A SALTASH resident has said that he is ‘horrified’ over the proposal to bring a new Aldi store to the town on the Burraton Field site.

Over 100 residents of the town’s residents turned out for the extraordinary meeting on Tuesday night to hear Aldi’s updated for the controversial £10-million Aldi supermarket in Saltash, to be sited on green space off Callington Road.

Emotions were high as the meeting, in Wesley Church, with many expressing their fears to the representatives of Cavendish Consulting, who were acting on behalf of Aldi.

One resident that spoke at the meeting was Barry Brooking, who outlined the community and recreational use of the site.

Speaking to the Cornish Times, he said: “I am horrified by the proposal. That field is so important for many of us in the Burraton area with regard to our mental and physical health. During covid, it was a lifesaver for many of us. If Aldi have there way, we won’t have it anymore and once it is gone, its gone.

“We are in danger of losing our green space at Burraton if this happens and now that threat is upon us. That land was for the people of Saltash for recreation, and I don’t think that Cornwall Council has the right to use the money they get from Aldi to sell off our land so that they can make a couple of million pounds profit.

“I think it crosses the line between acceptable profit making and greed. I believe this is a greedy proposal. The jobs it will bring will in no way compensate for the loss of a much-loved field where we can recreate. If they’ve been looking for years, I would suggest they should long a little longer because this is not the site.”

Barry, along with other residents at the meeting, also expressed their concerns over the impact the new store will bring to the traffic on the already congested Callington Road.

He added: “Callington Road can be the biggest car park in Cornwall. Traffic can go from the roundabout at Carkeel all the way back to the top of Fore Street and the library which is about a mile. This has been happening at certain times because the roads were never built for this amount of traffic.

“Can you imagine adding big supermarket traffic to that, it will be a traffic jam. Imagine living in Callington Road and there was a medical emergency, how on earth would the emergency vehicle and paramedics get through?

“If you had a fire, if the traffic is queuing on both sides of the road and is a mile long, imagine how long it will take to put out the fire? That is all possible and probable to happen.”

A planning application for the new store is due for submission this month with work expected to start on site some time in 2027 if planning is granted.