Plan for new, larger Lidl supermarket on Ingleby Road is refused

The retailer already has a store at the junction of Ingleby Road and Duncombe Road, but last year an application to build a larger, greener store on a site a short distance away was submitted to Bradford Council.

The former Tyre City building would be flattened to make way for the new store, which would include a car park with over 100 spaces.

But yesterday, planning officers at the Council refused the application for a variety of reasons, including fears the new store would harm local biodiversity and “result in conditions prejudicial to pedestrian and highway safety."

When the plans were submitted, Lidl said the store would create an extra 10 jobs compared to the existing store, and argued it would have little impact on traffic on the road.

The existing Lidl on Ingleby Road

It has yet to be revealed what the plans for the existing store would be if the application was approved.

Highways officers raised concerns about the application, leading to “lengthy discussions” with Lidl over access to and from the store to Ingleby Road before the plan was refused.

They argued a planned signalised junction at the entrance to the site would not work, and create a “substandard highways junction.”

They added: “Our Traffic Signals team have concern about the introduction of a signalised junction at this location due to the close proximity to existing signal junctions, the traffic volumes on Ingleby Road and the likelihood of a high proportion of right turn manoeuvres.”

The highways team also felt the development could prejudice a cycle scheme planned for the area, a scheme that, if done properly, could open up a section of Bradford Beck that runs next to the site.

The planned site of the new Lidl

It could also prejudice the development of a neighbouring site allocated for employment use – creating a “piecemeal” development rather than the wider regeneration of the site.

Officers claimed the work would also go against the Council’s biodiversity policies.

Under current planning rules, and development must lead to a 10 per cent increase in biodiversity in that area.

Although this site is brownfield, it does lie next to a stretch of Bradford Beck, and Council officers said any regeneration of the land should include more enhancements to the waterway than are currently proposed by Lidl.

Officers said: “The development would result in an unacceptable loss of biodiversity (38.3 per cent loss of habitat units and only 5.26 per cent increase in river units), with no clear strategy to reaching the required 10 per cent Biodiversity Net Gain.”