View of the site looking north

Welcome

Sign the petition to bring this development to Wetherby

Over 3,400 people have sent us a feedback form during the project, with over 2,500 people in the local community being generally supportive of the plans.

If you would like a new Lidl store, care home and eco-homes for the over 55s, please sign the petition here

If you haven’t done so already, you can also let the Council know that you support the plans. Click here to email.

Artist’s impression looking from the roundabout

The proposals

The proposals include:

A new 1,392 sq. m (net sales) Lidl store with an in-store bakery and customer toilets
108 customer parking spaces, including nine accessible spaces, nine parent and child spaces and two rapid Electric Vehicle charging points
An 84-bed care home with associated car parking, including accessible spaces and an ambulance area
Eight senior living eco-homes for the over 55s with private gardens, associated parking and EV electric charging points
The retention of the vast majority of the trees and hedgerow along the site boundaries and significant new tree planting across the site. New landscape buffers to the north and west boundaries to protect residential amenity
The creation of around 160 new jobs across the development
Enhanced sustainability features designed to reach a BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating. Photovoltaic panels on the store’s roof will contribute towards the store’s energy needs. Lidl has been voted the joint ‘greenest’ supermarket by Which?
The development is of a high-quality design, sensitive to its surroundings, and will be built in local stone

Changes made since the public consultation

The proposed extra care apartment block has been replaced with eight senior living eco-homes for the over 55s. The layout of the homes has been carefully considered to complement the existing residential properties close to this area of the site
The care-home building has been shifted further away from existing residential properties and reduced in height overall. The highest part of the proposed building is towards the site access road and further away from existing residential properties. Landscaped gardens for care home residents and the inclusion of a green wall will soften the elevation facing onto existing properties
The pedestrian routes through to Micklethwaite Grove and via Grange View have been removed
Footway improvements along some of Wetherby Road and part of Boston Road towards Wetherby town centre including a 3 metre wide shared footway/cycle way on Wetherby Road and a 2 metre wide footway on Boston Road

Previous site plan shared with the community

Care Home

Creating care homes in the heart of communities is important to us and Wetherby will be no different. With sustainability at the forefront of our future business plans, the Wetherby site will be innovative and set to be an exemplar development within the sector. Due to the design and sustainability measures, the combined utility bills for the eco-homes will be minimal, which is vital in the current economic climate.

The footprint and layout of the care home and eco-homes were carefully considered to respond to its surroundings. There will also be four individually designed gardens for care homer residents to use with a variety of care needs, including dementia.

About Springfield Healthcare

Springfield Healthcare is a proud Yorkshire based company. The family business was founded by Albert Lee and Andrea Lee in 1967 and is still run by their son Graeme to this day. Celebrating 55 years of experience within the care sector, Springfield Healthcare specialise in residential retirement communities, nursing and dementia care and is the most established care company in Leeds and Yorkshire. Their focus is on promoting high levels of independence by offering a range of quality care services that support and enhance the quality of life for all their residents.

Springfield currently operate 500 care beds across six homes in North and West Yorkshire. They are committed to the region and future plans for growth are all Yorkshire based. In all of their developments, Springfield seeks to promote community use and interaction within their homes.

They welcome sharing their space with the wider community and their homes have recently welcomed, amongst others, local primary schools, a troupe of actors for rehearsals, and a mobile coffee shop.

Springfield Healthcare often work with heritage buildings restoring them to their former glory to ensure these historical assets are preserved for the future and enhance the local community. With sustainability at the forefront of future business plans, the Wetherby site will continue their passion for innovation and is set to be an example for the sector.

View of care home from within the site

About Lidl

Since establishing itself in Great Britain in 1994, Lidl GB has experienced continuous growth and today has over 28,000 employees, over 950 stores and 13 distribution centres in England, Scotland and Wales. Lidl GB is passionate about working with British producers and sources two thirds of its products from British suppliers.

View from front of Lidl store looking towards the care home and eco-homes

Lidl’s operation

Lidl first opened its doors in Great Britain in 1994 and currently has over 28,000 employees, 935 stores and 13 distribution centres in England, Scotland and Wales. Lidl takes pride in providing top quality products at low prices.

The Lidl retail philosophy is focused on simplicity and maximum efficiency at every stage of the business, from supplier to customer, enabling the company to sell high quality own brand and well-known products at low prices.

Red Tractor

Lidl is committed to sourcing high quality fresh meat, poultry, fruit and veg from British farms. We work closely with Red Tractor to ensure that our British meat, poultry, fruit and veg is responsibly sourced to strict food hygiene, animal welfare and environmental standards, with every pack traceable to the farm of origin. This guarantees our customers a fresh, locally sourced, high quality range of meat and poultry at excellent value.

Fairtrade

Lidl GB sells over 50 different Fairtrade certified products, from bananas originating from Colombia, tea picked in Kenya and cocoa for our chocolate, grown in Cote d’Ivoire. In addition to the products we sell all year round, we proudly support specific Fairtrade campaigns such as Fairtrade Fortnight. This is an opportunity to give a voice to farmers and growers throughout the world.

