AN iconic shopping centre is set to be partially demolished – but a popular replacement is in store.
Part of Northfield Shopping Centre in Birmingham could be bulldozed and replaced with a Lidl supermarket.
If given the green light, a new Lidl store would be built on the site alongside over 120 car parking spaces and 12 bicycle spaces.
In a report on the plans, Birmingham City Council said it’s a viable long–term option for the site and “would contribute positively to the vibrancy and vitality of the Northfield neighbourhood centre.”
It also claimed the new store would create around 40 jobs in the area as well as a new discount shopping option for the local community.
The appearance and character of the area would also receive a ‘notable enhancement’.
But, it added: “It is considered regrettable the other elevations of the store are somewhat functional and uninspiring in terms of design quality in comparison to the primary elevation of the proposed store.
“However, this is not considered a justifiable reason to refuse the application but rather a missed opportunity to potentially deliver more of a landmark building at this prominent location.”
The lack of landscape improvements or adequate greenery were also raised as concerns.
The report added: “Weighed in the entire planning balance, they are not considered to outweigh the benefits of the scheme in terms of revitalising a vacant brownfield site and securing a long-term viable use.”
But these matters could be “adequately addressed” if conditions were attached to any grant of planning permission, the report argued.
It said: “On balance, the proposed development is considered acceptable and would have no environmental or landscape impacts that would warrant a refusal of planning permission.
“The development would create local construction and retail jobs.
“As such, the development would have a positive economic, social and environmental benefit.”
Other proposals include a new pedestrian walkway and ‘associated public realm improvements’.
The walkway would connect Victoria Common and Bristol South Road.
The hours proposed for the new Lidl store would be 7am to 11pm from Monday to Saturday and 10am to 6pm on Sunday.
[boxout headline=”RETAIL PAIN IN 2025″]The British Retail Consortium has predicted that the Treasury’s hike to employer NICs will cost the retail sector £2.3billion.
Research by the British Chambers of Commerce shows that more than half of companies plan to raise prices by early April.
A survey of more than 4,800 firms found that 55% expect prices to increase in the next three months, up from 39% in a similar poll conducted in the latter half of 2024.
Three-quarters of companies cited the cost of employing people as their primary financial pressure.
The Centre for Retail Research (CRR) has also warned that around 17,350 retail sites are expected to shut down this year.
It comes on the back of a tough 2024 when 13,000 shops closed their doors for good, already a 28% increase on the previous year.
Professor Joshua Bamfield, director of the CRR said: “The results for 2024 show that although the outcomes for store closures overall were not as poor as in either 2020 or 2022, they are still disconcerting, with worse set to come in 2025.”
Professor Bamfield has also warned of a bleak outlook for 2025, predicting that as many as 202,000 jobs could be lost in the sector.
“By increasing both the costs of running stores and the costs on each consumer’s household it is highly likely that we will see retail job losses eclipse the height of the pandemic in 2020.”
