Marks and Spencer to start building new Wakefield City Fields store

In January, Marks and Spencer revealed plans to leave its store in Wakefield city centre and open a new food hall at the district centre at City Fields off Neil Fox Way.

Marks and Spencer say a date has not yet been set for the closure of the city centre store.

A Marks and Spencer spokesperson said: "There are no changes to the plans we announced in January to relocate to a brand-new foodhall at City Fields

"The new 18,000 sq ft store will be one of the most modern in the UK and offer the full M&S Food range for customers.

"Work will start on site next year, in line with the next phase of the development, and we will keep customers and the community updated on opening date."

Aldi is due to start building work on a new store at the district centre at City Fields later this year.

There is no update on previously proposed medical services at the stalled City Fields district centre site.

Construction work has stalled on the long awaited 110,000 sq ft district centre site.

In April 2022, De Veer Estates announced that work had begun to transform the land but little progress on construction of the new business premises has been made.

Work looked set to resume in September 2024 after local authority planners gave the go-ahead for a previously approved planning application to be amended and updated.

A document submitted by Cityfields (Wakefield) Limited said at the time: “Planning permission for the District Centre was originally granted in February 2020 and development commenced in May 2022, but was quickly aborted when the contractor went into administration."

Aldi is also set to create a new store at Cathedral Retail Park on the site previously occupied by Argos, Brantano, Carpetright and Office Outlet.

Construction work on that store is also due to start this year.

The company has also submitted a planning application to build a new store at Royds Mill, Ossett.

And Lidl is preparing a planning application for a new store on land off Dewsbury Road.

Lidl want to build the new store as part of a mixed use development on land opposite the Broadway entrance to Dewsbury Road.

A new junction would be created on Dewsbury Road to access the site.

Lidl said the scheme would create 40 new full and part-time jobs at the Lidl store and between 105 and 435 jobs associated with proposed drive thru units and employment/commercial units.

Lidl has launched a public consultation on the scheme as it seeks residents' views before submitting a planning application to Wakefield Council.

The Lidl public consultation ends on September 13.

To have your say, go to www.lidl-wakefield.com/