S锘縰permarket plan 'was ditched after social media campaign'

Image source, LDRS Philip Churm

Image caption, The plans would have seen an ALDI supermarket built behind the town hall on Leonards Road car park
At a glance
  • C锘縪uncillors have discussed what led to the ALDI scheme being ditched
  • People living outside of town have been blamed for the plans' demise
  • I锘縯 was claimed residents did not feel listened to by the council

Social media and people from outside Ivybridge have been blamed for the collapse of plans to build a new supermarket, which left the council out of pocket by almost half a million pounds. 聽

In July, South Hams District Council (SHDC) rejected the project following a campaign which saw them in conflict with Ivybridge town council.聽

Members of the council's audit and governance committee discussed a report on Thursday into what had gone wrong with聽Ivybridge鈥檚 regeneration scheme, the reports.

SHDC had agreed to put 拢9 million into the project聽which would have seen an ALDI supermarket built behind the town hall on Leonards Road car park; land owned by South Hams council.聽

The council鈥檚 decision to pursue the plans followed a public consultation in 2020 which showed two thirds of nearly 2,000 respondents supported the proposals.

'Ferocious campaign'

However two years later, after SHDC had already invested 拢480,000, critics described it as 鈥渄egeneration, not regeneration.鈥

Lance Austen, chair of the committee, said: 鈥淭he town council completely changed its opinion and came out with a totally different decision and there was a pretty ferocious social media campaign against the project.鈥

Cllr Austen said he felt much of the campaign was being organised by people "in some of the sort of more expensive surrounding areas telling me how they didn鈥檛 want an Aldi in the town".

Lib Dem councillor for Stokenham, Julian Brazil, said he thought local people and businesses had just lost confidence in the council鈥檚 ability to deliver the project.聽

鈥淭hey talked about moving the skatepark. They talked about increased car parking spaces. And they talked about regeneration. By the time it came to the planning committee, none of those had been resolved," he said.

"The feeling, if you go into Ivybridge now, particularly from the Chamber of Commerce, is that they were not listened to by this council, and that鈥檚 why they turned against it,鈥 he added.

H锘縠 said he feared a similar thing could happen again.

Councillors on the committee agreed to note the contents of the project closure report and, within the next six months, adopt a new planning protocol for major developments.