A decision on whether a town will get a new Aldi will be made this month, but rival superstore Tesco is urging councillors to reject the plans.
Aldi is hoping South Norfolk Council's planning committee will give the go-ahead to demolish the former Norfolk Feather Company factory in Diss to make way for a new store.
The former Norfolk Feather Company factory (Image: Google Maps)
The German budget discount chain says the lease on its current Diss store, in Mere Street, is due to expire next year and it wants to move to a bigger location at Park Road.
Council officers are recommending that members of the planning committee approve the plans for the 1,791 square metre store when they meet on Monday, February 19.
But representatives for Tesco, which has a Diss store in Victoria Road, have objected, saying the proposal conflicts with a planning policy for the Park Road site, which says it should not be used for food retail.
Palgrave Parish Council has also objected, fearing the village will become a rat run for traffic heading to the new store, but Diss Town Council has backed approval.
Eleven people wrote to the council supporting the plans, while two wrote to object.
In documents which councillors will be presented with at the planning meeting, officers acknowledged that a food store in that site was against policy.
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But they said other "material planning considerations" were of "sufficient weight" to
warrant granting planning permission.
Officers said the new store would create new 20 jobs and mean 30 others would be retained, while a new road would unlock other parts of the site for development.
They said: "It is considered that the food store will have acceptable impacts on the character and appearance of the area, heritage assets, residential amenity, highway safety, trees, ecology, drainage and flood risk.
"When having regard to these, the application ultimately represents an acceptable form of development that complies with national planning guidance and the adopted and emerging development plan when taken as a whole."
If the committee does give the go-ahead, the new store would open from 8am until 10pm Monday to Saturday and 10am until 4pm on Sundays.
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