Aldi has won planning consent for a £7million supermarket off the Canford Bottom roundabout – despite 350 objections.
The decision goes against Dorset Council planning officers’ recommendation to refuse – partly because half the site is within the Green Belt.
The council decision will now have to go to the Secretary of State because it flies in the face of that advice.
Former Dorset Council leader, Verwood councillor Spencer Flower, proposed agreeing the plans saying the area needed more supermarket choice, adding that he was not convinced it would bring the traffic problems many feared it would.
He said the 1,600 extra household already planned for the area needed choice in their shopping options and an extra supermarket might help reduce local traffic across the wider area.
Studied had shown only a minor impact on existing stores in the area.
Aldi said in a design and access statement when it first proposed the store that landscaping, including hedges and new trees, will be planted around the supermarket, although some of the large Leylandii between the site and the Canford Bottom roundabout will be felled.
Up to 40 new full and part-time jobs could be created from development, according to Aldi, although some objectors claims it could lead to job losses at other, local, supermarkets.
A new access, with a filter lane, and a Pelican crossing, will be created off Canford Bottom Road with the new store having 1,315 square metres of sales areas, measuring approximately 65 by 32metres.
Aldi said that they had looked at eight other sites in the area, none of which were suitable, before agreeing on the Canford Bottom site. The company said they looked at the area because of a lack of discount supermarket options for residents in Canford Bottom, Wimborne and the surrounding areas.
Of more than 500 public comments on the proposal, 350 were objections, including Colehill Parish Council; 174 in support, including a local single mother who sent a statement to the committee asking to support the new store to help people like her, on lower incomes.
Questions were raised about whether the 120-space car park would be adequate and a request made for a 2 metre acoustic fence around at least part of the site to dampen any noise from the site for nearby houses, together with a request for barriers at night to stop anti-social behaviour.
Hilary Pascall, who lives directly opposite the site, said the supermarket was likely to have an adverse effect on everyone living nearby and that having it so close to one of the busiest road junctions in the county was likely to lead to more traffic problems, with a predicted extra 1,600 traffic movements a day.
Another local resident, Diane McLeavy, said Green Belt policies ought not to be over-ridden: “The promise of cheaper groceries or jobs does not over-ride the Green Belt policy… our Green Belt is not for sale” she told the council’s area planning committee.
Aldi real estate director Elliot Saunders said the company had been disappointed by the recommendation to refuse and argued that the Green Belt area, on part of the site, did not fulfil any of the Green Belt objectives. He said there had been no objections from either local or national highway officers to the site and said the presence of the store would help reduce the need for longer car trips to find reasonably priced shopping.
The motion to approve was on a 5-2 vote and included a long list of conditions which will be now be negotiated by council officers.
