THE TWO county councillors representing Carmarthen Town South Ward, met with senior Lidl estates managers from their area HQ last Friday (Jun 22) to discuss the company’s proposed plan to open a new supermarket in Carmarthen, after concerns were raised that many of the elderly people living near their current store would keenly feel the loss of a nearby food shop.
Lidl is taking over the Friar’s Park site, previously occupied by Dyfed-Powys police, to open a new ‘new neighbourhood foodstore’ with a 1,326m2 sales area, a bakery, 116 free car parking spaces (including disabled and parent & child) and customer toilets. The company says that this would create or safeguard up to 40 jobs.
“We told the Lidl representatives that we welcomed their investment in our town. It says a lot for Carmarthen that one of the UK’s fastest-growing supermarkets wants to expand here,” said Cllr Alun Lenny.
“However, the reason we’d requested the meeting was to discuss the future use of the present store site in Priory Street. Both the present and proposed stores are in our ward.”
“For 18 years, the Lidl store has been a valuable local shop for the growing number of hundreds of mostly elderly people living in the immediate area: in Tŷ Rhys, Hafan Tywi, St John’s and St Peter’s Courts and their own homes.
To those places, we can now add Plas-y-Milwr and the 45 new homes being built on the old Denzil Evans garage site,” said Cllr Gareth John.
The councillors explained that Lidl’s relocation to a new site about a mile away would be a serious blow to many who walk to the present store. Although the new supermarket is unlikely to open for another two years, during which time the Priory Street store will remain open, they were concerned that the company would place a covenant on the present site to stop another food retail unit from opening there.
“We emphasised the negative impact such a covenant would have on residents in the Priory Street area and explained that a smaller food outlet on the present Lidl site would not compete with the planned supermarket at the other end of town. We’re very glad that the company’s representatives accepted our viewpoint, saying that they wished to minimise the impact on their present loyal customers in the immediate area.
“As a result, they gave us an assurance that the company would not obstruct a smaller food outlet from opening on the site. This depends, of course, on who buys the site, but at least we know now that Lidl would not close the door on such a development.”
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