Westminster Report

BY the Rt Hon Mark Francois MP, MP for Rayleigh and Wickford & Shadow Armed Forces and Veterans Minister.
Some of my constituents may have noticed a recent announcement, that supermarket group Lidl are now planning to develop a new store in Wickford. This has led to some questions as to whether they also intend to go ahead with their proposed store in Rayleigh? In fact, it looks like they are going ahead with both! Let me explain.
Lidl are a major supermarket group, who have opened over a thousand stores across the UK in the last few years. Alongside their great rivals Aldi, they have been taking an increasing share of the market from other traditional supermarket chains such as Asda, Sainsbury’s and Tesco.
As part of their expansion plan, Lidl set their sights some time ago on building a new store in Rayleigh.
The site they eventually decided upon is the Old Swallow Aquatics business, which celebrates their 50th anniversary this year, located on the southern side of the London Road, heading into Rayleigh. Having agreed a deal in principle, Lidl then put in a planning application to Rochford District Council for a new supermarket, totalling some 23,000 square feet and the planning application was subsequently passed, in early 2026.
The reason that the store has not yet been built, is that Swallow Aquatics have since been looking to relocate to a new site. Nevertheless, as people who have driven past their business recently may have noted there are now signs outside, announcing that the company will be moving to a new home, at the Meadowcroft Garden Centre, which is on the old Woodham Road, near South Woodham Ferrers, not that far from Rayleigh itself.
As the signs proclaim: “Our new home revealed… Meadowcroft Garden Centre, opening early 2027!”
Having spoken recently to officials at Lidl, there are still some I’s to be dotted and T’s to be crossed, as it were, but once Swallow Aquatics have relocated, that should then allow construction of the new store to begin, in the spring.
We already have a large Asda supermarket just off Rawreth Lane and smaller stores, including an M&s Food Hall, Tesco’s and Sainsbury’s in Rayleigh itself and now a large Aldi, just opened at the Rayleigh Weir. So, adding Lidl to this mix, will result in even greater choice for my Rayleigh constituents in where and how to shop.
Turning to Wickford, the situation is somewhat more complicated. However, cutting a VERY long story short, the old Co-op supermarket site, located just behind Wickford High Street, closed some five years ago and was then purchased by the UK subsidiary of a South African-based developer, named Heriot.
They initially attempted to redevelop the site as a supermarket, with an underground car park and over 130 flats, in association with Morrisons. However, that deal subsequently fell through. Next, Heriot attempted a deal with Asda, again for a supermarket but with a reduced number of flats. Again, this deal fell through, to the increasing frustration of my Wickford constituents.
There were then rumours of a potential deal with Waitrose – but it turned out that this was really the figment of a number of people’s imagination. Indeed, Waitrose even went as far as to issue a public statement, saying that while they were flattered by all the interest on Facebook, they had “no plans to come to Wickford.”
As Wickford’s MP too, I’m well aware of the very real irritation among Wickford residents, who have seen this semi-derelict site become a dreadful eyesore, for years now. I therefore worked hard, behind the scenes, to try and attract another supermarket group to Wickford. As part of this, I wrote to the CEOs of all of the major supermarket groups in the UK personally and when Lidl showed some initial interest, I lobbied their chief executive, when they held an event at Westminster, over a year ago – and again thereafter, as well.
Following on from this, I spent months brokering a deal including Lidl, Heriot and what is now Conservative-led Basildon Borough Council, including hosting a meeting of all parties in my Westminster office, several months ago.
I’m delighted to say that around a fortnight ago, this led to an announcement by Councillor Alex Myers, the Basildon Cabinet member for Economic Development and Regeneration, that Basildon were going to dispose of two strips of land, on the fringes of the old Co-op site itself, to Lidl, to meet their stringent car parking requirements. This offer helped to unlock a deal, between Lidl and Heriot, which has now reached an advanced stage of negotiations, as this article went to press.
The deal would still be subject to planning permission, in the normal way, but the fact there is already an old supermarket on the site in question, means that the principle of supermarket use is well established.
If all goes well, Lidl should hopefully submit planning permission to redevelop the store – without any flats – by the end of this year, or very early next. If granted, then demolition of the old co-op should begin shortly thereafter – to facilitate the rebuilding of the brand-new store, in its place.
So, in summary, I’ve worked closely with Lidl on both of these projects, the Wickford one in particular, and I hope that within a couple of years or so, taking all of these factors into account, we will have two brand new Lidl supermarkets, one in Rayleigh and the other in Wickford, for my constituents to enjoy.
I can attest that a great deal of work has gone into this, including by Coun Alex Myers but it should hopefully all be worth it in the end.
Finally, I’ve met Nick Seaby, the owner of Swallow Aquatics, in the past. I want to thank Nick and Swallow Aquatics for being such an asset to Rayleigh, for half a century and take this opportunity to wish them all the best of luck in their new home.
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