Bathurst Regional Council has approved an application for the $3.2 million development on the former Bathurst Automotive Group site.

The new supermarket will be built just metres from the busy intersection at Durham Street (Great Western Highway) and Rankin Street, with questions already being asked about whether an increase in traffic will require traffic lights to be installed at the intersection.

Brabham’s Outdoor Power Centre stands at the intersection and owner Clive Brabham said he had already witnessed dozens of near-misses there.

“There should be more problems than there are,” Mr Brabham said.

“There are always near-misses. The intersection already has issues and they’re only going to increase.”

However, Mr Brabham said he was at a loss as to what could be done.“It’s easy to say someone should be doing something, but what can you do?” he asked. “It’s a

really difficult intersection to do much with.”

Mr Brabham said the roads were already bumper to bumper in late afternoon, and the new supermarket would only attract more traffic to the area. But he feared installing a set of traffic lights would slow the traffic flow down.

“I think perhaps five traffic lights in a row [along the highway] might be too much,” he said.

The IGA development was approved by Bathurst Regional Council last month.

The provision of adequate disabled parking was the hot topic among councillors, but Councillor Warren Aubin said he believed the intersection would not cause major problems for road users.

“I don’t think it will be too much of a drama,” he said. “There are upwards of 15,000 traffic movements along the highway each day, and the increase in traffic caused by the shopping centre won’t be in the thousands.”

Cr Aubin said it was unlikely the new development would be accompanied by a set of traffic lights at the intersection.

“We will monitor [the development] as it goes ahead,” he said.