BOSSES from a major supermarket chain have applied for planning permission to demolish and rebuild part of one of their Suffolk stores after fears it was sinking.

The Lidl store in Bury Road, Stowmarket, which was built close to the River Gipping, has had to close.

A flood risk assessment which has been carried out as part of the planning application states that part of the building is “structurally unstable” and “unsafe.”

A spokeswoman for Lidl said that a full refurbishment of the store was taking place and that previous work had resolved the subsidence problem after it was identified in 2008.

But the design and access statement which has been submitted to Mid Suffolk District Council by architects Poole and Pattle states the store closed and is no longer trading due to “structural problems” caused by “ground subsidence.”

The statement also says that the rear section of the store and adjacent car park has been subject to the subsidence, with “visible cracks” appearing in the floor slab and external walls. A temporary store will remain open until at least September.

A decision is due on the application by August 17.