SUPERMARKET chain Lidl this week said it was delighted by the response to its plans to open a store in Tavistock following a two-day public consultation. Of the 436 people who filled in feedback forms after looking at the plans in the Bedford Hotel, 88% were in favour of the store. Lidl submitted an outline planning application to West Devon Borough Council this week to redevelop a site on Plymouth Road, which includes the old MacDonald's restaurant, the Re-furnish store and the old piano centre. Planners will also be deciding soon whether to allow a Sainsbury's store to be built opposite Bishopsmead, off Plymouth Road. Development executive for Lidl, Oliver McGuiness, said: 'We were delighted with the response and I hope it shows that people are supportive of our redevelopment. We send out 4,300 invitations to households in Tavistock and had about a 10% feedback, which is a fair sample.' Eight per cent of people who filled in feedback forms were against the Lidl proposal and 4% were undecided. Local resident Jean Longford said: 'I think it should be done — we have to go to Plymouth and Launceston if we want to shop at Lidl and if we have one in Tavistock it would save on petrol. I think a Lidl in Tavistock would be a good thing.' Another Tavistock resident, who did not wish to be named, said it was a good use of the site which was currently 'an eyesore'. But some local people were not in favour. A woman from Yelverton said: We do not need anymore supermarkets — it would be detrimental to the centre of Tavistock as the small traders would probably need to close.' Another said the site could be used as a community allotment where people could grow their own produce. At Tavistock Town Council's meeting this week, members raised questions about the opening times, delivery times, possible light pollution and access to the proposed store. The trading hours would be 8am to 10pm and 10am to 4pm on Sundays and there would be one delivery a day between 6am and 8am, the council was told. Oliver McGuiness, who was briefing the members on the Lidl plan, said one of the concerns that came up at the public consultation was one of light pollution. He said as soon as the store closed the lights would be reduced to one third. Cllr Philip Sanders raised a concern about the arrangement of the access onto the main A386 which could cause possible queuing of traffic over the pedestrian crossing. Mr McGuiness said he could not foresee a significant problem there but traffic issues were currently being discussed with County Highways. The Lidl representative said the store would be single storey but the design and materials would be decided at the detailed planning stage if outline permission was approved. He was sure lots of people would have different views on this. Regarding the store's goods, the council was told that 20% of the sales area would be non-food items which changed twice a week. Lidl worked on a principle of when it was gone it was gone and then the stock would be changed: 'We do not sell the same items 52 weeks of the year and so in that respect we do not compete with other retailers,' said Mr McGuiness. He said ten years ago, when Lidl applied for planning permission to build on the old Radmore's Garage site and was refused by the borough council, the company was relatively unknown. Now it was a much better known operator and acknowledged on a local and national level and by the Government to be completely different from the 'big four' supermarkets — Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's and Morrisons — he said. The proposed store would cover 1,322 square metres and have a predicted turnover of £3 million. It would provide ten full-time jobs and 25 part-time jobs. Included on the site would be 66 car parking spaces. A spokesperson for West Devon Borough Council said Lidl's application would come before the planning committee in the next couple of months.