Shrewsbury Lidl gets green light from councillors
Detailed plans to build a 23,500 sq ft store on Welshpool Road have been given the thumbs up by Shropshire Council’s planning committee, along with outline proposals for a care home and a residential scheme.
Applicant Lidl lodged its hybrid application in August 2025 for the 4.9-acre Bicton Heath site, which is divided into three separate plots.
The site forms part of Shrewsbury’s western extension, a 130-acre expansion of the town allocated for the development of more than 700 houses and 30 acres of employment land between Bicton Heath and Calcott.
The scheme headed for committee with a recommendation for approval from the council’s planning officers, despite concerns from Shrewsbury Town Council, who had cited traffic concerns and described the scheme as an overdevelopment of the area.
In an objection, the town council accused Lidl of “cramming multiple uses on site” with “little regard for visual amenity, biodiversity or impact on existing infrastructure”.
However the application attracted an equal measure of support and objections from members of the public, with 15 comments received in support of the scheme described as “unusual” by planning committee vice-chair Cllr Ben Jephcott.
The firm had scaled down commercial elements of the development in response to pre-application advice from planning officers, with a drive-thru coffee shop and a retail unit originally earmarked for the care home plot.
During a three-hour meeting of Shropshire’s northern planning committee, a representative for the applicant declined to offer a ball-park figure for the number of homes which could be brought forward for the residential element of the scheme.
Detailed proposals for the care home and residential developments are expected to be brought forward in due course.
The application was approved by seven votes to three by the committee.
Planning consultancy had been provided by Rapleys, with designs produced by Whittam Cox Architects. The project team included Royal Pilgrim, Enzygo, SCP, Signify, Acoustic Consultants, Border Archaeology, DDA, and FDA Landscape.
Documents and plans relating to the application can be found on Shropshire’s planning portal using reference: 25/02916/FUL
