A decision on the planned new Lidl supermarket in Ashby is due to be made next week.

North West Leicestershire District Council's planning committee met last month to discuss the application.

But although councillors were recommended to permit the scheme, it was deferred to allow further discussions with the applicant following questions and concerns raised by committee members during the June meeting.

Now, the scheme will come before the committee again on Wednesday - again with a recommendation to permit.

The national budget supermarket chain wants to demolish the Ashfield House building in Resolution Road to make way for the new Ashby store.

Concerns have been raised about the proximity of the planned store to other supermarkets - as well as the increase in traffic, at the junction with Nottingham Road, as a result.

The agenda for the Wednesday meeting itemises the issues which were raised last month.

Image: Lidl

A call for a contribution for improvements to the town centre is likely to be made in the form of a levy towards Ashby BID, rather than a direct payment, says the report.

At the last meeting, Lidl was urged to make a financial contribution to the proposed cycleway from the Money Hill estate to Ashby town centre.

But the report says: "It would be necessary for the costs to be established so as to subsequently determine the types of developments which may contribute towards such costs.

"At present, therefore, there is no committed cycling scheme in place which the development could contribute to. Notwithstanding this, the Money Hill development would deliver cycling infrastructure which would enable connectivity through Money Hill to Resolution Road (via Featherbed Lane), albeit the timescale for the delivery of this infrastructure is currently unknown.

"In addition, the lack of cycle access would be no worse than that associated with the existing office land use which is capable of being reused and which would generate greater demands for cycle access given the number of employees that could be accommodated."

Image: Lidl

Some councillors have called for the store to be built as part of the Money Hill development instead of its planned location.

A 'sequential test' to explore this alternative, was questioned at last month's meeting.

But Wednesday's report reads: "Officers have assessed the applicant's sequential assessment and concur with its recommendations that the application site is the most sequentially preferable location for the proposed development."

Concerns had also been raised as to whether the site had been marketed well enough for its continued use as office space.

But the report adds: "The Council's Planning Policy Team has not raised any concerns with the way that the marketing exercise has been undertaken, and are happy that it demonstrates that there was no interest in Ashfield House being used within its current office use, or any other employment use."

If planning permission is granted, then the effect of demolishing the building on nearby homes is also addressed in the report.

It says: "The applicant has outlined that the demolition of the building will be undertaken by an experienced contractor who will adhere to any necessary guidelines and requirements to ensure there is no adverse impact on the amenity of the surrounding area.

"As members have previously been advised, separate legislation controls such issues. The Town and Country Planning Order 2015 also enables a building to be demolished under a simplified 28 day prior notification procedure,

"To ensure that demolition and construction is not undertaken at unreasonable times, a condition restricting the hours can be imposed on any permission granted in the interests of protecting residential amenity."

The report says the Lidl application has been brought to the committee at the request of ward member, Cllr Murrae Blair-Park, who says the present road infrastructure is incapable of handling the traffic coming and going into Ashby with daily tailbacks for the A511, A/M42 and Market Street, and that within 1,000 metres of the proposed site there is a Tesco, Aldi, M&S Foodhall and B&M which all sell a full range of groceries, that the location is inappropriate for another large grocery retailer.

Addressing highway concerns, council officers say the application will not be turned down for that reason as there have been no objections from the relevant authorities.

The report adds: "An application should only be refused on highway grounds when there is an unacceptable impact on highway safety, or the residual cumulative impacts of the development on the highway network would be severe. Therefore a reason to refuse the application could not be substantiated."

In terms of Improvements to the design of the store, the report says it is considered to be acceptable.

Council officers say, in terms of the loss of trees and improvements to the landscaping scheme, a revised soft landscaping scheme has been submitted.