Aldi store approved - retail park will bring 250 jobs

Plans to build a new retail park at Snowhill has been approved. It will create around 150 jobs and will include an Aldi and McDonald's. Pictured is ward councillor David Dews outside the site.

Kier Property has been granted planning permission for the development of the £12m retail park in the Snowhill area of the city, just off the A650.

It will include an Aldi food store and drive-thru McDonalds, as well as a coffee shop, and five smaller retail units.

Coun Denise Jeffery, Wakefield Council’s cabinet member for economic growth and skills, said: “This is good news for the Snowhill area and this development will contribute to the wider regeneration of our district. It will create new retail facilities and new jobs.”

But Coun David Dews, for Wrenthorpe and Outwood West said the scheme would have a “mixed reaction.”

He said: “Some people will appreciate it so they don’t have to go into town to the shops but on the other hand some of the smaller shops in Wrenthorpe may suffer a bit if people go to the bigger retail shops.

“It is going to be a case of wait and see.”

The retail park is the first phase in the wider Snowhill masterplan.

Kier Property has agreed to sell the adjoining nine acre residential site to Strata Homes for the creation of around 90 new homes.

Permission for a new roundabout to access the site has already been granted.

Construction is expected to start in March with completion planned for Easter 2017.