BUDGET supermarket Lidl will be opening in Blandford this summer.

The store off Shaftesbury Lane has applied for a premises licence while work on the site continues.

A Lidl spokesman confirmed the supermarket will be opening in July.

He said the multi-million pound investment will see a “Lidl of the future” building brought to the area with “state-of-the-art facilities” including an in-store bakery, longer-style tills with dual packing facilities, customer toilets, and baby changing facilities.

It will be the second Lidl in the north Dorset area, joining the supermarket in Gillingham.

When the store applied for planning permission, the proposals were met with 49 letters of support and just eight of objection.

When planning permission was approved for the store last year, it was agreed the store would contribute £250,957 to support a 20-minute frequency bus service from Blandford Forum town centre to Lidl and back for up to three years.

And £77,766 will be offered towards town centre enhancements, which could include a community resource centre, Market Place improvements, shop front improvements, retail opportunities and town centre promotion projects.

The development’s impact on the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty was addressed through a robust landscaping strategy to minimise the visual impact of the scheme.

It was also noted at the planning meeting of North Dorset District Council that the site’s setting includes the A350, housing development to the south, and the Glenmore Business Park.

Commenting on the new store, a Lidl spokesman said: “The multi-million investment will see a sustainable store built with a glass-fronted façade, maximising natural daylight entering the building.”