A rural town will soon have rival German supermarkets just a few hundred metres apart.

Retailer Aldi has been given the green light to open at the former Kastix clothing premises at Thongsbridge, Holmfirth.

It comes just three years after fellow German firm Lidl opened a store less than half-a-mile away.

The Lidl at Huddersfield Road came just a year after a planning inspector rejected Tesco’s bid to open a large store off New Mill Road.

Despite an objection from Lidl and several Holme Valley councillors, members of Kirklees Council’s Strategic Planning Committee gave Aldi the go-ahead.

It will demolish the former drill hall and Kastix clothing business site, creating 40 new jobs in the process.

Clr Nigel Patrick told the committee it was “far too early” to approve the Aldi plan and urged the committee to defer the plan.

He said the store could cause similar traffic problems to the Tesco plan, which was “chucked out” by planning inspectors due to sub-standard roads.

“These roads are still sub-standard,” he said.

“The public still want to see another supermarket but let’s get it right.”

But Steve Sampson from Kirklees Highways department said officers had analysed access for HGV deliveries and shoppers and found no issues.

And he said Tesco would have generated three times as much traffic.

A member of the public, who spoke against Aldi’s plan, said the new store had a much bigger car park than Lidl but far worse access.

“This will no doubt cause queueing,” he said.

Local resident Elizabeth Varley waited more than an hour at the meeting to tell councillors she could not wait for the new Aldi to be built.

Mark Stringer, Aldi’s Yorkshire and Lincolnshire development director, told the committee people from the Holme Valley were travelling significant distances to other Aldi stores in Huddersfield and Slaithwaite.

He said the failed Tesco plan was three times bigger and said the plan was a “multi-million pound investment in the community”.

Members of the committee voted unanimously to approve it.