German supermarket chain Lidl said a new store in Cumbria will be built after a legal challenge by rival Tesco failed.
Lidl was granted planning permission to build a new supermarket on New Bridge Road in Workington in March, but Tesco launched a legal challenge to block the development.
The new Lidl store would be built on land next to the existing Tesco store. The discounter initially applied for planning permission in August 2019 and was given the green light in December 2019. The council’s decision was quashed in March 2020 in earlier judicial review proceedings.
This time Tesco said members of Allerdale council’s development panel could have been misled by the planning officer’s report over planning policy and asked the High Court to decide.
The ruling by Mr Justice Fordham says while there was a misunderstanding of one of the policies, it would not have altered the panel’s decision. He dismissed Tesco’s claims and upheld Allerdale Borough Council’s decision to grant planning permission.
Tesco was ordered to pay £25,000 legal costs. It was also refused permission to appeal the judgement.
Lidl GB’s regional head of property, David Murphy, said: “We are delighted with the court’s decision and grateful to Allerdale Borough Council for defending their decision so robustly.
“We would like to take the opportunity to also extend our sincere thanks to the community for their continued support. We now look forward to getting started with construction and will provide further updates on the development as we progress.”
