Plans to turn ex-school site into Aldi submitted

The German company said the new store would bring £5m worth of investment to the Chatham area

Plans for a new Aldi store on the site of a former school in Kent have been submitted for approval.

Medway Council has received a planning application for a new branch of the supermarket chain on the former site of St John Fisher School on Maidstone Road in Chatham.

The German chain took the site over in January and launched a public consultation with residents.

Aldi said the new store would bring £5m worth of investment to the area, create at least 50 new jobs and regenerate the disused site.

The application asks for approval to demolish the former school site, which has been vacant since it relocated to Rochester in 2022.

The 1.8 acre supermarket would have 104 parking spaces, according to Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The application says the store will make "as many changes as it can" to stay in keeping with the local area, such as replacing a concrete boundary wall with a red brick one similar to what had been there originally.

A total of 26 new trees would be planted across the site.

The new store would be located within the Maidstone Road conservation area.

Adjacent to the plot, an Edwardian house which formed part of the St John Fisher school is the subject of a planning application for 11 flats and eight houses.

The supermarket application is currently being considered by Medway Council's planning department.