By Gordon Berry

INTERNATIONAL GROCERY retailer Aldi has expressed its disappointment and surprise over a decision by Fife councillors to refuse consent for a brand new store and limited housing on the southern edge of Cupar.

The firm’s Scottish property director Andrew Craig yesterday indicated, however, that the matter is not yet over, and he made it clear that Aldi still wants to bring development to the site and the town.

The application was rejected by Fife’s recently formed central planning committee, when members upheld a recommendation for refusal from development services team leader Alastair Hamilton.

Aldi had been seeking consent for erection of a new store in its standard design, along with eight affordable housing units and parking for over 70 cars.

Contractors for Aldi have already demolished the former Martex Cash and Carry that stood on the site in preparation for building the planned new store, which would bring 12 full-time jobs.

The demolition work was completed at the end of last year.

Recently, though, Fife Council gave planning permission to Tesco for what amounts to a doubling of its existing operation at a site close to the land owned by Aldi at South Road.

Tesco has acquired the former headquarters of the Reekie Group, and it is expected that work on the site will proceed in the near future.

In the meantime, the fate of Tesco’s existing adjacent Tesco store—which Tesco had at one point wanted to split into three individual units—is not known.

Tesco has, however, won its fight to allow non-food retail use of the premises, even though, as in the Aldi case, it was claimed by planning officials that there could be an “unacceptable impact” on retailers in the town centre.

It is claimed in Mr Hamilton’s report that Tesco’s new store consent, and the recently built Lidl store, which is also nearby, have “satisfied the demand for additional convenience retail space within or at the edge of Cupar town centre”.

Mr Craig said yesterday that Aldi is “very disappointed” with the planning outcome, particularly as it had consulted widely, and had worked particularly hard to keep the local community informed.

“We worked closely with the planning department to deliver a development that would benefit and fit into the local environment, and we were very surprised that the committee refused the application because of the obvious benefits that Aldi would bring to the local area.

“Aldi owns the South Road site and is committed to developing and improving the area and bringing a store to Cupar, which would offer consumers more choice and create local job opportunities in retail and construction” he said.

It was also made clear that Aldi is assessing the situation, and will then decide whether it should lodge a planning appeal with the Scottish Executive.