Wait goes on for Waitrose decision on new Shrewsbury store
Supermarket giant Waitrose says it is no closer to a decision over whether to build a Shrewsbury store that was given planning permission five years ago.
The company had warned it may pull out of the Oteley Road project if plans for a nearby Lidl at Shrewsbury Town Football Club were approved.
A spokesman for the firm said that it is carefully considering the future of the plans, but accepted the delay was frustrating.
The company said that the situation facing supermarkets had resulted in the company having to review all of its building plans.
The spokesman said: "No decision has been taken on our plans for a store in Shrewsbury at this stage. The changes in market conditions in the supermarket sector since first bringing forward our plans means we have had to review our capital planning.
"We appreciate the delay has caused frustration, but it is not something we take lightly and can take time. We will update local people at the earliest opportunity."
Planning permission for the 30,000 sq ft shop was granted in 2012, on land next to Percy Thrower’s Wyevale Garden Centre on Oteley Road.
In recent months the firm also wrote to Shropshire Council registering its opposition to the Lidl plans, which were subsequently given planning permission.
In a letter, Ken Harrison, acquisitions and development manager at Waitrose, warned that approval for Lidl would put his company's plans in jeopardy.
He said: “I am still unable to say when the new store will be built, or indeed whether we would want to vary the application to improve its viability, but what is certain is that if the council approve the Lidl planning application, as a result of the impact it will have on our trade, it will seriously jeopardise the chances of this store happening.”
Waitrose had said in 2014 that its store would create up to 200 jobs.
Oteley Road is the site of considerable development plans, which include Shrewsbury Southern Sustainable Urban Extension.
The development will be made up of around 550 homes, 35 acres of commercial space, and will feature a community centre, a care home, a doctors surgery and a pub.
