Greens support campaign to oppose new Lidl at Malin Bridge

Local residents objecting to a new Lidl proposed at Malin Bridge won’t be reassured by their Head of Property claiming that it will not have a significant impact on the local road network as “few local people do their food shopping during peak times.” What about the shopping run that has traffic, including trams and buses, backed up on Holme Lane every Saturday morning?

Greens support local resident Matthew Barker’s campaign to oppose this planning application on the grounds of gridlocked traffic, air pollution and the impact on Hillsborough Shopping Precinct. The Precinct has suffered from numerous “drive to” supermarket approvals in surrounding areas and the loss of the Co-Op as a key footfall generator for other shops. This Lidl could lead to more shop closures in a vital but vulnerable District Shopping Centre.

We will end up living in communities without local shops, forcing us to use cars for shopping and creating even more traffic jams and harmful pollution. The climate emergency dictates a completely opposite approach. There is an urgent need for better public transport and safer cycling and walking options so people can choose to leave their cars at home, reducing congestion for all road users while improving dangerous air pollution and road safety.

Parents are now supporting the youth climate strikers who will have to live with the impact of today’s planning decisions. Hundreds of them are already concerned about their children walking from Hillsborough to Forge Valley and other schools in hazardous, polluted conditions. It’s time to put local people and communities first and object to this planning application reference 18/02802/FUL.

Christine Gilligan Kubo
Hillsborough ward Green Party

Letter in reply to https://www.sheffieldtelegraph.co.uk/news/politics/council/plans-for-a-new-lidl-continue-to-prompt-objections-189150