A new, controversial budget supermarket has been granted planning permission at Sandford near Wareham in Dorset by the narrowest of margins in a surprise turnaround.
Dorset Council planning officers had recommended refusal for the Lidl store despite huge public support, but after a vote to approve plans was equally split, committee chair David Tooke used his casting vote to give the store his blessing.
Aerial shot of the site off the Sandford Road to be developed as a Lidl supermarket
Passionate cases for and against
At a meeting of Dorset Council’s eastern area planning committee on Wednesday 6th November 2024, passionate cases were made both for and against the scheme, with one local resident being expelled from the room after being refused permission to speak.
Planning officers urged councillors to refuse the plan for a Lidl store on the 1.25 hectare field next to Pottery Lines in Sandford, which is designated as green belt land but used for an annual two-week funfair at the end of summer.
Planners wanted to protect the site ‘to prevent further erosion of the green belt and further encroachment on the countryside’, saying a supermarket was inappropriate development with no special circumstances to outweigh the harm it would cause.
But after one of the biggest public reactions ever to a Dorset planning application, with 4,000 residents responding to a consultation and 721 comments received – and with 75 percent in favour of the store – councillors questioned the advice they were given by their own officers.
Councillor Spencer Flower of Verwood quickly moved to propose granting planning permission for the Lidl store
“A man from Mars might ask, Why?”
Speaking in the meeting, former council leader Spencer Flower of Verwood proposed accepting the plans. He said:
“We have heard from officers, from the applicant and from people opposing and supporting the plans and what it comes down to is our judgement on what is the importance of the green belt in this location. Are there justifications for setting it aside in the wider public interest?
“It is designated as green belt in the Purbeck local plan, but if a man from Mars arrived today and looked at it, he might ask ‘Why?’ because it is surrounded by housing with a little vegetation at the back, there’s nothing special about it.
“There have been no objections from Dorset Environment, no objections from Dorset Wildlife Trust, no objections from Natural England, and those are the sort of people you would expect to hear from against development on green belt.
“There’s no objections from Dorset Council Highways and that’s quite substantial. There is enough in here to justify an exception to the policy, I think there is a net benefit here for people who have to go out of the area to shop.”
The entrance to the field near the Sibley Pottery roundabout, Sandford
“A bit of a sad field anyway”
Seconding the proposal, councillor Alex Brenton of Lytchett Matravers said:
“You can often try to pull out of Morden Road at 10 am on a Saturday morning and find the traffic blocked in both directions- that happens now, but a lot of that traffic is local and heading for Poole to do their shopping.
“If they didn’t have to go to Poole but were able to do their shopping locally instead, perhaps there wouldn’t be so much traffic?
“These people will not be travelling so many miles, will not be burning so much fuel and will not be putting so much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, so there could theoretically even be an improvement in air quality.
“It’s not as though this little field is used for agriculture, most of the year it is idle apart from when it hosts a funfair.
“If this proposal goes ahead it will change the view, which is a bit sad, but at the moment it is a bit of a sad field anyway which doesn’t act as a demarcation between Sandford and Wareham, and is not particularly good for wildlife.”
A Lidl supermarket could be up and running in Purbeck by Christmas 2025
40 new jobs planned at store
The plan must now be referred to the government’s secretary of state for housing, communities and local government Angela Raynor because it is over the threshold for development within green belt land, but permission seems unlikely to be overruled.
The government is about to publish a new National Planning Policy Framework which will include a process for redesignating lower quality green belt like this site, as grey belt.
This will make it easier to build new housing, develop local infrastructure and promote economic growth. Lidl says the new Sandford store will create 40 new local jobs.
The new Lidl will become the only discount supermarket in Purbeck, preventing the need for Swanage residents to drive a 34 mile round trip to Aldi in Upton, or further to Asda or Tesco stores in Poole.
Local resident Shirley Fletcher made a plea for affordable shopping to be brought to Purbeck
“Desperately in need of a new supermarket”
Local resident Shirley Fletcher told the meeting:
“I have lived here all my life, I was born in Corfe Castle and lived in Wareham with a very successful retail business in the town for 26 years.
“I have seen the town grow and now, with the probability of 70 new buildings at Bere Regis, we are desperately in need of another new supermarket.
“This small piece of land is not surrounded by beautiful rolling hills and wonderful walks, but by warehousing, housing estates and mismatched buildings.
“I cannot see that a supermarket would impact on the character of an area that is already built up. We all feel very lucky to live here, but it is a very expensive area to live in.
