Budget supermarket back on track as road scheme dropped

Mark Branagan

A BUDGET shopping supermarket, which supporters say will put money in the pockets of hard-pressed families, is back on the cards.

No-frills chain Lidl has already won an appeal against a refusal by Ryedale Council of proposals for a new store in the middle of Pickering.

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But the plans continued to be jeopardised by a junction scheme planned for the crossroads on the A170 Scarborough to Thirsk road with Vivis Lane and The Ropery.

Now North Yorkshire County Council has voted to axe the junction scheme because of cuts in its straightened transport budget.

The news of the decision was welcomed yesterday by County Coun Ron Haigh, a leading campaigner against the junction scheme.

He said: “It would have jeopardised the opportunity for Pickering to have a Lidl store which would benefit Pickering and surrounding villages, and given competition to the Co-op’s two stores in the town.”

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He added that he had always been sceptical about the impact of the junction on congestion, adding: “The main problem, in my view, is the roundabout at the Forest and Vale Hotel.”

When Lidl won approval on appeal to build a store on the old coal depot at the junction of Vivis Lane and Southgate the Government’s planning inspector was doubtful the junction scheme would ever happen. The ruling noted that the junction was congested and remedial action was needed.

But the inspector also underlined that no improvement scheme had been designed or accepted by the county highways department, and no finance allocated.

The county council responded that if the junction scheme did go ahead they would have to buy the depot site from Lidl, by compulsory purchase if necessary.

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But now the county’s executive has decided that the scheme should be cut as part of a 4.5m reduction in transport schemes for the North Yorkshire.

Coun Linda Cowling, who represents Pickering at Ryedale House, said: “I have always felt that the benefit of the road scheme would have been minimal and I welcome the opportunity of the Lidl store coming to Pickering.”