Work to start on new Aldi store

The Aldi store was given the green light in December 2015 with overwhelming support from the public and ward councillors.

But the site off Park Road, Glass Houghton, once occupied by Hardy’s Printers, has since remained untouched.

A supplementary application has since been recently submitted to Wakefield District Council’s planning department in order to extend the size of the proposed store’s lobby area.

However, an Aldi spokesman said this week that the latest application is for a minor adjustment and that work will start later in the year and will be open in 2018.

The company denied there had been any delays and that it was simply in a queue for the company’s store building programme.

Ward councillor, Richard Forster, has long supported the scheme and welcomed the latest information.

He said: “It’s excellent news, a lot of people have been asking me about when it was going to open and there’s a lot of support in the area for it.

“We will welcome Aldi’s development as soon as it’s possible, it will certainly tidy that piece of land up.

“People want it there, the sooner the better.

“In that area to get to a reasonable supermarket people have to either get a bus - which has had reduced services in the past - or get in the car.

“A lot of people have said they will be able to shop at Aldi on foot.”

More than 40 letters of support from residents were submitted when Aldi was initially given planning permission.