Madam,

Your unnamed correspondent cannot believe that Ceredigion council would give planning permission for yet another supermarket (Aldi) in Aberystwyth.

It would appear that one of our current stores, Lidl, is also unhappy with this decision and are likely to seek Judicial Review of the planning process in this case.

Should this review go ahead, how much money will the council spend to defend its decision in court? Is it good policy for the council to upset a store with a long-standing Aberystwyth presence to accommodate a newcomer? Is their decision influenced by giving permission for a food store and hotel on this site in 2011? Apart from the absence of a hotel, has nothing else changed in the last eight years?

Perhaps the most questionable decision of the planners is to fly in the face of a very recommendation from Natural Resources Wales to refuse this application on the grounds of flood risk. To mitigate this risk, Tesco and the development alongside the river at the back of the football club have been built on stilts with car parking on the ground floor.

NRW’s advice seems to have been ignored on the grounds that a store is a less vulnerable development than a hotel or housing and the strategic importance of this site, despite the admission that it has sub-optimal parking provision for either a hotel or supermarket. If this development goes ahead, who will be liable if flooding damages this site or adjoining buildings?

Your correspondent queries whether there is a need for further supermarkets in Aberystwyth. Shortly after Tesco and M&S opened, the Co-op opposite was replaced by Budgens. They folded and have been replaced by Home Bargains – not principally a food retailer. Does this suggest that there is a need for another food store?

There is one aspect of planning and the Tesco store that you may like to draw to your readers’ attention. The planning application stated “In order to ensure that the new trees have the best opportunity to flourish it is proposed to plant them within tree pits with grilles. Along Glyndwr Walk fastigiate cultivars will be selected and trained to ensure that they do not impede access or create opportunities for concealment”.

In the event 248 beech saplings were planted in 31 troughs along Glyndwr Walk. They have not been properly tended. When I looked at them in May, 67 per cent were dead.

There are plenty of other examples of planning folly in the town. Currently Pantycelyn Halls are being refurbished with en suite facilities. Anybody remember the planning application for the Penglais Farm student accommodation that said students wanted en suite facilities nowadays and it was not practical to alter Pantycelyn in this way? Thus new accommodation needed to be built elsewhere.

I could go on about the proposals for the two-storey replacement for the Old Bandstand that were passed by the planning committee before damage to the promenade by the great storm made people wonder whether the new design would be sufficiently weather-robust.

I look forward to the Judicial Review. I hope that Lidl will not disappoint me.

Yours etc, David Kirby, Hafodwen, Cae Melyn, Aberystwyth.

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