A SOUTHAMPTON MP has backed plans for a new Aldi store in the city.

But Itchen MP Royston Smith says the proposals for the former East Point Education Centre site also represent a “missed opportunity”.

It comes after Aldi lodged plans to build a supermarket on the site, along with a new drive-through coffee shop, creating up to 60 jobs.

However the site, in Thornhill, was once touted as the new multimillion-pound home of Itchen College.

The then Conservative controlled council, of which Mr Smith was a part, even went as far as to draw up plans, which included sports pitches and a state-of-the-art multi-use games area.

But the proposals were scrapped in the wake of the 2008 recession.

Mr Smith said he is pleased to see the site may finally be developed after nearly a decade of uncertainty. But he added that the plans represent a “missed opportunity”.

Mr Smith said: “Much more could have been done with the site. There is nothing wrong with a food store, it will bring jobs and bring quality shopping opportunities for people in Thornhill.

“And most of the people I’ve spoken to so far have been supportive of an Aldi there.

“But with any site, particularly a brownfield site like this, there are always more opportunities.”

Mr Smith said the Itchen College plan had collapsed after the recession had struck, and government funding for the proposal was withdrawn.

He also criticised the current Labour council for not using the site for affordable homes.

Planning permission was given for developers to build a new 114 flat complex, with 33 family homes, in 2016. However, that section of the site was never developed.

Another part of the site was however developed into the £10m Eastpoint Centre, which opened in 2014. But after going into administration months later, the building was saved and renamed High Point.

Now Aldi hopes to develop the unused green area beside the High Point centre into a new multimillion-pound supermarket – less than a mile from the nearest store of retail rival, Lidl. The retailer is also planning a new drive-through coffee shop, while leaving a “proportion of the site” for housing.

An Aldi spokesperson said: “We know that many local residents are travelling some distance to enjoy the Aldi offer, opening this store would make it even easier for people to shop and save in their local area.

“This multi-million pound investment would provide an enjoyable shopping destination in a high-quality building.

“Aldi’s opening would also create up to 40 new jobs, we would actively seek to recruit people from the local area to fill these positions.”