The Planning Authority (PA) has given the go-ahead for a new LIDL supermarket on the site of the former General Soft Drinks factory in Qormi.

The approval brings a long saga of development applications for the site to an end, with the new supermarket being approved in a PA board meeting on Thursday.

The development is a joint venture between the German supermarket chain and the Mizzi Organisation following initial plans by subsidiary company Mizzi Estates to transform the site into an apartment complex.

The change in plans saw almost all but four of the approximately 150 apartments removed – which will be built on Triq Alexandra – and an underground parking area scrapped.

Instead, the upcoming LIDL store will feature outdoor parking for 122 vehicles, with the supermarket facing onto Mdina Road and Triq il-Vitorja.

While vehicles will exit onto nearby residential Triq il-Vitorja, a traffic study said the supermarket will create less traffic than the previously planned apartments. Photo: Google Maps.

The site has remained unused since the factory owned by General Soft Drinks Ltd was relocated to Marsa in 2008.

Entrance to the supermarket will be from the main Mdina road, with vehicles exiting onto the adjacent Triq il-Vitorja residential street.

However, despite concerns about the traffic impact of the development, a traffic impact assessment earlier this year predicted the supermarket would create less traffic than the apartments and showrooms originally planned.

While the initial development was estimated to have led to 305 trips in peak evening hours, the new LIDL is forecast to create less than half that number (120), according to the assessment.

The study also suggests the development will relieve pressure on two roundabouts on the nearby Triq Manuel Dimech east of the supermarket by attracting shoppers approaching from the west.

A map of the area. Photo: Google Maps.

The supermarket’s developers will be required to contribute €23,000 to the Planning Authority’s Urban Improvements Fund to make up for a shortfall of five parking spaces unable to be accommodated on the site.

Recommending the project for approval, the case officer said the “low supermarket structure and open car park” would have less of a visual impact on the area than the apartment blocks originally envisaged.