Lidl outlines relocation of Darwen store
The discount retailer wants to replace its Duckworth Street shop with a newer, larger model off Bolton Road.
Lidl’s proposed store would be built on the site of the old Belgrave Mill, a two-acre brownfield site just south of Darwen Town Centre. The previous mill buildings have since been demolished, although the site still does have some initial foundations for a 127-home project that never came to be due to viability issues.
This new store would be 9,000 sq ft larger than the one it seeks replace. The proposals, submitted by Rapleys on Lidl’s behalf, include a 15,500 sq ft sales area, bakery, warehouse, staff offices, and customer toilets.
Cars would access the store from either Bolton Road (through a new priority junction) or from Wraith Street. There would also be 97 spaces for the cars to park, with six of those spaces designated for disabled driver and nine for parents and children. There would also be 12 cycle spaces by the entrance of the story.
HTC Architects drew up the designs for the proposed store’s layout. SCP is the transport consultant, Miller Goodall the noise and air expert, and FDA the landscape architect.
The project team also includes Topping Engineers, Enzygo, AWA, DDA, Signify, Brownfield Solutions, and Durham University Archaeology.
Learn more about the proposed store by searching reference number 10/23/1140 on Blackburn with Darwen’s planning portal.
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could Lidl consider the following points in their new store?
1. more disabled parking spots adjacent to the store entry point.
2.installation of customer toilet facilities for customer convenience.
3.not installing self serve tills, customer/Lidl staff good interaction in my opinion is very important when using/exiting the payment section.
4.introducing an alternative scheme to your existing Lidl Plus loyalty scheme, because not everybody has a smart phone or the ability to use one if they have (old and disabled people don’t always move with the modern times!!!).
By james smith