Planners have given Aldi a provisional thumbs up to build a supermarket on the former Guy Salmon Jaguar Landrover showroom site in Portsmouth Road – but it will be left to local councillors on Elmbridge’s planning committee to say whether the scheme can go ahead.

Will they give the budget supermarket the nod after the council’s planning department’s recommendation to grant planning permission? A meeting at 7pm on Tuesday, August 16 in the civic chamber at the council offices in Esher will decide its outcome.

The meeting is open to the public but spaces are limited. Book your place via the council’s customer services team on 01372 474474. If you want to speak at the meeting you will need to register by tomorrow (Friday, August 12).

The meeting will also be live streamed at www.elmbridge.public-i.tv/core/portal/home

659 letters were received against the proposal for the two-storey building with 926 sq m of retail space, 51 car and 18 cycle spaces. Sixty reasons for objecting were cited in case officer Jack Trendall’s report including an increase in noise, disturbance and a lack of privacy for neighbouring properties, inadequate on-site parking provision, an increase in traffic congestion, and the impact on the local conservation area.

245 letters were received in support of the proposal. Among 23 reasons listed were that a new supermarket was needed for the area, that it would create more jobs and that it would reduce the need to travel to shop in Surbiton, Kingston and Esher.