Aldi the best option, says Telford report
Audley Avenue would be the best place for a discount supermarket in Newport, according to retail experts.
Telford & Wrekin Council has commissioned White Young Green to compare two supermarket bids in the town - one for a Lidl at Mere Park Garden Centre, and another for an Aldi at the former Focus DIY site in Audley Avenue.
The rival planning applications are set to go head-to-head at the council's planning committee meeting on June 11.
The report concludes that the Aldi at Audley Avenue would be the better option.
The author says that the Aldi site is closer to the town centre boundary than the proposed Lidl at Mere Park Garden.
The report also adds that shoppers accessing Aldi by foot would not have to cross the busy A41 as they would if going to Lidl.
The report says: "We consider the Audley Avenue site to be sequentially superior of the two and that the sequential test supports the grant of planning permission for the Aldi proposal and the refusal of the Lidl proposal."
But White Young Green does note that the Lidl site benefits from being on the bus route..
The report says that the council should examine all relevant factors before reaching a decision.
The council's planning committee could decide to approve one of the stores, both of the stores or neither of the stores when it meets next month.
