German supermarket giant, Aldi, has submitted a further application to make the final tweaks to the site before building its new store in Brassington Avenue in Sutton Coldfield
A discount supermarket giant has submitted revised plans in a bid to get its long-awaited new Sutton Coldfield store built.
German food retailer, Aldi, has submitted a new application to tweak approved plans to finally get the go-ahead to build a new shop in Sutton town centre.
The long-awaited new store was first proposed back in December 2021.
But the proposals hit a stumbling block when a man-made channel – a culvert – built to divert Plants Brook through the site was found to run right under the new Aldi.
Read more: Aldi gets go-ahead to build supermarket in heart of Sutton Coldfield
Aldi submitted revised plans in May 2023 to ensure easy access to the hidden stream was maintained in case of an issuing with the culvert, which could have caused the new Aldi to flood.
The store’s footprint was moved northwards on the site to avoid being built over the culvert, with instead access being possible through the shop’s delivery area if needed.
The plans were tweaked again in November 2023. And planning permission was finally granted in June 2024.
Changes were made to the shop’s appearance later in June 2024 and in January changes were made to the layout of the shop’s car park, with parking spaces reduced and moved away from the embankment and some changes to landscaping.
The proposed new Aldi site in Brassington Avenue in Sutton Coldfield is now overgrown with tree/shrubs and two large mounds of aggregate
But while some works seemed to be starting on the Brassington Avenue site, with mounds of aggregate, there are a number of shrubs or trees now growing on the site.
Nearly a year after the planning go-ahead was given, the store has yet to be built.
And now a new application has been submitted to Birmingham City Council‘s planning department to make changes to the underground culvert – the hidden stream, which has held up the development proposal for three-and-a-half years.
Now Aldi is seeking permission to open up a section of the culvert, 22 metres in length, and reduce the side walls to 250mm to ‘act as a retaining wall’.
In addition, some 18 metres of the old culvert are to be replaced by a news one.
A retaining wall to the west of the culvert is no longer in the plans. And a rain garden above the culvert has also been removed as it is ‘no longer needed’.
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The new-look culvert has to be surveyed monthly by Aldi for the first three months and then every year.
The planning application 2025/01735/PA has a public consultation period until Tuesday, May 20.
Shoppers will hope that once these plans are approved, the new Aldi shop, which is set to double the space of the existing Aldi in the Parade, will get the go-ahead and work can finally start on its construction.