CONSENT has been given this week for the construction of a new foodstore on the outskirts of Monmouth. German foodstore giants, Lidl, are going to use the site of the former County Garage, on the Redbrook Road, for the store. All the existing buildings on the site will be demolished and a new large building will be constructed. The scheme, which was given the go ahead by County Planners this week, has been given the backing of Monmouth Town Council, while support has also been given by other statutory bodies. A petition, signed by 284 people, was sent to the County Council, backing the application. The whole project has been the subject of a retail impact assessment that has been examined, on behalf of the County Council, by retail consultants. The consultants, Drivers Jonas, concluded that there was a qualitative need for a discount foodstore in the town. There was also a need in that there was estimated to be a convenience goods expenditure surplus of over £4million for the shopping catchment area of Monmouth for 2008. "This would be sufficient to accommodate the estimated convenience goods turnover of the proposed Lidl store of £3.18million" said the consultants' report. It also pointed out that there appeared to be a lack of suitable sites in or adjacent to the town centre for a development of this scale, especially having regard to the town's historic character and conservation area status. "In terms of retail impact, the Lidl store would not have a materially adverse impact on the convenience goods shopping of Monmouth town centre", added the consultant's report. It added that the store would act as an out of centre discount foodstore that would service the wider catchment area of Monmouth as a whole.