Tesco Planning Application - Update

The Tesco application was refused permission in September 2008 and by the end of the year an appeal had been lodged. The Society has been granted Rule 6 status at the public inquiry expected to take place towards the middle of the current year; this will enable us to cross-examine Tesco’s witnesses, but exposes us to cross-examination in return. We plan to challenge: on retail matters need, impact on town-centre trade and maintenance of current levels of ‘linked trips’; on traffic the appellant’s forecast of nil detriment and the assumptions leading to that; on alternative modes of transport not only the failure to improve provision but the likelihood of damaging what already exists; on architectural matters the enormity of the scheme and damage to the Conservation Area; and on ecology the loss of openness of the current site and the planting which has matured over the last twenty years.