A scheme for a new Aldi supermarket on university land in Lampeter, which has attracted hundreds of supporters, is again recommended to be refused by Ceredigion planners despite being supported by councillors last year.

The plans for the supermarket at Trinity St Davids Playing Fields on Pontfaen Road, along with the refurbishment of a Grade II-listed sports pavilion, the installation of three pre-fabricated wooden ‘food village’ exhibition pods, and a nature and biodiversity area with associated access, car parking and landscaping, were previously recommended for refusal last summer.

Last July, members of the council’s development management committee gave the scheme cautious backing, invoking a ‘cooling off’ period, meaning it would be decided at a later date.

A final decision on whether to allow the new supermarket to be built was deferred last month.

The plan is now set to go back before Ceredigion County Council’s Development Management Committee on 12 March where it is again recommended for refusal.

A planning report said there is no “quantitative or qualitative need for the proposed foodstore in Lampeter,” and would have a “major detrimental impact” on other stores.

The report adds a new store is expected to have “a major adverse impact on both Aberaeron and Llandysul town centres, with losses of around 10 per cent of total convenience trade predicted.”

Both Aldi and University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UWTSD) – which owns the land - said there is ‘a groundswell of local support’ and called on members to approve the plans.

Dcouments said the store would bring in up to 40 local jobs.

Rob Jones, Real Estate Director for Aldi said the company had been “frustrated by the ongoing delays in determining this application” but Aldi “plan to bring this store forward as swiftly as possible” if approved.

Calling it a “once in a generation application”, Mr Jones said approving the scheme “will show that Lampeter is ‘open for business’.”

“We’re doing everything we can to ensure that the local area reaps the benefits of this significant investment – upgrading and preserving the sports pavilion and local facilities, high paying local jobs to name a few,” he said.

Emyr Jones, Interim Director of Estates & Facilities at UWTSD added: “These proposals represent an important part of the aspiration for sustained economic growth in this area and we look forward to working closely with Aldi to deliver considerable local benefits.

“A positive determination would help unlock this significant potential investment for Lampeter and the wider region.”

A petition in support of the plans has 1,330 signatures.

Lampeter councillor Ann Bowen Morgan, who said both the town council and the chamber of commerce had supported the plans, adding Lampeter is “noted as a deprived area” and would welcome affordable food on its doorstep.

A report to be put before members says the “positive benefits of the proposal do not outweigh the conflict with relevant retail policies, loss of the playing field and the significant harm it would have on the setting of the Grade II listed building.”