Staffordshire Moorlands District Council's decision on a planning application to build an Aldi supermarket in Biddulph will now be taking place in 2021.

Biddulph Nub News reported previously how a decision on the application was previously due to be made in December.

The application's page on the district council's planning portal states that the decision will take place at an upcoming Planning Committee meeting on Thursday, 3rd December.

However, the application remains absent from the agenda of this committee.

The delay is reportedly due to the council still being in negotiations with Aldi over the details of the application, with a decision on the plans now being pushed back to one of the later Planning Committee meetings in 2021.

At the latest meeting of Biddulph Town Council's Planning Committee, the town council's chief officer, Sarah Haydon, explained the contact she had with the district council regarding the plans.

She said: "The town council has recommended approval for Aldi, and we are waiting for the district council to make the final decision.

"The planning officer with responsibility for the decision has advised that they are still negotiating the highways issues, access for a bus and previous issues regarding moving children around the site and rights of way for the school.

"It's unlikely they will have these issues resolved by the Planning Committee at the start of December, so it will probably be considered by the district council in the new year now."

The application was initially scheduled to be considered at a planning meeting on 15th October, but a district council spokesperson told Biddulph Nub News it had been rescheduled for a week later, on 22nd October.

However, the application was then absent from the agenda of the 22nd October meeting, with no discussion of the supermarket taking place at this meeting.

At a meeting of the town council's Planning Committee on 20th October, Cllr Nigel Yates said the district council had informed him the application could possibly be ready for decision at the district council's Planning Committee meeting on 12th November.

However, the application is not present on the agenda for this committee either, with the following committee meeting on 3rd December now also having no mention of the plans on the agenda.

German supermarket giant Aldi submitted an application to Staffordshire Moorlands District Council in June to build a new store on the site of the former Meadows Special School off Tunstall Road.

The school was demolished in a fire in 2004, and was later relocated to Leek.