LOW-COST German supermarket chain Aldi has announced it is on the look-out for 13 new store locations in Somerset – including one in Wellington.

The news comes as the town awaits a decision on rival store Lidl’s controversial plan to set up shop on land off the Cades Farm roundabout and Nynehead Road.

Aldi, the UK’s fifth largest supermarket, is expanding, opening about one new store a week on average.

It now has more than 900 stores across the UK and is looking for freehold town centre or edge-of-centre sites suitable for development.

It says each site should be about 1.5 acres and able to accommodate a 20,000 sq ft store – the proposed Lidl would be 22,500 sq ft.

Aldi envisages about 100 parking spaces, ideally on a prominent main road and with good visibility and access. 

Ciaran Aldridge, national property director at Aldi UK, said: “We have been investing in Britain for more than 30 years now, but we know there are still areas that either do not have an Aldi at all, or that need another store to meet customer demand.

“Shoppers are increasingly looking to get unbeatable prices on their weekly shop without compromising on quality. That’s why, more so than ever, we’re keen to explore all opportunities to open new stores across the country.”

Wellington is one of 13 places in Somerset being targeted, the others being Chard, Cheddar, Keynsham, Nailsea, Taunton, Wells, Weston-super-Mare, Bath, Frome, Midsomer Norton, Wincanton and Yeovil.

The Lidl store application was on Somerset West and Taunton Council’s planning committee agenda in May but was pulled at the last minute.

The council’s principal planning specialist Rebecca Miller said this was ‘on legal advice’, and the matter would go before a future meeting. The next SWT planning meeting is on July 1. It has been recommended for approval with 27 conditions attached.

But Wellington Town Council planning committee opposed the scheme when it was revealed in October and divided when the application was discussed at a meeting, by Zoom, in January.

The councillors’ objection is not to Lidl but to the site: “Cades Farm / Longforth Farm, green fields remote from the town itself, is not the right location,” said Cllr John Thorne in October.

When the Lidl application went before the SWT committee in May, Somerset County Council highways planning officer Alex Skidmore said Lidl’s travel plan, although revised, was unacceptable for a number of reasons.

These included the number of parking spaces that would be created. Mr Skidmore said 116 had been accepted by the authority as a compromise. That figure was more than allowed in a travel plan, but Lidl wanted a further increase to 123.