The area’s newest supermarket site has now been built, but it cannot open yet under conditions set by the council.
Lidl was granted permission to knock down the former World of Water building off the A41 near Hunton Bridge in 2024, but to get the permission it had to promise changes to the turning serving the location.
The agreed arrangement was to reconfigure the existing way in to give it a minimum width of 7.3 metres until reaching the car parking area and move a pedestrian crossing so that a “ghost island” right turning lane could be created.
This will hopefully keep A41 traffic flowing smoothly despite the expected increase in the number of cars turning right into the site, after Three Rivers councillors and residents raised “fundamental concerns” over safety and traffic levels.
For foot and cycle movement, plans also included adding a new crossing and extending the path along the eastern edge of the A41.
Condition 17 of the decision notice approving the store says: “Prior to the first use of the development hereby permitted, the proposed access/onsite car and cycle parking/servicing/loading, unloading/turning shall be laid out, demarcated, levelled, surfaced and drained in accordance with the approved plan and retained thereafter available for that specific use.”
This means Lidl legally cannot open until the changes to the turning are complete. The road is currently completed up to the edge of the site but does not connect to the wider road network.
No permits are currently in place for this work, so it is unclear when it will be done, and discussions with Hertfordshire County Council Highways on this are likely ongoing.
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Lidl has been contacted for confirmation. It had previously said the store was set to open this summer, but it is understood that it may now not open until around November.
As the shop hires staff in preparation for opening, the discount brand has announced it will ringfence 10 per cent of interviews for entry level roles for people who have been out of work for at least six months.
It aims to “level the playing field”, fast tracking candidates straight to the interview stage and removing the need for CVs, to help get those who have slipped through the cracks back into work.
