More than 30 members of the public plus Councillors gathered at the Watermark Centre in Ivybridge to hear about Aldi’s plans for a new £8m store.

The planned store would be on land at Rutt Lane to the west of town in the parish of Ugborough and would create 40 new jobs.

This is the second bite of the cherry for Aldi who were refused planning permission for a store on land behind the Town Council building in 2022.

Real Estate Director Elliot Saunders set out the company’s stall by saying:

“We have a limited range of core products for as low a price as possible.

“It means we’re not a one-stop-shop.”

Following a pre-application discussion with SHDC the plans were changed in a number of ways with the hight of the store being reduced, the store being moved further from the perimeter with ‘softening’ of features,

There are plans for 105 parking spaces including six Blue Badge bays, seven parent & child bays and eight cycle parking spaces.

There will also be four electric vehicle charging points with the infrastructure to increase this to 20.

As for the design, the new supermarket would be built to BREEM ‘very good’ standard with solar panels and air source heat pumps.

The plan is for the store to be open typically between 8am to 10pm Monday to Saturday and closing at 4pm on Sundays.

When the store is closed all the lighting including signs would be switched off.

Ivybridge Town Councillors then members of the public were then allowed to ask questions and the issues raised included worries over vehicle pollution, the plans to chop down some trees, concerns from residents of the neighbouring new homes about how they would be affected and possible anti-social behaviour in the car park when the store was closed.

A public consultation is planned soon including a public exhibition on May 30 at Ivybridge Rugby Club and people living in nearby properties will be offered one to one meetings.

The plan is to submit the plans in Summer 2024, a decision is expected by winter 2024/4,

if successful construction would take place next summer with a planned opening in 2026.