Lidl has said it wants to demolish Hereford’s Three Counties Hotel “as early as possible” ahead of its plan to build a new supermarket on the site.

The discount retailer was controversially granted permission for the work in March – a year after the 1980s-built hotel had closed to guests, though it then served for some months as accommodation for asylum seekers.

Lidl now wants to tweak the permission so that demolition and construction at the site, off the A465 Belmont Road, are treated separately for planning purposes as they will be carried out by different contractors.

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In a letter to Herefordshire Council planners accompanying its application (number 241786), Lidl’s agent Carney Sweeney writes that “partly in response to a desire to limit the potential for criminal activity at the site, there is a strong desire to carry out the demolition activity as early as possible (in late 2024), before the general contractor has been chosen and appointed”.

This appears to be a reference to the break-in and occupation of the now boarded-up hotel site by a group of travellers last month, before they were swiftly removed by bailiffs.

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The contractor to build the store is likely to be appointed in early next year, the agent’s letter adds.

As the application is a “non-material amendment”, comments are not being taken on it.

A legal challenge to councillors’ decision to approve Lidl’s plan was made by an anonymous group of residents in April. Herefordshire Council was asked about the outcome of this.