Lidl to part-convert Chester shopping hub

The German retailer wants to redevelop two stores within Caldy Valley Retail Park into a 29,000 sq ft supermarket.

Plans filed with Cheshire West & Chester Council outline the discounter’s proposals for the site, on Caldy Valley Road.

Lidl, which is working with One Design Architects and planning adviser Plan A, wants to reconfigure and extend the Rightway and B&M units into a food store.

The other occupiers of the retail park, Pets at Home and Halfords, will be unaffected. The site sits on the south eastern edge of Chester’s urban area, close to a Sainsbury’s.

What is proposed is an extension to the front of the units of 3,100 sq ft, to create a new entrance area, and a rear extension in the service yards of around 1,900 sq ft, to house freezer storage.

Parking at the site will be rearranged, with small increases in the number of disabled spaces and cycle spaces, with 10 parent & child spots and two electric vehicle charging points introduced. The site’s overall total of around 200 spaces will not change significantly.

Should the proposals be given consent, Lidl would have a trading area of 29,000 sq ft across the units, occupying around 40,000 sq ft in total.

Lidl continues to push forward an ambitious expansion drive. The German company secured a consent in Liverpool’s Great Homer Street area, and is now due at committee with a store in the Belle Vale area of the same city.

The group has also upped its ambitions for a Logistics North distribution hub from 640,000 sq ft to 1.1m sq ft.