Court blocks Ledbury Lidl plan

A plan to build a Lidl supermarket, medical centre and day nursery on the edge of a Herefordshire town has been overturned in the courts – but could still be revived.

In September, county councillors unanimously backed the discount retailer’s controversial plan for a field beside the roundabout where Ledbury’s Leadon Way, the A449 Ross Road and B4216 Dymock Road meet.

This was despite a similar previous bid by the company having been refused in 2021 due to its likely impact on the town, with an appeal against the refusal dismissed by an inspector a year later.

Following the September decision, Tesco’s agent wrote to the council saying that its supermarket near the town centre, along with the Cooperative, would “suffer very substantial trade diversion” to the new Lidl, yet both “are integral to maintaining linked trips and footfall in the town”.

They also claimed there was “no evidence of a clear need for the proposed medical centre” at the “poorly located” site.

It appears this then led to Tesco seeking, and being granted, a judicial review of the council’s decision to approve the plan – essentially questioning whether the council followed its own policies and procedures in reaching it.

Then in January, Judge Emma Kelly found for Tesco and ruled that the approval should be quashed, and that Herefordshire Council should pay Tesco’s costs in bringing the case.

Yet Lidl’s planning application is still listed on the council’s website as “valid”.

A council spokesperson explained it “has been returned for re-determination”, and will again be considered by the planning committee on April 8.

They added: “Regarding the costs claim made by Tesco, this matter is currently under review, and we are unable to comment further at this stage.”

Ledbury ward councillor and chairman of the town council Liz Harvey maintains her opposition to the scheme, saying it “was always going to have local consequences – for the town centre, for people employed in the existing local supermarkets and for anyone registered with the local GP practice who thought it was going to increase healthcare provision for the town – which it will not, it may either just move the existing practice away from the town centre or allow a private provider to have cheap accommodation”.

Llidl was asked for comment.