A PETITION with 1,725 signatures backing a budget supermarket in Coleford was presented to the leader of the Forest Council last week.

Petition organiser Clare Hilgart, who runs Coleford Computers with husband Peter, is hoping the show of support for a proposed Aldi store in Tufthorn Avenue will prompt a change of heart by the council.

Last July the council’s planning committee turn­ed down the proposal as it does not meet the authority’s development blueprint.

Aldi says it is keen to come to the Forest but the site the council wants them to take, near Pyart Court, is not viable.

Mrs Hilgart said: “I’ve handed over a petition in favour of a budget superstore for Coleford to Cllr Molyneux which has nearly 2,000 signatures.

“It shows an overwhelming response from local residents with nearly a quarter of Coleford signing the petition.

“Coleford needs a budget superstore to compete with surrounding areas and to give people an alternative to travelling to Monmouth or Lydney or Cinderford or beyond Ross-on-Wye.

“This obviously takes money out of the local economy.

“With a budget superstore in Coleford the money will be spent here rather than elsewhere.”

It is estimated Coleford loses some £14.6 million a year because shoppers travel to other towns and it has been claimed about £6 million could be ‘clawed back’ by the Aldi proposal.

Cllr Molyneux (Con, Hewelsfield and Woolaston) said: “We are very keen on supermarkets in some respects in this council.

“We’ve tried hard to deliver a number of supermarkets around the district not particularly successfully for a number of reasons.

The issue of planning around these issues is quite tricky, not least due to our own core Strategy and our own Local Plans as well as national planning policy in favour of town centre development.

“It is a complicated one. We’ve tried to get supermarkets and we’re still trying to get supermarkets both in Cinderford and Lydney but I appreciate is what you’re looking for we’ve actually refused.

“It it is out of our Local Plan and is an out of town development. In Coleford we have a site with permission for a supermarket.

“We sympathise enormously. We would like to bring more of these facilities into the Forest; we think they have a place to play in the community in terms of jobs and keeping money in the local economy so we have a lot of sympathy with what you are trying to say with the petition, and we will continue to work hard to deliver suitable super­markets within the district.”

Deputy leader, Cllr Brian Robinson (Con, Mitcheldean) added: “As the Cabinet member for growth I welcome this petition because I share the concerns of the people of Coleford and I know it is shared in Cinderford, Lydney and elsewhere.

“We’ll do what we can to make this change but it seems to be a legal problem.”

Labour councillor for Coleford East, Roger James, said: “I very much support this petition, it can only be good for the town.”