“In 2022/23, Dorset had the third highest council tax out of 347 councils, we have above average house and rental prices and also lack social housing making it very difficult for young families to be able to afford to live here.
“Please vote in favour of this application and don’t deny young families, pensioners and others the choice of being able to shop more competitively locally without having to travel to Poole.”
Dorset Council’s eastern area planning committee gets ready to debate the Lidl application
“It will lead to extra traffic on the A351”
However John Williamson, chair of Wareham St Martin parish council spoke against the proposal. He said:
“Lidl states that the green belt does not make a significant contribution to the national environment, but its main purpose is to stop urban sprawl from the conurbation.
“If allowed, this building would set a precedent for building on green belt around Poole Harbour, and destroy any protection of the globally important flora and fauna it protects.
“It will also lead to extra traffic on the A351 which is already heavily congested with long queues through Sandford and can only exacerbate an already unacceptable situation.
“We note that the majority of favourable responses posted on the Dorset Council’s planning portal come from those who live furthest away, in Bovington and Swanage, and those who objected to it live closest.”
Wareham councillor Beryl Ezzard objected to the proposal
“In the wrong place on a green belt site”
Wareham ward member for Dorset Council Beryl Ezzard objected to the proposal, and said:
“Who wouldn’t want a Lidl store next to them? But unfortunately it’s in the wrong place on a green belt site and would spoil the area of Sandford, which is such a small village.
“It would increase the traffic flow, there is no retail need for it, it falls outside the settlement development boundary for Sandford and is next to a Site of Special Scientific Interest near heathland.
“It is a very special area and we don’t want land filled in to make us feel like we are part of Wareham. It is remarkably close to the iconic Grade II listed Sibley Pottery chimney, spoiling the character of the area.
“The megastore will be a blot on the landscape on this green belt site in Sandford and will set a precedent to build on other green belt sites.”
The application site was described as a ‘sad little field’
“It is time that this was settled”
Councillor Spencer Flower, speaking after the meeting, said:
“Members were asked to make a finely balanced judgement. I’m a great supporter of the Green Belt but it comes down to a fairly limited impact on a little bit of green belt, against the benefit to the wider community.
“The level of interest from the public was very high, probably higher than I have experienced in all my years as a councillor. We had an opportunity to set aside policy in the wider interest of the community and we made that judgement, even though it was contrary to the officer recommendation.
“The site has been designated as green belt in the Purbeck local plan – but you might ask why, because today it is surrounded by housing in a substantial village setting if not quite an urban setting.
“It is a difficult judgement – we have to ask what is the importance of the green belt set against the wider public need for a discount supermarket when the cost of living is so high. This has been going on for two years and it is time that it was settled.”
Lidl’s regional head of property James Mitchell was delighted with the result
“Deliver the scheme as soon as we can”
If the supermarket plans are rubber stamped by February 2025 and with new stores typically taking 26 weeks to build, it’s estimated a new Lidl could theoretically open its doors in Purbeck in time for Christmas 2025.
After the meeting James Mitchell, regional head of property for Lidl, said:
“It was a borderline call and probably a difficult call for local members to take, but I firmly believe that the many benefits associated with the application clearly outweigh the perceived harm in the loss of green belt.
“I am delighted with the result and look forward to delivering the scheme at the earliest possibility.
“It’s too soon today to say when that might be – we need to let the dust settle, but we will be working really hard to deliver the scheme as soon as we can.
“It is right that councillors’ views, and the vast majority of local opinion, should outweigh the perceived harm by development in green belt.”
The planned layout for the new Sandford Lidl
Public response has been unprecedented
James Mitchell added:
“The supermarket will provide affordable goods for local residents, remove the need to travel further afield to satisfy basic shopping needs, reducing vehicle mileage by over 1.5 million miles a year, saving over 400 tons of carbon.
“These substantial benefits outweigh any harm. The land achieves very few green belt objectives and is more of a natural infill site.
“The public response has been unprecedented with thousands of residents supporting the scheme and crying out for improved facilities.
“More than 4,000 residents responded to Lidl’s consultation with 3,200 supporting the scheme – and of those who didn’t agree, only 1.5 percent cited loss of green belt land as a reason for their objection.”
Plans for the new Lidl supermarket will provide 1,411 square metres of sales area including its well-regarded bakery and its popular middle aisle, 112 car parking spaces with two EV charging spots, cycle parking and solar panels on the store roof.
Further information
- More details about the Sandford store on Lidl’s website