Local jobs

Lidl GB has long been committed to increasing wages in line with the cost of living, with a combined investment of over £50 million into hourly wages over the past five years. From March 2022, the retailer made its biggest ever investment into colleague wages, making it one of the highest paying supermarkets in the UK. The commitment of £18 million has seen entry-level pay rise from £9.50 to £10.10 per hour outside of London and £10.85 to £11.35 within the M25, with colleagues earning up to £11.40 and £12.25 respectively, depending on length of service. Lidl also do not offer zero hour contracts.

Middle of Lidl

The new store at Wetherby would feature our famous ‘Middle of Lidl’ products. Our ever-changing middle aisle offers customers the opportunity to purchase non-food household items at bargain prices. Click here to see this week’s offers.

Sustainability

The proposed store will meet Lidl’s high sustainability standards which are intended to minimise environmental impact over the lifetime of the store.

Our delivery vehicles are used to remove waste from the store on their return journey to the nearest Regional Distribution Centre, where the waste/recyclable material is sorted and managed centrally. This also helps to reduce vehicle trips and CO2 emissions
Lidl recycle all paper/cardboard and plastic waste produced by their stores
Store heating and lighting are controlled by a computerised Building Management System (BMS). This minimises energy consumption by adapting to external temperatures and lighting levels
The chilled food cabinets incorporate night blinds which trap the chilled air and reduce overnight energy consumption
Lidl refrigeration plant has low carbon emissions ratings and operates without the need for chlorofluorocarbons
Lidl stores use a manual dock leveller for deliveries, which reduces noise emissions and energy use
All lighting in the warehouse and staff welfare areas is controlled with motion sensors ensuring that electricity consumption is minimised
When the building is occupied by staff only (with no customers) the lighting system is powered down to only use one out of every three fluorescent tubes
Water consumption is carefully monitored and flow control devices and water meters are fitted in all stores
The car park lighting is switched off overnight and is controlled by a Lux sensor during trading hours
The store at Wetherby will have Electric Vehicle charging points

LIDL HAS COMMITTED TO BEING:

Good for Producers – including championing the British food and farming sector, focusing on our supplier relationships, human rights and ethical trade, and animal welfare

Good for People – including healthy eating, supporting charities such as the NSPCC and by becoming the employer of choice in our sector

Good for our Planet – by promoting a low carbon economy, minimising food waste, ensuring our supply chains are deforestation free and by reducing, recycling and re-using plastics and packaging

For more details on Lidl’s sustainability commitments, click here.

Your questions answered

Gateway site

The site lies at an important gateway into Wetherby and it’s essential that the new development creates a positive first impression of the town.
The development is sensitively designed to take account of its surroundings and the Lidl store will not be visible from the roundabout into Wetherby.

Store height

The store will be the same height as the surrounding two-storey houses.

Deliveries

Lidl will typically have one HGV delivery per day. All products are brought in one vehicle and waste and recycling is taken away by the same vehicle.
A ramp leads down to the delivery bay and a hood covers the back of the lorry connecting it to the store. Delivery activity is undertaken inside the store. There is no outside service yard with waste and recycling kept inside the store reducing noise impacts.
Store deliveries will not take place at night. Due to the nature of the care home, deliveries must take place during sociable hours to not disturb residents.

Pedestrian access

As a result of feedback, there will be no footpath to Micklethwaite Grove.

Noise

An independent Noise Assessment found that noise impacts from the store development will be low.
Lidl will install a 2.4-metre-high acoustic barrier around the plant area to further guard against noise impacts.
A significant landscaping buffer, including tree planting will further shield neighbours from any noise associated with the store’s operation.

Lighting

Car park lighting is switched off overnight and is controlled by a lux light sensor during trading hours.
Light is directed away from neighbouring properties and special light shields prevent light spillage.

Retail need

The Lidl store would directly compete against the Aldi store, which is trading very well at around three times the national company average.
During the public consultation, many people told us there is a need for another supermarket in Wetherby, and separately, in response to the Neighbourhood Plan, local residents also identified a need for another foodstore, preferably outside of the town centre.

Why can’t the Lidl store be built in the town centre?

A thorough assessment of potential alternatives sites that could accommodate the development has been undertaken. For the purposes of the assessment, the sequential assessment test has been applied for the foodstore element of the proposals only – including associated parking, servicing areas and landscaping – excluding the care home and senior living units (which are not town centre uses).

The sites assessed in Wetherby are:

24-26 Market Place
Cluster of Nuts Car Park
Horsefair Shopping Centre

The assessment also looked at vacant units within the town centre, however, any that did exist at the time of the assessment are small in scale and dispersed across the town.

In summary, there are currently limited opportunities for any significant new development within these centres, due to the built-up nature of the centres and surrounding residential areas. Of those sites which have been identified, none are both sequentially preferable, and suitable and available, to accommodate the proposed development.

Next steps

A planning application for the proposals has been submitted to Leeds City Council who will determine the application.

View of the site looking towards the roundabout

Contact us

0800 089 0361

lidlwetherby@new-stores.co.uk

View from the proposed access road

A new Lidl and care facility for
Wetherby