Plea for Aldi store to be rejected

The proposed Aldi store in Whalley Road (Barkers former nursery) is on a site that has planning permission for housing. At the time it was a derelict site and not a nice landscape as you entered the town.

Now, with all buildings removed, it is a wildlife haven. Another supermarket in the town is sustainable for Aldi, but not for the town centre retail industry. Add in the fact the Whalley Road site is on the verge of “out of town” and a couple of semis away from a Spar supermarket at the filling station and you have a recipe for the demise of businesses elsewhere.

Now we have, also in Whalley Road, not just the closure of its last remaining pub but its sale along with associated land that includes a very busy allotment site with notices to quit issued to tenants.

This impacts on the social fabric of the town. There is a two-year waiting list with the Town Council so something needs to be done now.

I urge the local authorities to reject the supermarket proposal and to relocate the allotment holders.

BRUCE DOWLES,

Whalley Road, Clitheroe