Plans for an out-of-town Lidl to the south of Warwick and Leamington have been put on hold for "further clarity" to be provided on whether more central locations were properly assessed.

National and local planning polices lay out the need for a sequential test to apply to new retail developments with town centre locations prioritised to protect the viability and vitality of established destinations.

Lidl proposes to demolish a former industrial building on the edge of Heathcote Industrial Estate, a location that is more than two miles south of Warwick and Leamington.

The sequential test requires applicants to look into and consider alternatives in town centre locations and those on the edge of town centres before bringing forward out-of-town applications.

Warwick District Council's report states that Lidl considered land at Covent Garden Car Park and Chandos Street Car Park, Leamington Spa but notes that concerns were raised during consultation period "that the rejection of the Covent Garden Car Park site is unjustified".

It was argued that Lidl had not been flexible enough with its development plans to make the Covent Garden site work but district officers were "satisfied that flexibility has been applied" and that any development there "would be significantly different in scale and format to the scheme proposed", meaning that the out-of-town site should be allowed.

External property consultants Lambert Smith Hampton were also commissioned and found no sites that were "sequentially preferable, suitable or available to accommodate the proposed development, even when allowing flexibility for the format and scale of the proposal".

Nonetheless, the plans were pulled ahead of Wednesday's meeting (16 September) "to enable further clarity to be sought in relation to sequential test".

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It means they will be considered by the planning committee – the panel of councillors tasked with taking the decision – at a later date.