Aldi in Neats Court, Queenborough, set to open after store wars with Tesco

A budget supermarket giant is set to finally open its delay-hit store after rivals Tesco tried to stop it from going ahead.

The new £9 million Aldi at Neats Court in Queenborough was supposed to welcome its first customers in April.

But permission around road access meant the opening date had to be pushed back.

KentOnline can now reveal the German retailer plans to open in July.

It did not confirm an exact date but it is understood it will release this closer to the time and it wants to open as soon as possible.

The delays stemmed from legal discussions about the access to the supermarket which will be off the A249, Thomsett Way roundabout.

National Highways has worked with Aldi since around 2022 and the scheme received technical approval earlier this year with an agreement signed in May.

New aerial footage shows progress on the new store which has created 40 jobs.

Some 30 staff from the Sheerness shop – which will shut once the new supermarket is open – are due to be transferred over.

Another retailer, Home Bargains, will take on the exisitng Aldi unit between Pepys Avenue and Millennium Way.

The Neats Court branch will be a third larger than the town centre store, with 134 parking spaces - 59 more than in Sheerness. It will also have new cycle and pedestrian links.

Aldi is investing £18 million across the county to open new shops and renovate older ones, such as a planned expansion of its Sittingbourne branch in East Street.

Planning permission to build the new store on the Island was granted by Swale council in December 2022.

Aldi submitted plans in June 2019 after declaring its 15-year-old branch in Sheerness, was "no longer fit for purpose". Talks with authority began in 2017.

It was given the go-ahead in November 2020 but construction was halted when supermarket rival Tesco had the permission quashed in the High Court the following October.

Tesco claimed there was not enough consideration given to the impact of the proposals on Sheerness town centre, that the decision to grant permission was “procedurally incorrect” as there had been no screening to determine if an environmental impact assessment (EIA) was needed, and that there were inconsistencies in the planning committee’s decision-making.

But Aldi maintained an EIA was not needed as the site is allocated for large-scale employment use in the borough’s Local Plan.

A spokesman for the supermarket later revealed a new retail impact assessment has been undertaken which found relocating the store would have “no impact on Sheerness town centre or other centres that would warrant refusal”.

By this point, Aldi had already put its old site on the market for £2 million, and it resubmitted plans in November 2022.

Planning officers recommended the application was refused, saying closing the current shop would have a detrimental effect on the town.

But Aldi warned the council that its existing site was too small and would be closed even if its plans for the new store were rejected.

To see more planning applications and other public notices for your area, click here.

Sittingbourne and Sheppey MP Gordon Henderson said “turning down the Aldi application, which incidentally has already been approved once, will have an impact on jobs and the wider Sheppey community”.

He added it would be "illogical" because the retailer had made it clear it was quitting Sheerness and that Home Bargains would have a "positive impact" on the town and the Island "as a whole".

In December 2022, councillors voted 14 to one in favour of allowing the resubmitted plans.