Discount supermarket chain Lidl has unveiled plans to build a new store in Mirfield creating up to 20 new full and part-time jobs.
The Examiner exclusively revealed two weeks ago that Lidl was in talks to move across the road to derelict industrial land on the edge of the town centre.
Following a behind-closed-doors briefing to Mirfield Town Council, the company has launched a hurried public consultation.
Leaflets have been delivered to homes and a consultation event, where the plans will be outlined, will be held at Trinity Church in Huddersfield Road on Tuesday from 4.30pm to 7.30pm.
No formal plans have yet been submitted to Kirklees Council but Lidl wants to sell its current store in Station Road and move to the former Veolia Water site vacant since September 2012.
According to the consultation document the existing store “does not meet the current operational model” and is out-dated and “congested.”
The purpose-built store – on a site previously rejected by Asda – will be twice the size of the existing one.
It is described as a “modern, high quality energy-efficient building” and will have a 148-space car park.
Shopkeepers in Mirfield have expressed fears that a bigger store could mean more trade lost from the town centre.
But Lidl has moved to allay concerns saying the store’s discounted product range is limited to just 1,600 staple items and there will be no in-store retailers such as a newsagent or a dry cleaning service.
Bosses say up to 20 full and part-time jobs could be created.
Lidl says plans could be submitted to Kirklees in the next few weeks and hope for a decision by February. Work could start in summer with an opening by Easter 2017.
Mirfield Tory councillor Kath Taylor said she would be interested to see the plans but added: “The consultation has been very hurried. People haven’t been given much notice and only have a three-hour window to go along.”
She said she had been told by the company that a deal had already been agreed to sell the existing store site for a new care home.
