Lidl to launch public consultation over supermarket plans for old hotel site

Lidl is set to launch a public consultation over plans to build a new supermarket at the former Marton Hotel and Country Club site.

The budget supermarket chain has contacted local councillors sharing news of its plans to build a store on the Stokesley Road site in Marton, Middlesbrough. The letter to councillors said the store would feature “modern in-store facilities like Lidl’s popular bakery, a larger sales area, and customer toilets with baby changing facilities”.

It would also boast 120 parking spaces, rapid electric vehicle chargers and cycle parking while creating around 40 new jobs for local people. Pedestrian crossings would be enhanced, it said, with links the existing footpath network.

“Lidl has already undertaken initial highways surveys, in order to prepare a robust transport assessment to support the planning application,” said the letter. “A public consultation will be launched in the coming weeks to gather feedback on the proposals.”

The country club and hotel was snapped up by Middlesbrough-based company OJA Enterprises for £763,122 in October 2017 – the same month it closed. The derelict hotel and country club, which ironically had been used as a practice site for firefighters, was then destroyed by a huge blaze on June 13, 2019.

The iconic building was demolished in the days and months after the fire. In 2020, Middlesbrough Council added the site to a list of “eyesore” landmarks that needed regenerating.

Lidl then bought the site in 2022. Marton East independent councillors, Dorothy Davison and Jason McConnell shared the latest news about Lidl’s plans on Facebook over the weekend.

Cllr Davison told the Local Democracy Reporting Service there are had been mixed reaction so far with some residents concerned about an increase in traffic on the nearby roads. One resident posted: “I believe this is positive. The site has been left vacant since the fire and has became somewhat of an eyesore filling the land with something useful would benefit the local economy and community.”

Another said: “At the moment it is an eyesore with the only other option to grass the whole area and make it a wildlife sanctuary. Not going to please everyone unfortunately but something needs to be done about the area as it can’t stay as it is.”

There are concerns a new store on the site would exacerbate traffic issues on the notorious Marton crawl. One resident said: “Marton crawl will turn into Marton standstill.”

And another said: “Traffic is already horrendous and the condition of the road is a sham and do we really need another supermarket? This may bring some jobs to the area but at what price?”

The Local Democracy Reporting Service has attempted to contacted Lidl for further details. The letter said further details of the scheme will also be available “in due course” and feedback form will be delivered around the community.