ALDI in Saltcoats could be extended if new plans are given the green light by North Ayrshire Council.

But spaces in the car park that they share with Iceland may be reduced as part of upgrade works that have been submitted to council planning.

First built back in the late 1990s, the supermarket has become one of the most popular in the local area and now the owners are planning to extend it further, 10 years after it was last upgraded.

The plans include:

- A 12.2m extension to the front of the store, increasing the floorspace the building by 304 sq.m

- An extension to the sales area of the store measuring 212 sq.m net

- A new external customer canopy with trolley park underneath

- Reconfiguration, resurfacing and upgrading of the car park with a reduction of spaces from 132 to 119 across the whole of the car park

- Improved and upgraded cladding applied to exterior of store

- New store plant to the rear of the store.

As part of the extension works, the store will be upgraded to the Aldi ‘future store’ concept. This includes a number of improvements to the internal store layout and do not require planning permission. This will result in the following improvements:

- New upgraded merchandising layout

- New Point of Sale information

- Increased quantity of chillers

- “Food to Go” and “Food for Tonight” chilled product sections

- Additional freezer capacity

- More efficient and quieter store plant running on natural refrigerant

- Upgraded lighting.

It is not clear at this stage how long it will take for works to be agreed or carried out.

An Aldi spokesperson said: “We can confirm we have lodged a planning application to extend our store and look forward to progressing matters with North Ayrshire Council in due course.”