Asda has been given go-ahead for two new stores in Gorseinon, South West Wales, and Melksham in Wiltshire, totalling £50m.
The City and County of Swansea Council’s planning committee has approved plans for a £25m development in Gorseinon. The council refused Asda’s original planning application for the 29,100 sq ft store in 2007 and the decision was upheld by the Welsh Assembly Government Inspector in 2008. Construction will begin in January 2010.
Separately, Wiltshire Council has given the green light for a 29,500 sq ft shop in Melksham. The £25m investment was recommended for refusal in January 2009, but councillors voted in favour once they had agreed planning conditions and an S106 agreement.
Chris Marlow, property communications manager at Asda, said: “From the outset, we believed that Gorseinon would benefit hugely from this investment – not just from the hundreds of new job opportunities and associated wages, but also from the fact that the majority of local people will no longer have to leave the town to do their food shopping.”
“We are also very pleased that our plans to create hundreds of new jobs and improve supermarket choice in Melksham have finally gained the necessary consent.”
