High Wycombe's Homebase store looks set to become a discount supermarket if new plans are given the go-ahead.

In plans sent to Wycombe District Council, the owners of the London Road Homebase store - Henderson PAIF - say the home improvement retailer will be shutting its doors and Lidl wants to open in its place instead.

Because the budget supermarket will not need the garden centre that is on the site, it is proposed that it will be redeveloped into two "pod" units for other shops - possibly "grab and go-type" food operators selling coffee and sandwiches.

The developers say the proposed pod outlets would replace the need for a controversial Costa Coffee drive-thru, which was given permission to open at Homebase but never did.

As part of the plans, the developers want to revamp and refurbish the whole building.

If they are given the green light, the car park will also be reconfigured to provide 131 car parking spaces and 20 cycle spaces.

Wycombe District Council's environmental services department has objected to the plans to open a new supermarket in a bid to "protect the health of local residents from the effects of air pollution".

It is expected that the morning peak flow will increase by 239 per cent to 61 two-way traffic movements per hour, the evening peak traffic flow will increase by 142 per cent to 174 two-way movements per hour and the weekend peak traffic flow will increase by 23 per cent to 207 two-way vehicle movements per hour.

In their objection, the council said: "These represent a significant increase in the vehicle trips that will pass along the London Road, which is already breaching national air quality objectives, to visit the new superstore.

"It is disappointing to see that the applicant has not considered air quality or our recommendation that at least 10 per cent of car parking spaces are provided with electric vehicle charging points in order to assist with alleviating our above concerns.

"We are of the opinion that Wycombe District Council should not permit this development without substantial mitigation towards the air quality impact of the development."

Henderson PAIF say that an air quality assessment was carried out but found emissions associated with the development would not be "significant".