A LIDL store now looks set to be able to open in a growing Welsh town called "woefully under serviced" despite opposition from residents in a nearby award-winning village.

As reported on Penarth Nub News, senior planners at Vale of Glamorgan Council advised the local authority's planning committee that they should reject plans for a supermarket on the edge of Llantwit Major, arguing it would have a negative impact on the appearance of the countryside.

There were also concerns that the supermarket, proposed for land at Bridge House Farm in between Lantwit Major and Llanmaes, would have an impact on the Llanmaes conservation area.

Following a council planning meeting on Thursday, December 12, councillors ultimately voted in favour of a motion to approve the plans which had been put in by Lidl GB Ltd.

Residents in the village of Llanmaes, which has won the Vale of Glamorgan Best Kept Village competition numerous times, said the proposal would negatively impact their area and open "the floodgates" to more development.

However, a number of residents and councillors were supportive of the supermarket plans with many people in Llantwit Major having to drive miles out of town in order to do their big shop.

One Llanmaes resident, Darren Green, said: "The development would significantly harm the rural character of the area, negatively impacting the Llanmaes conservation area and the historical nature of the village.

"The introduction of a large scale supermarket along with associated parking and lighting would create a visually intrusive urban feature, blurring the distinct identities of Llanmaes and Llantwit Major, contrary to Welsh Government policy."

The proposed supermarket would have a floorspace of about 2,000sqm and have 122 car parking spaces.

Mr Green said the glow from the supermarket and car park would be "impossible to ignore", and a fellow Llanmaes resident, Greame Smith, said the development would make an "unacceptable contribution to the physical coalescence and visual coalescence" of Llanmaes and Llantwit Major.

He said: "It would certainly not be a small supermarket catering mostly to the needs of locals travelling to the site either on foot, bicycle or… local public transport."

Shopkeepers in Llantwit Major campaigned against plans for a new Sainsbury's near Llanmaes in 2014.

Llantwit First Independents councillor, Cllr Gwyn John, said at last week's planning meeting that it was proposed for the same location as the Lidl was currently. He added that the application was later withdrawn.

"Another location should be found elsewhere," said Cllr John, who also raised concerns about traffic in relation to the plans for a supermarket.

He pointed out that there was a riding school opposite the proposed site for the Lidl, adding: "It is an accident waiting to happen and it is totally out of context with the area that this site should be considered for a supermarket."

Vale of Glamorgan Council's highways team had no objection to the supermarket, subject to a number of conditions being implemented.

One resident living in Llantwit Major who we spoke to before the planning meeting last week, Rhodri Hewitt, said Llantwit Major was "woefully under serviced" and needed a new supermarket.

The father-of-two said: "When I can, I will still like now and then to go and use the local butchers. I know the people who run it and you want to support them as much as you can and it is good quality stuff.

"I have got a professional job, my wife works full time… [but] at the end of the day, three weeks into a month we are skint.

"Times are very hard at the moment and the bottom line is… you have to use that as your priority for where you shop, don't you?"

Planning officers at Vale of Glamorgan Council said affordability of produce was not a material planning consideration for the proposal, but members of the planning committee argued that more services were needed in Llantwit Major.

Llantwit Major Town Council's website states the population of the town is 14,500 people. The main supermarkets in the town are Co-op and Filco Supermarket.

Hundreds of homes were allocated for land in Llantwit Major as part of Vale of Glamorgan Council's local development plan and, more recently, the local authority opened its new emergency housing site for Ukrainian refugees and homeless families from the Vale.

Cllr Eddie Williams, who is also a ward member for Llantwit Major, said: "Llantwit and the surrounding area, St Athan, have had sufficient development of housing to justify an increase in capacity of retail and therefore this site in particular would be ideal."

Cllr Charles Champion agreed with Cllr Williams, adding: "I think they need to be serviced and whether this is the right location, that has been looked at and there aren't any alternatives… surely this is the place for it".

Another member of the planning committee, Cllr Ian Johnson, said he understood the arguments on both sides of the planning dispute. However, he was also eventually minded to vote in favour of a motion to approve the application.

Cllr Johnson said: "Housing developments in the south west of the Vale of Glamorgan has led us to the point where a supermarket is needed.

"I understand the arguments with regard to it not mattering which shop or supermarket it is. It is a supermarket ultimately.

"In the corridor between Rhoose and Wick are probably some 20,000 – 25,000 residents where there is no supermarket offering the type of choice that you would have in a place like Barry or [Bridgend]."

Nine members of the committee voted in favour of approving the planning application and six voted against the motion.

The application has not fully been given the go-ahead yet, as planning officers will now need to draw up conditions for the developers.

These will need to be brought before the planning committee for approval at a future meeting.