Cheers for bats and badgers as new Bath Lidl plan is rejected

Lidl has been blocked from building a controversial new store in Bath.

Bath and North East Somerset Council refused planning permission for the budget supermarket chain’s plan to build a new Lidl on London Road to serve the east of the city. The plans would have created up to 40 jobs but the idea of building on a field full of wildlife on the notoriously congested London Road was hugely controversial.

Green councillors Joanna Wright and Saskia Heijltjes, who represent the Lambridge area where it would have been built, have welcomed the news. Ms Wright said: “We have been fighting this for nearly four years. Clearly it matters a lot in the city.

“I know that a lot of people are concerned about the cost of living crisis and they would like cheaper food but they also really recognise the impact on the highways that this was going to have. It was going to cause so much disturbance in the east of Bath.”

In the decision notice, head of planning Louise Morris said the application had failed to demonstrate that there would not be a severe cumulative impact on the highway network. She also warned that it did not include satisfactory walking and cycling facilities, did not do enough to protect bats and badgers, and could harm the Bath UNESCO World Heritage Site.

She added: “The proposed development would have a significant adverse impact upon the vitality, viability and diversity of Larkhall local centre.” The plans had been fiercely opposed by other shops including the Co-op in Larkhall as well as Bath’s big supermarkets like Morrisons and Waitrose.

The councillors shared a photograph of them at the proposed location of the new superstore, jumping for joy at receiving the news.

The planning application was Lidl’s second attempt to get planning permission for a supermarket on the site. Original plans — which faced a protest when unveiled in 2023 — were withdrawn a year later as the company said it would submit an improved application once it had carried out highways surveys and other work.

The new planning application was submitted in 2025. 740 people lodged objections to the plan, with 256 people leaving comments in support.

The refusal of the plans leaves the existing Lidl on the Lower Bristol Road on the far side of Bath as the only budget supermarket in the city. The company had said being able to drive to a closer supermarket on London Road was predicted to reduce customer’s mileage by 29%, helping to reduce 82 tonnes of carbon a year.

In a double blow, Lidl has also just had its plans for a new supermarket in Cheddar refused, as Somerset Council said it had presented insufficient evidence to outweigh the potential harm to protected species such as bats and crested newts.

Find out about planning applications that affect you by visiting the Public Notice Portal.