Plans for a new supermarket in Aberystwyth have been recommended for approval by planning officers.

German budget chain Aldi submitted plans to develop the old Cambrian Garage and Kwik Save site on Park Avenue - a parcel of land the company has owned for nearly a decade – earlier this year.

The plans, which will create 40 new jobs in the town, have been backed by Ceredigion council planning officers.

The application was due to go before Development Control Committee members this Wednesday for a final decision.

The site has lain abandoned on the main thoroughfare into Aberystwyth since 2009, and calls have been repeatedly made for the land to be developed.

The plans are a scaled-down version of a previously accepted scheme which would have also seen a two-storey hotel built on the site in partnership with hotel chain Travelodge.

Those bigger plans have been shelved after discussions to bring it to fruition faltered, with the supermarket chain now pushing ahead instead with a “modestly-sized” store with parking for 85 cars.

The company said that “approximately 40 full and part-time permanent local jobs” will be created as part of the plans, as well as “additional employment opportunities during construction and via the supply chain”.

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