A NEW shop visited by health and safety inspectors in the centre of Lymm is being blamed for a fall in trade in the village.

Traders wrote to Lymm Parish Council to say the lack of choice at the Spar shop on The Cross was putting shoppers off.

And at the same meeting of the parish council last Tuesday Clr Pam Marks said the shop was not providing ‘basic provisions’.

The store was previously run by Somerfield but it pulled out earlier this year and the store was turned into a Spar.

The newly-opened business was visited by environmental health officers earlier this month after complaints.

Clerk Yvonne Cook read a letter at the meeting from the traders’ association which stated the shop was ‘driving shoppers out of the village’.

And Clr Marks spoke out after she said residents soon set to be without a bus route in Statham would not have the option to shop in the centre of the village.

She said: “The Spar is not providing basic provisions for people to shop in.”

A council spokesman said the store called in Rentokill earlier this month but did not find any problems.

The environmental health team at the council did not have to respond.

The traders and parish councillors also objected to the news that gas works in the village are set to heavily disrupt traffic when they are carried out early in the new year.

Parish councillors vowed to write to gas bosses in order to complain about the decision.