Lidl is aiming to go to-to-toe with rival Aldi at a Flintshire retail park. Plans for a new Lidl store at Broughton Shopping Park show its imprint will be just 70 metres from an existing Aldi.
The two stores will be separated only by a Chester Road roundabout between Airbus and the main retail park.
The proposed store is just under 2,000 sq metres in size – a little larger than the Aldi opposite. It would have 138 car parking spaces but only two with EV charging.
Permission is being sought from Flintshire Council to build the store on 1.3ha of unused grassland by the roundabout.
At one point, this site was earmarked for a medical centre pub/restaurant and 80-bed hotel with up to 381 parking spaces. Consent was granted in January 2015 but the scheme failed to materialise.
The new Lidl application was submitted by The British Land Company (BLC), which also owns Broughton Shopping Park itself. Sign up for the North Wales Live newsletter sent twice daily to your inbox
Planning documents indicate the store would create up to 40 full and part-time jobs. However staffing levels have yet to be finalised.
The store’s proposed location is opposite an existing Aldi across a Chester Road roundabout (Image: Urban Edge/BLC)
Consultants Carney Sweeney said: “The applicant has considered a range of development options to best respond to the constraints and opportunities of the site.
“The store will be built in accordance with Lidl’s latest specifications, providing a contemporary and sustainable design.
“The proposed Lidl food store will deliver a contemporary, high-quality retail building that integrates with its surroundings and enhances the streetscape along Chester Road.
“The store is positioned in the north-eastern part of the site, with customer parking to the south and west, ensuring convenient access and strong visual and physical connections to Broughton Shopping Park.”
Photomontage of the planned Lidl store and its car park(Image: Urban Edge/BLC)
The building, as proposed, will have a glazed frontage to maximise natural light, and a “feature canopy” to define the main entrance.
It will be designed to be energy-efficient and meet Lidl’s sustainability standards with PV solar panels on the roof to provide zero-carbon energy.
Six trees will be lost to create two public access points to the south of the site.
Application design for the ‘contemporary’ store
Flintshire Council told the applicant at a pre-application meeting in October 2025 that the site is acceptable in principle for development under the council’s local planning framework.
However the applicant was advised to carry out a Retail Impact Assessment. This is needed to “demonstrate no adverse effect on the vitality and viability of nearby centres, including Mold, Buckley, Saltney, Queensferry and Broughton”.
As the application has been assigned to a case officer, public consultations have yet to open.
Flintshire Council has a target date of July 16 to decide the application.
If approved and built, the store’s opening hours would be 7am-10pm Monday to Saturday, and 10am-4pm on Sundays.