Campaigners lobby inquiry into Telford Sainsbury's bid
About 70 protesters today lobbied a planning inquiry over Telford & Wrekin Council's decision to grant planning permission for a Sainsbury's store on council-owned green land near Newport.
The inquiry into plans for a Sainsbury's at Station Road opened at the Park Inn Hotel in Telford.
Trevor Cookson, a planning inspector acting on behalf of the Secretary of State for the Environment chaired the inquiry which is expected to last three weeks.
The inquiry comes after plans to build a Morrisons superstore at nearby Audley Avenue were backed by an inspectorate last year.
The developers of the Audley Avenue superstore, Indigo, are also represented at the inquiry, alongside Co-op and the campaign group Save Newport which believes planning permission should not be granted.
Mr Santam Choongh, for Telford & Wrekin Council, said there was a possibility that both supermarkets could be built but it was unlikely.
Miss Nathalie Lieven, for Indigo, said: "There is an accepted need for a supermarket to be built in Newport to prevent people travelling to outside towns."
She added that there were provisions in the contract Morrisons had signed that would allow them to cancel it should the Station Road development go ahead.
