Councillors put brakes on plans for new Lidl in Warwick

The application would have seen the current Homebase site off Emscote Road demolished and turned into a Lidl.

However at Warwick District Council's planning committee on Tuesday evening (March 3) the plans were refused planning permission.

Prior to the meeting planning officers has recommended the Lidl plans be rejected.

They made the recommendation because: "The proposed development is likely to result in the generation of significant traffic movements, which would lead to significant delays and further congestion along a route which already experiences a high level of congestion.

"Inadequate measures have been proposed which could not mitigate the adverse impacts of such additional traffic generation and congestion.

"Furthermore, it is considered that inadequate parking is provided in order to serve the development, which could lead to increase demands on nearby residents parking, leading to parking stress and a detrimental impact on neighbouring amenity."

The application, which was submitted in May 2019 and since the plans had gained around 28 letters of objection, including from the Highways team at Warwickshire County Council and Warwick town council.

There were also 11 comments in support of the application.

Previously plans had been submitted in January 2018 for a B&M store on the Homebase site but these plans were withdrawn in May 2018.

It is not yet known if the plans for a Lidl will be resubmitted or whether new plans for the site could come forward.