Lidl in second bid for Sutton store

Lidl UK has resubmitted plans to Ashfield District Council , the local planning authority, seeking permission to build a store on a former factory site off Mansfield Road, Sutton, after a previous application was thrown out. Lidl has said it hopes to “breathe new life into the site”, the former home of the Pretty Polly factory, which made women’s tights. Up to 40 jobs could be created if the £5 million gets the go-ahead for the site which has stood empty for a decade. Jo Hawley, regional head of property at Lidl UK, said: “We’re delighted to have submitted a new, updated planning application for a multimillion-pound Lidl store on the former Pretty Polly site on Mansfield Road in Sutton. “We’re confident the new plans address all of the issues that led the council to reject our original application.“This includes improving the design of the store, ensuring there is more space between the development and nearby houses and rationalising the site levels.”Plans include an eight-metre landscape strip between the residential estate built on a section of the former factory site and the store Lidl hopes this will “provide a visual and acoustic barrier between the proposed food store and the residential development”. The supermarket fence will also be placed on Lidl’s side of the “landscape strip”, so it is less impactful on residentsPedestrians would be able to access the store from Eastfield Side and vehicles would enter from Mansfield Road. Ms Hawley said: “Should the proposals be granted, the new store will provide more choice for local shoppers, create up to 40 new jobs for local people and, significantly, breathe new life into a site that has been left disused for more than 10 years. “ We hope the council will recognise the changes we have made, grant permission and allow it to go ahead. ”Speaking on the plan’s refusal in 2017, a spokesman for the council said: “If approved, the store would have been likely to result in less trips to the town centre due to its proposed location being less accessible to town centre shoppers, encouraging more trips by car. The council is happy to work with Lidl in the future to secure appropriate town centre sites.”