ALDI has submitted a full planning application to open a new store on land near Brackla, Bridgend, it has been revealed.
The proposals came after a pre-application consultation which was published in 2023, for the creation of a store on a patch of vacant brownfield land at Brackla Industrial Estate.
The Bridgend site was historically used as a Royal Ordnance Factory for munitions, though this was cleared in the 1970s and 80s and has sat vacant in the years since.
If given the go-ahead by Bridgend County Borough Council’s planning authority, it would see the creation of a single food store building, with 126 car parking spaces, including four accessible bays, nine parent and child bays, four EV charging spaces, along with “attractive landscaping around the site to enhance its appearance.”
Plans say the site would be accessed from the Ffordd Cadfan roundabout, situated near the proposed Ridgeway housing development, around one kilometre away from Bridgend town centre.
The report read: “The site forms part of an employment-led, mixed-use regeneration proposal retaining and providing additional jobs and homes and flexible commercial and recreation facilities to serve the new community, the industrial estate, the village of Coity (to the north-east) and the wider residential community of Brackla to the south.”
The company had previously said it could create between 30 and 50 full and part-time jobs for local people if given the green light, as well as reducing the need for local residents to travel further afield to shop.
In total, 309 responses were received via the online feedback form and reply cards during the public consultation period, with 259 people saying they supported the plans, 40 people saying they were opposed to them, and 10 who were not sure.
The announcement comes just months after the opening of a huge new Aldi store on the beach front in Porthcawl, however the plans show the site in Brackla would be around a third smaller than that one. The application will now go before Bridgend’s planning committee for a decision in the coming months.
