An application to demolish a Pembrokeshire supermarket, replacing it with a more modern facility, has been submitted to county planners.

Lidl Great Britain Limited is seeking to demolish the existing Lidl foodstore and adjoining properties at Great North Road, Milford Haven, building a new Lidl foodstore with associated works.

A supporting statement through agent CarneySweeney says: “The existing Lidl store is small and of an early generation format. Owing to Lidl’s well-established and growing local customer base, Lidl has outgrown its existing premises which no longer meets modern shopper requirements, and a larger store is sought to better serve local customer demand.

“In addition, the existing store is inefficient with regards to warehouse operations. The proposal for a new store aims to alleviate the problems presented by the existing store.”

It adds: “The development is suitably scaled to be no larger than necessary to address identified storage and staff needs and improve the existing store. Moreover, the new store will be better equipped to meet Lidl’s operational requirements, modern day staff requirements and better serve local shopping needs.

“The proposed sales floor space is modest and is not anticipated to lead to any material change in existing shopping patterns. The store will continue to trade on a like for like basis with other large food stores; the majority of which lie out of centre. Based on a quantitative assessment of trading effects no significant adverse impact on in centre turnover and trade is anticipated.”

The application says the development would create up to 40 jobs.

It concludes: “The proposed new Lidl store strives to reduce environmental impact, both through design and through the commitment of Lidl to follow best practice to reduce pollution during the construction phase.”

The application will be considered by Pembrokeshire County council planners at a later date.

Recently, Lidl unveiled its latest ‘wish list’ of locations to develop new stores in Wales, with Tenby included in its patches, and the desire to potentially build a bigger store in Pembroke Dock.

Last year, it was rumoured that rival store Aldi had earmarked Penally as a possible site for a new store.