“Tansy, I couldent agree more !!!”

“Somerfield in Torrington just brings me out in trolley rage! They are so expensive and badly stocked. While It is up to us all to support the fantastic butchers and bakers in Torrington, which can't be beaten by any supermarket, I am completely fed up with having to drive so many miles for nothing when a decent supermarket is so badly needed here. How many more years is this going to drag on?”

“Words fail me. This would have been a brilliant opportunity to bring Torrington into the 21st century. Lidl would not have taken trade from existing business, but would have offered more choice to thise of us who like to shop locally. I spent almost an hour driving to & trying to park at Asda at the weekend just for some household products that are way too expensive to buy in Somerfield. Lets hope that Lidl do appeal!”

“It is a bit of a red herring to quote job numbers in relation to supermarkets. The jobs they create are almost always at the expense of existing jobs in other businesses. Economies of scale mean that in reality they employ fewer people than the equivalent amount of business carried out by smaller businesses. That may not be an argument for turning down Lidl, but equally 'job creation' is not an argument for approving any supermarket.”

“I was so pleased to see the other comments in support of the Lidl store. This is protecting a minority against the majority. I cannot believe that the council would prefer to see thousands of its residents travelling to Bideford & Barnstaple weekly to shop. What about jobs for now and the future, what future do our young people have for a career? Most shops are family owned and provide employment for 2 or 3, not the 20 jobs that Lidl can provide. Somerfield which is now the Co-op is expensive and very small, although they outline planning consent for a larger store that could be years away.
Come on Councillors this is not 1646 it is the 21st Century.”

“When will Torrington get a supermarket?! shopping has become a real issue for me, as I work full time and have to spend my weekend, planning time to go to the supermarket, it would nice to be able to nip to a local supermarket in the evening as and when I needed to, there is no choice in Somerfield and it is expensive. If they are not going to let us have a supermarket, please stop building houses, you can't have it all one way, loads of families and houses but no supermarket, it absouletly ridiculious, its time Torrington moved into this century and this is a great opportunity for the local economy, more jobs more money being spent in Torrington.”

“We have recently moved here. We go to Asda or Morrisons to shop. Sometimes we go into Somerfield for the odd thing and its like a scrum and no choice. How can anyone do a weekly shop when theres no parking. Surely shopping at a Lidl is keeping it local and would keep our money IN Torrington and stop using petrol to travel 9 miles for choice and convenience. The town is also busy and is growing. The decision shows a skewed parochial attitude, The carpark is ugly and would be improved by a clean modern building. I cant get over that Holsworthy has a Waitrose and South Molton has a Sainsburys. Someone is afraid of competition. There is also the issue about local jobs,in the current economic climate its not a good thing to refuse to create jobs for local people ,surely this is a failure of the local council to help create jobs locally”

“when will people see that torrington is a growing town and needs a supermarket, people say shop local how can you when we dont have the facilities, some of the main objectors last time when tesco tried to get permission said you must shop local and the same day and most weeks since can be seen shopping morrisons in BIDEFORD i can see this is really keeping the buissness in torrington isnt it !!”