More on KentOnline
More on KentOnline
Budget store Lidl is set to move in with a DIY chain in a retail house-share.
The supermarket will be quitting its current location in The Broadway Centre, Maidstone and joining Wickes a few hundred yards along the road, in its St Peter's Street building.
Maidstone council's planning committee approved a planning application that would allow Wickes and Lidl to share the existing large Wickes warehouse building, which would remain as it does now, apart from internal alterations and a new facade.
Adam Forsdick, for Lidl, told councillors that the existing Lidl in The Broadway did not provide "The most modern customer experience."
The move would enable the retailer to increase its range as well as facilitating deliveries, which would be all on one level, unlike the existing building, where the retail outlet is on the first floor, with deliveries at ground level.
He said it would also enable the firm to give the staff better facilities. He said all the shop staff were "very excited" about the move and would all be transferring.
It was expected that some additional posts would be created.
The move was largely welcomed by councillors. Cllr Peter Holmes described it as "a positive move for the town," while Cllr Tony Harwood (Lib Dem) suggested it could be - with a few tweaks - "a retail development that Maidstone could be proud of."
He noted that a series of trees on the St Peter's Road boundary of the car park had recently been removed - though they shouldn't have been as they were required under the original grant of planning permission to Wickes.
He proposed permission be granted with a requirement for landscaping around all three edges of the car park. Councillors will also require there to be six electric vehicle charging points.
A final condition was that the car park be used only for shoppers' parking - it was noted that occasionally Wickes' delivery lorries had been parked in the shoppers car park, even though there is a separate delivery bay. Councillors considered this could be potentially dangerous.
There will be no alteration to the access from St Peter's Street.
There is no date for the transfer yet.
The announcement does raise a question mark over the future of the Broadway Centre. The centre has a number of small businesses on the ground-floor level, but on the first floor the anchor retailers were previously Matalan and Lidl.
Matalan has already moved out to new premises in The Mall Shopping Centre.
Several years ago, planning officers at Maidstone council had wanted to see the whole Broadway centre re-developed for housing as part of the town centre's five "Opportunity Sites." They put forward a suggestion for 281 flats, including a 15-storey tower block.
The proposal was eventually rejected by councillors in November 2019.
London and General Property Ltd, which owns the centre, could not be reached for comment, but Cllr Paul Harper (Lab) who represents the nearby Fant Ward, said: "In the current economic circumstances, it's difficult to see how they will find two new anchor stores."
He said: "That inevitably means some scheme for redevelopment will return.
"Previously one of the key causes of concern among residents was that they would lose the Lidl store. Now Lidl's future in the town seems secured, I imagine there would be less opposition to redevelopment.
"There might be a scheme that was acceptable, provided that the massing of any new buildings was no greater than the current building and that potential traffic issues were properly mitigated."
Head to our business page for all the latest news about business in Kent
Read more: All the latest news from Maidstone
