A new Lidl supermarket can be built in Stevenage after the borough's council planning committee voted to grant planning permission for the development at their meeting on Tuesday (November 2). 

An existing building on Maxwell Road will be demolished and replaced with the new shop and its car park. 

Vehicle access will be from Maxwell Road, with a car park of 108 spaces provided, while pedestrians will be able to access the site from the segregated cycleway and footpath on Gunnels Wood Road. 

Katie Russell-Smith, speaking on behalf of Lidl, said: "Lidl are excited to be able to deliver this new discount food store to Stevenage, providing immediate investment and redevelopment of this underutilised site. 

"This store is the newest specification, enabling Lidl to deliver their full offer, including their much-loved bakery products. It's estimated that Lidl can reduce the average cost of a weekly shop by up to 30%, making a difference to households in this cost-of-living crisis. The food store will create the equivalent of 40 full-time jobs, which will largely be created in the immediate area."

But Jill Borcherds, representing Cycling UK Stevenage, criticised the lack of cycle links from the site's boundary to the on-site cycle parking. "We have to enable people to cycle not only to near this store, but actually into the site to shop or work there," she said.

Lady Norma Somers, who owns nearby Grade II listed Broomin Green Farmhouse with her husband, also spoke to object to the application.

She said it would cause "serious harm" through increased noise and light pollution, and raised concerns about traffic at the junction between Gunnels Wood Road and Maxwell Road – a concern shared by committee member Cllr Julie Ashley-Wren. Hertfordshire Highways did not object to the plan.  

A further objection to the scheme was received from MRPP on behalf of Tesco, but Cllr Lynda Guy suggested it was "driven by commercial interest, not planning harm".

She said: "National guidance is very clear that the planning system must not be used to protect existing retailers from competition, and that is essentially what Tesco is seeking to do.

"Lidl serves a different market to Tesco, offering affordable shopping at a time when many residents are under real financial pressure.

"This application increases choice, accessibility and affordability – all genuine public benefits.

"This proposal regenerates an underused site, delivers new jobs and improves the street scene."

While the supermarket would not be in the town centre or a neighbourhood centre, officers concluded that alternative sites in those locations would not be available for Lidl to use.

Planning officers found that only eight full-time jobs are currently supported by the new Lidl site, suggesting it is "significantly under-utilised".  

Part of the site, at the junction of Gunnels Wood Road and Fairlands Way, was previously used by the Furniture Industry Research Association (FIRA) but is currently empty. The rest of the site includes a two-storey office block, an empty vet's and car parking. 

Beams, acting as a heritage consultant for the borough council, said it is "highly regrettable" that the FIRA building, constructed in 1964, would be demolished to make way for a car park. They said: "The FIRA building is not statutorily listed but is nonetheless of considerable architectural and historic interest."

Councillors voted in favour of granting planning permission by ten votes to one.