I SEE, from last week’s Guardian, that the plan to open a Lidl/KFC Store close to the Pink Eye roundabout was set to be rejected.

I offer no opinion on how development of this site might impact on traffic in the vicinity and your report that council officers fear ‘the businesses would have a negative effect on local businesses’.

But, when I sat on the planning committee, members were constantly assured by officers that it was not permissible to take into account the presence of other similar businesses in an area, as this was specifically disallowed in planning legislation.

We were told that competition would ensure that the consumer got a fair choice.

If we hadn’t had these instructions from officers, I think we would have tried to stem the rash of takeaways that have sprung up in parts of Warrington, often three or four in one row of shops.

Now, I see, the officers’ report states that ‘the proposed Lidl will compete directly with the anchor Co-Op in the neighbourhood centre’.

Would that be the same Co-Op whose prices are far in excess of those of discount retailers such as Lidl (and the already-trading Aldi store on Crosfield Street)?

I’d have expected, in one of the less-affluent areas of our borough, that council officers would welcome a chance for those on low incomes to buy goods cheaply.

After all, if any store felt the draught of competition surely it would be the one charging high prices?

I hope the members of the committee didn’t use this as a reason for rejecting the plan, as a planning inspector might take a very different view, were a decision to be appealed.

BOB TIMMIS
Lovely Lane