Issues for Nailsea - Lidl

By Sarah Hearne (Youngwood Ward)

Image from Wikipedia

In speaking to people I've come to realise that the biggest concern is, by far, Lidl. Lidl's proposal to build a store on the current Stockway south car park has created a lot of justified concern amongst locals, particularly those in the Youngwood ward who live close to the precinct as many fear that they will feel the greatest impacts of any disruption that is bound to come from the closure of the car park during construction.

I attended both the 'town hall' meeting at Scotch Horn and the town council meeting at the tithe barn. The public turnout at both meetings was a testament to the strength of feeling there is over this matter. 

The thing that struck me during the town hall meeting was how reactive Lidl have been. Anyone reading their proposals could see multiple problems without any difficultly – highlighted by the numerous objections the council received. Yet instead of thinking of these problems themselves and addressing them in their proposals, it was as if the meeting was the first time they’d really thought through the full implications of their proposals. When asked about how access to the health centre would be provided during the construction period (at least 6 months, some – or most, who knows – of which will involve the car park being completely closed to vehicles) Mr Mitchell, the Lidl representative, had no response. He said that Lidl have been looking to come to Nailsea for 15 years yet their plans do not show any sense of understanding of the area or complexities of the site they are proposing to build on.

At the council meeting there were other interesting points made: most striking was that Tower House Medical had not been approached by anyone from Lidl to discuss the impact of the construction and functioning of the proposed store, a state of affairs one councillor called ‘extraordinary’. Additionally, there had been no consideration of the impact on Christ Church. One councillor noted that her husband an HGV driver and it was his professional opinion that the proposed delivery plan is unworkable while another councillor said that in his working life he has looked at a lot of ‘strange’ planning applications but this one ‘takes the biscuit’. One called the plans 'abysmal'.

I'm not against Lidl coming to Nailsea, I just think that building on a carpark is probably the stupidest location that could have ever been considered. There are other sites that would be much more suitable. Lidl excluded both the Weston College site and the police station for various reasons and Ellandi say they want the store to be in the town centre to bring in visitors. It's hard to see how struggling independent businesses are going to feel about yet another supermarket coming in and undercutting their prices, yet even if this wasn't the case, the fact is we have three supermarkets in this part of Nailsea already - is a fourth really necessary?