Green light for Lidl in Fallowfield
Manchester City Council has approved plans to part-demolish a retail park for the 13,500 sq ft store.
In plans submitted in autumn 2021 by advisor Rapleys, Lidl declared its intention to knock down six shop units at the Birchfields Road site.
The total amount of retail space to be demolished at Fallowfield Retail Park is just over 17,000 sq ft and includes units formerly occupied by Barnardo’s, Burger King, Carphone Warehouse, and Jolleys Pet Store.
In common with most Lidl stores, the net sales area will be 13,500 sq ft within a building of around 20,000 sq ft. The scheme includes a total of 94 parking spaces, 31 more than are present on the site currently.
Lidl bought the site, close to the junction with Kingsway, for an undisclosed sum from CBRE GI, which retained the northern portion of the 48,000 sq ft Fallowfield Retail Park, occupied by Home Bargains and Iceland.
The health centre at the southern tip of Lidl’s part of the site will remain.
The scheme has similarities to that proposed at Caldy Valley Retail Park near Chester. In plans filed in April, Lidl proposed the reconfiguration and extension of units occupied by Rightway and B&M for a foodstore.
Smalley Marsey Rispin is the architect for the Fallowfield project. SCP has advised on transport and travel, with the professional team also including Miller Goodall, Remada, Enzygo, FDA, AWA and Signify.
How about we bin it all and restart with units positioned along the roadside, locate a big increase in cycle parking provision along the frontages, and place a much-reduced car parking allocation out of sight between rear of units and the rail line? Currently pedestrians need to walk across a huge car park to attend a shop, needlessly extending their journey; it’s 1960s car-centric legacy in action.
By Active Travel Trev
When are they going to get on with this. The site has become a breeding ground for vandalism and has become unsafe to people trying to access the health centre. Windows are broken, rubbish everywhere, broken bricks on the floor, disabled bays unusable. It’s a disgrace.
Lidl have a responsibility to get on with it, make the site safe and habitable and actually look decent, and not a dump for vandals to hang out.
By Anonymous
What is happening with this site. It’d now an eyesor and subject to vandalism
By Kath Smid
i hate this, i loved the retail park for its diversity in stores, iceland, pundland, charity sotre, pet shops and burger king, all now reduced to home bargins, iceland and lidl…. seriously whats the point.
from my understanding of the plans the road layout isnt changing, clearly the LA has no clue what traffic is like in this area, a lidl here will cause gridlock both on the road and carpark STUPID decision by the council.
By Anonymous