Travellers move onto Stansted Road site of proposed Lidl in Bishop’s Stortford

Travellers have set up camp on the site of the proposed Lidl supermarket in Bishop’s Stortford.

Reports surfaced on social media on Tuesday evening that vehicles had moved onto the former Gates of Stortford Ford dealership land in Stansted Road.

A spokeswoman for Hertfordshire Constabulary told the Indie on Wednesday morning: ”Police were called at just after 4.05pm yesterday to report that an unauthorised encampment had set up on private land off Stansted Road in Bishop’s Stortford.

”Officers are monitoring the area while the landowner works to resolve the situation.”

The Indie has contacted Lidl for comment.

Construction of the £12m new store is expected to start imminently – three years after it was first announced.

The discount supermarket chain revealed in August 2021 that it wanted to make a “multi-million-pound investment” in a site on Stansted Road, building a 25,639 sq ft (2,382 sq m) branch with a retail area of 15,220 sq ft (1,414 sq m).

It applied to East Herts Council for planning permission to use the site formerly occupied by Gates and promised an in-store bakery, customer toilets and 147 parking spaces”, including 10 for the disabled, 10 parent-and-child bays and two electric vehicle charging points.

The plan for the store, which would create 40 new jobs, was approved by EHC’s development management committee in December 2022 after it was deferred by councillors earlier that year.

The council had received 91 objections centred on access, traffic and noise for neighbouring residents.

A spokesperson for Lidl told the Indie in late July that the company would be looking to start on site “later this year” and an opening date was yet to be confirmed.