Plans for a new Aldi in South London have been approved, despite locals claiming nearby homes will be ‘suffocated’ in car emissions.

Bromley Council has approved plans for a new Aldi in Farnborough Village in Orpington.

The store, planned for Farnborough Way, will be open from 8am to 10pm from Monday to Saturday and from 10am to 4pm on Sundays.

The site will also include parking spaces for 47 cars and 33 bikes.

The application received 218 objections online from locals alongside 233 comments of support.

The plans were discussed at a development control committee meeting for Bromley Council on October 5.

Ann Francis, vice chairman of the Farnborough Village Society, said at the meeting that she was representing hundreds of local residents and that the new supermarket would jeopardise the future of the village.

She said that the store would turn the area into a shopping destination and cause thousands of drivers to rely on the area’s already strained infrastructure.

Ms Francis said at the meeting: “The proposed buildings and car park are right on the boundary of homes and gardens and will visually overwhelm them, immerse them in continual noise and suffocate them in car emissions for lengthy periods every single day. There will be no respite.”

Richard Khodabakhsh, property director for Aldi stores, said at the meeting that concerns on the light and noise impact from the store had been assessed as being acceptable by officers.

He said the store would have two deliveries a day on average, one at 7am and another later in the day.

The property director added that the group had put forward a delivery management plan, to ensure there would never be more than one delivery vehicle on the site at one time.

A Transport for London representative said at the meeting that while it had not formally objected to the plans, the body would support council officers objecting to the proposal on transport grounds.

The transport authority also suggested a specific parking system to be added to the site and that no lorries and trucks should use the site during peak hours.

Labour Councillor Alisa Igoe said at the meeting: “I think this is a very, very difficult one actually. It’s a derelict site, it’s not being used.

"It needs to be used for something. I think a supermarket is a good idea, I like the type of supermarket it is. I’m a little disappointed that Aldi have not gone with some of the TfL recommendations.”

Mr Khodabakhsh said that several improvements had been made to the plans for the store since a previous application was rejected in March 2022.

He said the new supermarket was planned to be in the area for a minimum of 20 years and the store is planned to open next year.

He added: “This will benefit all local residents. Overall, the reasons for refusal simply do not stand up.

"In any case, they should be weighed up against the many benefits of the scheme; regenerating a derelict brownfield commercial site, providing accessible choice to local people in a cost of living crisis. If refused, the site will remain derelict. [It will also create] up to 50 new local jobs.”

The development control committee approved the plans for the new supermarket in a 9-6 vote.

Reasons for approval included the new store being in an accessible location, and that the benefits of the application outweigh the effects the increased number of drivers would have on surrounding air quality.