Jobs boost at new supermarket

A new budget supermarket is set to open in Poulton later this year, after council planners gave their approval.
The new Lidl storeThe new Lidl store
The new Lidl store

Work to build a new branch of Lidl on Garstang Road East will get underway next month and be finished by autumn.

Some 40 jobs are also set to be created the store, to be built on the former Moorland Motors site.

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Lidl’s regional head of property Stuart Jardine said: “We could not be more delighted to have received planning permission, and look forward to getting started on construction.”

The 2,478sqm store will have 120 parking spaces, including six disabled and three parents and child spaces.

Vehicles and pedestrians will access the store from Garstang Road East, with service vehicles using an entrance round the corner in Furness Drive, documents lodged with the council showed.

The two-storey building, which will only have staffrooms and offices on the top floor, will replace ‘eyesore’ derelict buildings, including Moorland Motors that closed nine years ago, and an empty NHS office.

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Undeveloped, overgrown land will also be built on, papers showed.

The store “successfully provide commercial prominence to Garstang Road East without presenting an overbearing feature due to the building being set back within the site”, the firm said in planning documents.

It added: “The building height will, however, create a positive presence in an area that accommodates existing industrial buildings of a similar mass and scale.” A public consultation found residents feel there is “limited consumer choice in Poulton” and found “many local residents having to travel to stores located outside the town in order to meet their shopping needs”, Lidl said.

It added: “The proposed development will directly extend the range and choice of convenience goods that are available to Poulton residents.” Planned opening hours are 8am to 10pm from Monday to Saturday, and 10am to 5pm on Sundays.