Nimbys threaten to halt Aldi and Lidl's march on the countryside

Telegraph

15-02-2025

When Suzanne Benjamin moved to Stanmore 10 years ago, she told people it was because the area, on the outskirts of north-west London, was 'quiet'.
'I wanted to move to a nice, clean residential neighbourhood,' Benjamin, now 62, says. With its tree-lined avenues and nearby nature trails, what she found in Stanmore was a strong local community full of young families, city commuters and empty nesters.
'The reason we all live here is because it is quiet,' Benjamin says. 'That is the way we want it to stay.'
The arrival of a new supermarket might seem like an unlikely disturbance of the peace. Yet plans for a new Aldi in the area have met with opposition from locals.
In recent weeks, Stanmore residents learnt that their neighbourhood was among the hundreds of locations where the German supermarket is planning to open a new store.
'There are loads of supermarkets around,' says Fiona, another local who has lived in the area for 20 years. 'It's quite ridiculous, actually. There's only so much shopping one person can do, so it is probably overkill.'
Already, more than 800 people have signed a local petition against the project, demanding that Aldi be stopped from 'transforming the neighbourhood into even more of a chaotic traffic hub'.
A WhatsApp group has also been assembled where residents discuss their objections. 'Aldi has definitely picked a fight with the wrong community,' says Benjamin.
Across the UK, there is mounting opposition to similar supermarket plans. In the coming years, Aldi hopes to open almost 500 new shops. Lidl, meanwhile, is planning more than 100 new openings.
Up until now, the German discounters have largely focused their expansion plans on urban areas, where there biggest obstacle was rival supermarkets seeking to scuttle or delay their openings.
But as their march on Britain continues, Aldi and Lidl are increasingly targeting leafier city suburbs and more rural locations.
Aldi last year announced plans for shops in Muswell Hill in north London and Caterham, Surrey, as part of a £800m spending push. Lidl is offering finders' fees to anyone who can find it new locations in Buckinghamshire hotspots Amersham, Gerrards Cross and Beaconsfield.
'The so-called white space where stores could go is not coming to an end, but obviously the competition over it is getting more fierce,' says Ronny Gottschlich, the former UK Lidl boss.
'Ultimately it means that people living in these areas might feel like they're seeing retailers popping up, left, right and centre.'
Expansion into more residential areas is proving to be arduous terrain. Over the past three years, the proportion of new-build supermarkets refused planning permission has risen every year, from 9pc to 15pc in 2024. While it is early days in 2025, so far 20pc of all applications have been refused, according to figures from Glenigan.
The rise in refusal rates comes as the German discounters target areas where Nimbyism is viewed as rife.
Telegraph analysis last year suggested that six of the UK's top 10 most Nimby areas were in the outskirts of the capital.
In Hillingdon, west London, for example, residents putting in planning permission for minor developments to their properties had only a 59pc chance of getting their application approved.
Many objections to supermarkets centre around concerns about what the new developments will mean for traffic and roads in the area. In Didcot, Oxfordshire – where locals have been accused of Nimbyism – one proposed Lidl scheme got 20 objections over traffic concerns.
However, some observers believe resistance to Aldi and Lidl is particularly sharp because of the profile of their customers.
'For better or worse, there are some supermarkets which are welcomed with open arms,' says Hannah Quarterman, head of planning at Hogan Lovells. She added: 'That's partly because there is a perception around the kind of traffic' – a polite way of referring to the different class of shoppers Aldi and Lidl typically attract compared to, say, a Waitrose.
Ministers may yet come to the German discounter's aid. Sir Keir Starmer has vowed to 'push past the Nimbyism' in the quest for growth.
Angela Rayner, the Housing Secretary, late last year waved through a flurry of major development projects, with the Government saying it would 'unleash the biggest building boom in half a century'.
Yet as it stands, the planning system remains a source of frustration. Insiders suggest that planning decisions that should take 13 weeks are currently taking between two to three years.
Property experts argue that there can be legitimate reasons why people in more rural areas may oppose developments, particularly a new supermarket.
'Sometimes the concerns of the local community about increasing traffic movements are entirely understandable,' says Quarterman.
'It is often the case that there is a lack of faith that infrastructure improvement will be delivered alongside the development.'
In some areas, it is simply a case of locals not wanting yet another supermarket nearby as people already having many grocery stores to choose from.
One recent example is Stockport, where Lidl this year had proposals for a new supermarket rejected. 'Effectively, you'd have been looking at three major supermarkets and the highway, which would have been snarled up completely,' Councillor David Meller says.
Lidl claimed it had received 'significant support' from locals. Meller, Stockport's Labour group leader, says this was not how he saw it.
'They were just being so incredibly aggressive around it. They carpet-bombed my whole ward with leaflets to try to create a veneer that there was local support, when in fact there was anything but,' he says.
Resistance can be stirred up by any supermarket seeking to open up. However, Quarterman says 'there tends to be less opposition' if residents find out there is a new Waitrose or a Marks & Spencer planned for their local area.
In Stanmore, Benjamin admits she does feel particularly strongly because the proposed supermarket is an Aldi. If it were M&S or Waitrose opening, she may not be as opposed. 'I know it sounds really snobbish.'
Still, she says the area really does not need another German discounter. 'We've got a very big Lidl literally a couple of minutes' drive away. We've got a large Morrisons, an Aldi, a Sainsbury's. It's already incredibly busy here.
'Then, of course, there's fly-tipping, and the fact that we're also dealing with vermin in the area.'
In her mind, this is about protecting the local community, rather than simply wanting to keep out the big German stores.
'We just don't want to invite more trouble,' she says. 'This will – for sure. One hundred per cent.'