By Martin Walker
Phil Wilson has slammed utility firms for dragging their feet which has caused the delay of the Aldi site in Newton Aycliffe.
Construction of the eagerly-awaited Aldi supermarket, adjacent to Tesco along Greenwell Road in the town, has stalled recently, frustrating residents.
Our MP says utility companies are to blame, and they need to get their act together.
In an exclusive interview with Aycliffe Today, Mr Wilson is urging the people of Aycliffe to be patient.
“People should stop listening to rumours,” he said.
“The Aldi store is going to be built. It’s nothing to do with Aldi, nothing to do with the developers, nothing to do with Freshwater, the town centre or the county council.
“The problem is with utility companies and something as simple as pipes.
“I’ve been on to the utility companies this week, I was on to them before Christmas, and it’s just really frustrating that’s holding this up now is ownership of pipes.
“That’ll be resolved and they’ll start building and this supermarket will be open this year.
“The utility companies just need to get their acts together and they need to start talking to each other to resolve this issue.
“I don’t think this is unique to Newton Aycliffe. You talk to developers and project managers and they have these problems elsewhere as well.
“But when Newton Aycliffe has been waiting for a redevelopment of the town centre over many years now, I can understand people’s frustrations and I just want to see an end to it.”
Mr Wilson is now hopeful progress will be seen in the next few weeks.
He added: “It should just be a matter of weeks now. They should have started building in January, and now it’s the middle of February.
“But the Aldi shop will bring jobs to the town, it’ll bring competition to Tesco which is what I think we need, and more choice.
“I also think the way it’s going to be laid out will attract people into the town centre.
“They’ll come to Aldi and hopefully go to the other shops in the town centre, so that will hopefully attract other shops to the town.”
Phil Wilson’s Video Interview about this will go live on Aycliffe Today later today
