undertaken.