A new Lidl supermarket has been approved for Downlands Retail Park  in Worthingl.

The store is to join together units 2 and 3, near Currys and B&Q, and alter the use from the sale of ‘bulky goods’ to include the sale of food and drink.

The retailer will take over the former Halfords unit and the neighbouring unit currently occupied by Bensons for Beds

Additionally the proposal will create eight disabled parking bays and ten parent and child parking bays outside the front of the store, as well as sheltered bike storage which will reduce overall parking bays from 397 to 361.

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Lidl is also going to pay £75,000 to the improvement of the nearby Lyons Way junction to offset effects on congestion and traffic on the A27.

Two pedestrian crossings are to be installed near the junction to increase pedestrian access to the store from other nearby parks. Downlands Retail Park is one of four in the area.

Concerns were raised by Worthing borough councillor Russ Cochran over the number of proposed disabled parking spaces, saying in peak times that eight might not be enough and they could move the cycle parking away from the front door to accommodate it.

Lidl said six to eight bays was a normal number for a store of this size, stating this would be ‘acceptable for our customers’.

The supermarket says the development will not affect its existing Worthing town centre store in North Street.

The new store will generate almost half of the energy it needs to operate from air source heat pumps and solar panels on its entrance canopy.

Worthing Borough Council approved the plan. After the meeting Councillor Caroline Baxter, cabinet member for regeneration, said: “The new Lidl store will create more jobs for our community in a unit that could otherwise have continued to sit empty.

“The redevelopment of the site will also reduce its environmental impact, helping us move closer towards our goal of becoming a net zero town.”