Shrewsbury Town disappointed by Lidl supermarket delay

Plans for a new Lidl supermarket on land owned by Shrewsbury Town Football Club were today approved, although development can’t go ahead just yet.

A covenant requires the land on which the supermarket would be built to be available for community use.

The case to transfer the s106 agreement onto the pitch behind the Greenhous Meadow South Stand for a new community pitch was deferred.

Shrewsbury Town CEO Brian Caldwell said: “STFC are very disappointed that the elected councillors on the planning committee chose to defer the variation to S106, which was to move the community pitch from the proposed area for Lidl to the existing training pitch at the stadium. This therefore delays the Lidl development even further as this was also required to allow Lidl to get permission to move ahead.

“It was disappointing that some of the councillors did not seem to grasp the facts and were unaware of the existing investment in community activities of the football club through the charity Shrewsbury Town in the Community.

“The change would have been to the benefit of the local people and the opportunity to substantially increase their work further with the availability of the training pitch behind the South Stand despite the case being made quite clear by planning officers.

“We as a club cannot understand why Shropshire Council would seek to delay not just the Lidl development but the expansion of the clubs activities within our local community through Shrewsbury Town in the Community.”