TAMWORTH Regional Council has refused a plan to build a new supermarket in South Tamworth.
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Councillors voted unanimously in favour of scrapping a proposal to build a Aldi store on Scott Road, near the New England Highway.
However, it wasn’t without a slight tinge of regret with new employment figures revealing retail was the city’s largest employer.
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The $5.39 million supermarket development was primarily refused because of irreparable concerns over the impact the business would have on one of the busiest intersections in Tamworth.
Glenn Inglis said retail would be an important sector for the city in the near future.
“It's interesting, it’s a major retail development you’d like to happen,” Cr Inglis said.
“In the last statistics of occupation groups the biggest employment cohort was retail”
He said the sector now accounted for about 15 per cent of employed Tamworth people, which equated to 4000 people.
“For the first time, it’s the number one occupation group, health and social care have been number one for a long time,” he said.
“We know growth creates its own demand.
For the first time, [retail's] the number one occupation group, health and social care have been number one for a long time.
- Councillor Glenn Inglis
“It’s a really important sector to us, so we need to make sure that our Local Environment Plan (LEP) and arrangements allow these things to happen.
“I’d like to see a second Aldi in the city.”
Interestingly, the discussion around the development also revealed the application could have been simply withdrawn, however staff said the applicant specifically asked for council to refuse the plan formally.
“Staff worked with Aldi extensively through the issues,” planning director Brent McAlister said.
“The access issue couldn't be overcome.
“My assumption in this case is the developers had a sale and purchase agreement subject to planning.
“So they needed a refusal to get out of the sale and purchase agreement.”