RESIDENTS and businesses have raised traffic concerns over plans for an Aldi supermarket in Didcot.

Six submissions have been sent to council planners over the scheme for a store in Lower Broadway on the site of a foam company warehouse.

They warned it would create traffic jams around the Jubilee Way Roundabout.

Aldi said the development would attract 1,227 daily vehicle trips.

Roebuck Court resident Peter Kent said: “I'm dismayed that the application doesn’t support or suggest any changes to traffic management on the roundabout at the Broadway, Roebuck Court, Hitchcock Way and Jubilee Way junction.

“This is already highly congested at peak times, with queues of traffic at all junctions.”

Marsh Lane resident Mathew Sunderland added: “As a local resident living just a few hundred metres away from the proposed development, I am extremely concerned about the additional vehicle traffic this development may cause if it goes ahead.

“I have read there is likely to be provision for around 104 vehicles for the store.

“There is also the concern of HGV traffic adding to this when making the various deliveries.

“I frequently have great difficulty entering and exiting Marsh Lane at various times of the day, not just at peak times during rush hour.”

But five residents backed the plans in letters to South Oxfordshire District Council, which will make a final decision.

Tamar Way’s George Walker said: “Me and my family welcome the addition of a new Aldi store to Didcot.

“It will bring much needed competition to the monopoly of Tesco and Sainsbury’s and save me travelling to Oxford and Reading to get my shopping.”

Didcot Town Council leader Margaret Davies has said the roundabout is one of three major traffic pinch points in the town.

The council has backed the plan but said: “Drivers would have difficulty turning right into and right out of the access road onto the B4016.”

It said developer-funded improvements to the roundabout would help fix the problems.

The plan would create 10 full-time and 20 part-time jobs and include 104 parking spaces.