Councillor in plea over bid by superstore
Tuesday 23rd February 2010, 11:59PM GMT.
The Tesco Extra supermarket in Shrewsbury
A Shropshire councillor has issued a plea to the Government to call in controversial plans by Tesco to increase the space it can use for non-grocery products at one of its Shrewsbury stores.
Councillor Dr Maxwell Winchester has written to the Secretary of State John Healey claiming that Shropshire Council planning officers are going against planning guidelines to recommend the application is app-roved.
The retrospective plans, to be considered by the unitary council, were deferred again earlier this month to allow planning officers time to consider new guidance on the application for the Tesco Extra store in Battlefield.
The application is ex-pected to go before the authority’s central planning committee next month.
Tesco wants to stock an extra 152 sq metres more of goods including clothing, DIY, household and recreational items after it broke planning rules restricting non-grocery space.
In his letter to the Government, Councillor Dr Winchester said he was calling for an inquiry because he was concerned about the issue.
A spokesman for Tesco today said it had been in talks with the council about how to resolve the issue.
He said: “We review and discuss matters of non grocery space and regional capacity and work with council officials to see how it can be agreed in a sensible way.”
Shropshire Council was unavailable for comment today.
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Will it affect the so called smaller retailer? i would suggest look after the largest employer.
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The largest employer would be the small retailers and independents; real business people offering real jobs – not short term contract ones – making money that they spend within the local economy. Once the pound has hit the till in the supermarket, it’s gone elsewhere to the labrynthine banking system of that supermarket. When it hits the till in a local business, much of it sticks around to circulate within the local economy.
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