Work has begun to build a new Aldi superstore which is due to open next year - just a stone's throw away from a £100m Asda development.

The discount supermarket chain was given permission for a store on part of the car park in Hall Road retail park in Norwich last year, to the annoyance of their rivals.

The skeletal structure of the store, close to Pets At Home, is now taking shape, with Aldi saying customers will be welcomed through the doors in 2017.

An Aldi spokesman said: 'Construction on our new store on Hall Road, Norwich, is now under way and we are looking forward to bringing Aldi's award winning offer to customers next year. The new store will create 50 new jobs.'

The decision to grant permission for Aldi's fourth store in Norwich was made by the city council's planning committee.

But bosses at Asda, which opened its Harford Place superstore in November last year, wrote to members of the committee urging them to block their rival's application.

Asda's legal advisors sent a four-page document warning Aldi's proposed new 1,693 metres square store could have a 'significant adverse retail impact' on the Hall Road district centre development, including Asda.

But Aldi's agent hit back, urging councillors not to give Asda's opposition 'undue weight', given it was 'an entirely commercial objection'.

City council officers had been on the brink of using delegated powers to grant Aldi permission, meaning it would not have to be discussed by councillors, before Asda's late objection.

And city councillors unanimously approved the new store.

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