Sefton planners back a Lidl and M&S Foodhall off the Formby Bypass, with a vote on Wednesday. Council consultants put the village centre's trade loss at 15.9%.

A Lidl, a Marks & Spencer Foodhall and two drive-thrus on farmland off the Formby Bypass should be approved, Sefton Council’s planning officers have told councillors. The Planning Committee decides on Wednesday 16 September 2026 at 6.30pm in Bootle Town Hall.

The officers’ report also sets out what the scheme would cost Formby village. The council’s own retail consultants estimate the centre would lose 15.9% of its retail turnover, chiefly because M&S would leave its unit in The Cloisters (Planning Committee report, DC/2024/02165).

The site is 12.6 hectares of land north of Formby Industrial Estate, on the east side of the A565. Formby is about seven miles south of Southport.

What is being decided

The application, reference DC/2024/02165, is a hybrid. Part of it seeks full permission now and part seeks permission in principle, with the detail to follow later (Sefton Council agenda, 16 September 2026).

Full permission is sought for:

  • a new signal-controlled junction on the Formby Bypass, with footways and cycle paths
  • an estate road, internal roundabout, pumping station and flood storage
  • two foodstores, named in the report’s conditions as Lidl and M&S
  • one drive-thru, with drawings in the application titled “Costa Drive Thru Drainage Design”

Outline permission is sought for:

  • at least 7.58 hectares of employment land for offices, light industry, general industry and warehousing
  • a second drive-thru shop or restaurant
  • a community medical centre

The site is allocated for employment in the 2017 Local Plan. That policy allows “a limited number of other uses” only where they are needed to pay for the business units. The report says viability appraisals show a profit return of no more than 5% on the whole scheme, so the shops are judged “necessary”.

How big the stores would be

Conditions would cap each store at the size assessed:

Store Gross floorspace Food sales area Non-food sales area
Lidl 2,185 m² 1,213 m² 303 m²
M&S Foodhall 2,006 m² 1,342 m² 149 m²

Neither store could be subdivided. Total employment floorspace would be capped at 20,995 m².

What it would mean for Formby village

The council hired Lambert Smith Hampton to test the applicant’s retail evidence. Its findings, as reported to the committee:

  • a 25.6% cumulative loss of everyday food turnover in Formby District Centre, counting the Sainsbury’s Local already consented on Liverpool Road
  • a 15.9% loss of total retail turnover in the centre
  • a 2.6% loss of non-food turnover
  • projected food turnover of £13.94 million for M&S and £8.7 million for Lidl, from a May 2026 update

Bar chart: Lambert Smith Hampton estimates Formby District Centre would lose 25.6% of everyday food turnover cumulatively including the consented Liverpool Road Sainsbury's Local, 15.9% of all retail turnover and 2.6% of non-food turnover. Projected food turnover of the new stores in May 2026: M&S £13.94 million, Lidl £8.7 million.

The consultants still concluded the harm was not “significant”. Their reasoning leans heavily on Waitrose on Three Tuns Lane. The report says no evidence shows the scheme would hurt that store or its owner’s plans to invest in it.

Waitrose and Tesco both objected. Each argued the scheme would have a significant adverse impact on Formby District Centre. Formby Civic Society objected too, saying long-established shops would inevitably close.

Who else objected

Formby Parish Council objects. It says the applicant has not shown the site will be safe from flooding, and that wildlife surveys and habitat replacement are inadequate.

The council’s own Highways Manager considered the site “not sustainable”. The report lists the concerns: no road link into the industrial estate, the site failing a minimum accessibility test, and no bus service. Planning officers disagree, because the Local Plan specifies a single junction off the bypass.

The Merseyside and West Lancashire Bat Group does not support the loss of bat foraging habitat. The council’s ecology advisers rate the site of county, if not regional, importance for bats.

United Utilities objects over drainage manholes near its water main.

Residents’ objections came from 15 Formby streets. Letters of support came from at least ten other Formby streets and one in Southport. Supporters cited jobs, a doctor’s surgery and a bigger community hub.

The bus money that will not be paid

The Liverpool City Region Combined Authority asked for £200,000 a year for five years to run a bus to the site. Officers call the request unreasonable. They say no workings were supplied, the money would stop after five years, and the scheme cannot afford at least £1 million.

Instead, the site would get bus stop infrastructure and a layby on a road that could later link to Stephenson Way. The report notes the bus layby at the nearby Tesco “may never have been utilised”.

What the developer would have to do

If approved, a legal agreement would secure:

  • at least 3,716 m² (40,000 sq ft) of employment floorspace within five years of either foodstore opening
  • local labour procurement
  • off-site highway works
  • biodiversity net gain delivery

The off-site works include:

  • widening the cycleways on both sides of the bypass to 5 metres, split into a 3m cycleway and a 2m footway
  • upgrading the Mittens Lane path to Gardner Road into a shared route
  • removing the uncontrolled crossing on the bypass at Mittens Lane
  • cutting the bypass speed limit to 50mph between Altcar Lane and Southport Road

On wildlife, the applicant’s own ecologists calculate a 25.88% loss of habitat units on site and a 58.87% loss of watercourse units. The shortfall would be made up off site, through a registered provider or statutory credits. The land lies within the Formby Moss Local Wildlife Site.

What it means for you

  • If you live in Formby, this is the decision that could move M&S out of the village centre. The report accepts it would draw trade from the shops you walk to.
  • If you drive the A565, expect a new set of traffic lights north of the industrial estate and a lower 50mph limit on that stretch, if the scheme goes ahead and the speed limit order is changed.
  • If you do not drive, there is no funded bus to the site in the plans.
  • The meeting is public. Papers are on the council’s agenda page. Wider Sefton planning coverage is on our Southport planning news page.

The same committee also considers the rebuild of Greenbank High School in Birkdale. We will report the decisions.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Formby M&S moving?

The planning report assumes so. It says the main trade loss in Formby centre comes “chiefly as a result of the relocation of M&S from its current store in The Cloisters”. M&S has made no statement we could find, and nothing is decided until the committee votes.

Is the site Green Belt?

No. Some objectors said it was. The site is allocated as a Strategic Employment Location in the 2017 Local Plan, although the Formby Moss Local Wildlife Site continues north into the Green Belt beyond it.

When would the stores open?

The report gives no opening date. Permission, if granted, would require work to start within three years.

Sources