Lidl wants a 2,184 sq m store on London Road at Horns Cross, with 117 spaces and up to 40 jobs. Eleven objections lodged; comments close 1 September.
Lidl wants to build a supermarket at Horns Cross, on the old Stone Pit 1 land between London Road and Stone Place Road. The application was validated by Dartford Borough Council on 6 August, and residents have until Tuesday 1 September to comment. Fifteen people have already written in. Eleven of them object. (Dartford Borough Council planning register, 26/00897/FUL)
The register describes the proposal only as a Class E retail store. The planning statement lodged with it names the operator outright: Lidl Great Britain Ltd. (Planning and retail statement, CarneySweeney, July 2026)
What is proposed
- a foodstore of 2,184 sq m gross internal floor area, with 1,529 sq m of sales floor
- 117 car parking spaces, including 6 for disabled drivers, 9 parent and child bays and 2 rapid electric vehicle chargers
- 12 cycle spaces
- vehicle access off Stone Place Road, to the east of the site
- a separate pedestrian entrance off London Road
- alterations to the Stone Place Road and London Road junction
- up to 40 jobs, though staffing levels are not settled
Lidl’s usual trading hours are 7am to 10pm Monday to Saturday and bank holidays, and either 10am to 4pm or 11am to 5pm on Sundays. The statement says a Lidl store typically takes up to three lorry deliveries a day.
The land is not a new allocation. Planning permission already exists under DA/18/01611/FUL for an extension of the Horns Cross Neighbourhood Centre, and this application amends that scheme so the supermarket becomes its anchor. The existing centre includes a Co-op. Stone Crossing station is about 0.6 miles away, a 15-minute walk, and The Bull bus stops sit directly south of the site.
Where Lidl expects the trade to come from
The store is above the 280 sq m threshold in Local Plan policy M18, so a retail impact assessment was required. It sets out, store by store, how much turnover the consultants expect the new Lidl to take.
The largest single draw is £3.9m from the Asda at Crossways Boulevard in Greenhithe, an impact of 10.3%. The second is £2.0m from Lidl’s own store on Instone Road in Dartford town centre, at 10.7%. The Co-op at Horns Cross, the shop objectors are most worried about, is put at £0.15m, or 9.7% of its turnover.
The consultants argue none of that matters much, because the existing stores are trading far above the benchmark for their size. They put the Asda at Greenhithe £18.6m above benchmark and the Instone Road Lidl £11.5m above. On their reading, that gap is itself evidence the area needs more floorspace.
What residents are saying
By 18 August the register held 15 public representations: 11 objecting and 4 in support. Several objections are near-identical in wording, which usually means an organised campaign rather than 11 separate views.
The objections return to the same points:
- traffic on Stone Place Road, which several describe as single-lane in places because of parked cars, and unsuitable for lorries
- congestion on the A226 London Road, made worse when the Dartford Crossing backs up
- air quality, on a road the applicant’s own statement confirms is inside an Air Quality Management Area
- the risk to the Co-op opposite, and to the post office counter objectors say it houses
- the store’s eastern elevation facing flats at Dulcie Close, described as a large reflective wall that a tree screen would not soften
- the number of food shops already within walking distance
The supporting comments are shorter. They cite local jobs, easier shopping for people who cannot get to the Asda, and Co-op prices.
There is one point the council will have to weigh that neither side raised. The Local Plan parking standard would call for 162 spaces for a store this size, one for every 14 sq m. The application offers 117, one for every 19 sq m.
What it means for you
If you want to say something about this, the deadline is Tuesday 1 September 2026. Comments go to Dartford Borough Council through the planning register entry for 26/00897/FUL, and every comment is published, with the address but not the name.
Two things are worth knowing before you write. Objections carry weight when they raise planning matters: traffic, access, noise, air quality, design, hours. Competition is not a planning matter, so “we already have enough supermarkets” counts for very little on its own, while “this junction cannot take the turning movements” counts for a great deal.
The council’s target date for a decision is 5 November 2026. Consultation responses so far have come from Kent Fire and Rescue, Kent Police, Thames Water, National Grid, UK Power Networks, SGN and KCC Minerals and Waste. Kent Highways has not yet published a view, and on a scheme turning HGVs onto a residential road, that response is the one to watch.
Our Dartford planning applications guide explains how to search the register and what happens between validation and decision. If the traffic argument is your concern, our roadworks and travel page tracks what is already closing on the A226 and the crossing.
Have your say
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