Lidl flag allowed for new Newbury Retail Park store
New store in former Homebase opens today (Thursday)
LIDL has won its planning fight to have its own separate sign for its Newbury Retail Park store, which opened today (Thursday).
Lidl Great Britain Ltd had applied to place the stand-alone illuminated sign next to the existing advertising pylon at the entrance to the retail park in Pinchington Lane.
West Berkshire Council refused the 6m-high and 2.2m- wide flag-style sign saying that it would give Lidl “unfair premier status”.
Lidl appealed the decision and the Planning Inspectorate has ruled in its favour.
The Planning Inspectorate said that the proposed sign would be located next to another advertising board, close to a separate Pizza Hut sign and near another pylon advertising Tesco.
The inspector said that the Lidl sign would be much smaller than the main advertising board.
“Its differing design and scale to this sign would ensure that it would not be visually intrusive or result in a cluttered appearance in this location,” the inspector said.
“Nor would it affect the quality and value of the landscaping area in this location, given its slim line, pole design.
“Moreover, it would be located sufficiently far away from other signage in the locality to ensure that harm to the visual amenity of the area would not occur.”
Responding to concerns about Lidl needing its own sign, the inspector said that national policy indicated that advertisements should be subject to control only in the interests of amenity and public safety.
The inspectorate added that the council had referred to the ‘Supplementary Planning Guidance on Shopfronts and Signs, July 2003’ document.
However, as the council had not provided the document, the inspectorate said it was unable to assess the proposal against it.
The new Lidl, opening in part of the former Homebase store, opened its doors for the first time at 7am.
The store will be providing surplus food and customer donations to the West Berkshire Foodbank.
Lidl GB’s regional head of property James Mitchell said: “We would like to thank all those who have played a part in bringing this new Lidl store to Newbury.
“It is great for us to be able to create more jobs and investment opportunities in the area and we can’t wait to start serving our multi-award winning products to the local community.”
Social distancing measures and dedicated cleaning stations are also in place.
Additionally, the supermarket has installed protective screens at checkouts and protective visors and masks have been made available for staff to wear in accordance with Government guidance.
