Plans to build a new supermarket in Bromley Cross have been officially signed off by the council.

Controversial plans for a new Lidl supermarket, 43 retirement apartments, four football pitches and a 91-space commuter car park for Bromley Cross train station on land off Darwen Road were backed by councillors in January, but first needed signing off by the Secretary of State.

The store is set to be built on a 27-acre site with a car park for 125 vehicles at the derelict former Holland Garden Centre and green belt land at the rear.

The plans also include a retirement living development of 43 apartments for over 55s, a mix of one and two-bedroom flats, and a 37-space car park.

New football pitches, two full size and two junior size, as well as a new clubhouse and car parking, would be used by Bromley Cross Football Club and the wider community.

This had to go to the Secretary of State as the development comprised inappropriate development on land located as green belt and includes the provision of buildings with more than 1,000 square metres of floorspace.

It was approved it soon after and the plans were officially signed off by Gerry Brough, the council’s director of place, after a number of conditions were added.

Lidl will need to carry out highway improvements at Darwen Road as part of the plans. This will include a mini roundabout at the access to Birtenshaw School and Birtenshaw Farm and road widening to accommodate the right-turn into the development site.

They will also need to implement a new footway and crossings for pedestrians.

Councillors said the benefits of the development outweighed the harm.

The late former Bromley Cross councillor and council leader David Greenhalgh said at the January meeting: “The proposed store is on an existing brownfield site as indeed is a percentage of the car park.

“The football pitches would be an enormous community asset. The site is derelict. It is not a beauty spot by any means but there is loss of trees which is regrettable.”

“This can only go forward with the agreement that the community car park and football pitches are produced before the food store opens.”

Work on this site could start imminently.

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