New LIDL for Portland would create 40 jobs

LIDL say they will create up to 40 jobs with a multi-million-pound investment in a new store for Portland.

If approved by the local planning committee it will be built on Hamm Beach Road, close to Osprey Quay.

The 1,100 square metre store will include a bakery and provide parking for 114 vehicles.

Almost 250 people have written in support of the application which is also backed by Portland Town Council – although many have asked for bus stops to be provided as the nearest year-round stop is half a mile away in Victoria Square.

Residents in favour of the application say it will offer them more shopping choice and reduce the need to travel as well as providing a boost for the local economy.

But there were also some concerns, in addition to the lack of a bus connection. These included the visibility of shop signs, the ‘standard’ Lidl shop design, an increase in traffic and that the store should be set further back from the roundabout.

There was also a request for a petrol station and a cafe on the site as well as an electric charging point for cars.

Portland has a Tesco superstore at Easton and smaller Co-operative stores around the island but Lidl would be the island’s first budget supermarket.

A Carter Jonas study suggests that the store would not undermine the viability of the Easton Tesco store.

Planning committee members are being asked at their December 12 meeting to agreed that further soft landscaping be carried out before work starts. They are being recommended to approve the application.

“Given the nature and scale of existing buildings within the Osprey Quay Business Park, I do not anticipate that the proposed retail unit and associated car-parking will have significant impacts upon the local landscape character or visual amenity,” said the report.

By Trevor Bevins, Local Democracy Reporter