Lidl's latest plan for city store 'not new in spirit'

Lidl’s new planning application to build a supermarket in Bath is “not new in spirit,” Green councillor Joanna Wright has said.

- John Wimperis Local democracy reporter

Ms Wright, Bath and North East Somerset councillor for Lambridge where the Lidl would be built, was among protesters against the budget supermarket chain’s original plans to build a Lidl on the east side of Bath. That planning application was withdrawn in July 2024 but now a new application has been submitted which Lidl said had been designed to mitigate traffic impacts on London Road.

But Ms Wright said: “This proposal is not new in spirit - it's a repeat of what has already been rejected by the community. The site simply isn’t suitable for a development of this scale. It would bring more traffic, threaten small businesses, and permanently damage the natural character of the city’s eastern entrance.”