PLANS to relocate a Lidl to a bigger site in Cwmbran and redevelop a Stagecoach depot will go ahead after a decision by Torfaen council to refuse the development was overturned.

A planning inspector has allowed an appeal submitted by the discount supermarket and bus company and granted planning permission for the development.

Torfaen council has also been ordered to pay costs to cover the appeal after an inspector said the authority “failed to substantiate its reasons for refusing the application”.

South Wales Argus: An artist\'s impression of the proposed Lidl in Cwmbran. Picture: One Design Architectural Services

An artist's impression of the proposed Lidl in Cwmbran. Picture: One Design Architectural Services

The plans include demolishing the existing Stagecoach depot on St David’s Road and replacing it with a new Lidl, which will relocate from its store in Woodside Road, Cwmbran.

A new, modern Stagecoach depot is also planned in a vacant part of the site.

Councillors refused the application due to traffic concerns at a meeting in September against the advice of council officers who had recommended approval.

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A planning inspector’s report said the main issue in the decision was whether the proposed access and servicing arrangements would be “detrimental to highway safety”.

The planning committee meeting in the autumn heard concerns over traffic from residents and councillors, particularly over a proposed access to the store off St David’s Road.

The council said access to the food store should be from Somerset Road, which will be used for entry to the Stagecoach depot.

But the inspector’s report said the application was supported by transport studies, and a barrister who reviewed the evidence, which supported the proposed access arrangements.

A report said the planning committee gave “considerable weight” to councillors’ local knowledge and experience of traffic in the area, but that the council “submitted no actual evidence to refute the expert transport studies”.

The second reason for refusing the plans related to proposed delivery access, requiring large vehicles to reverse into the site from Somerset Road.

But the planning inspector said there was “no evidence that this low level of delivery movements” would cause highway safety issues.

“The evidence demonstrates that the access and servicing arrangements for the proposed food store would not be detrimental to highway safety,” the inspector’s report said.

South Wales Argus: An artist\'s impression of the proposed Stagecoach depot. Picture: One Design Architectural Services

An artist's impression of the proposed Stagecoach depot. Picture: One Design Architectural Services

“Two expert transportation consultants, a road safety audit and the highway authority have come to the same conclusion.”

A decision to award costs said the council “has not provided any technical evidence in support of either reason for refusal” and that instead it relied on “anecdotal evidence and local knowledge to refute the results of a traffic assessment, a review of the traffic assessment and the road safety audit”.

“Its actions were unreasonable and have caused the applicants to incur the unnecessary expense of an appeal process,” the decision said.