We wanted homes on Aldi supermarket site

Some 12 years ago, my son Nic and myself saw the writing on the wall for small family-run businesses in this country and, with a lot of soul searching, we decided to sell – and my son, wife Nicola and our three grandchildren would emigrate to Australia to start a new life in a better country.

Many people, among them Aldi, were vying to buy the land off us. It took Nic, my wife and myself two years to decide who we would sell our cherished land to. In the end, we settled for a developer from Kendal after seeing the developments he had built in Ribchester and Gigglelwick – good quality houses with a mixture of family and older people’s homes on the one site, similar to ones across the road at Beverly Drive.

Needless to say, he was stymied at every attempt by the authorities constantly moving the goalposts to build the houses we wanted. And guess who pops up now – Aldi!

Bill Barker

Littlemoor, Clitheroe