Save our Sheringham - Say NO to Tesco

Tesco succeed in Sheringham store battle

2010-10-15T11:54:00.001Z

RIP Sheringam

Public vote move in Sheringham store saga

2010-08-26T13:24:00.000Z

People in Sheringham look set to get a chance to vote on a long-running supermarket saga.Moves are afoot to stage a parish poll on the thorny question which has divided the community - just as the decade-long debate looked set to come to a conclusion. Tesco's years of trying to build a store on the Cromer Road have been rejected by planning councillors, contrary to officer recommendations but in line with local fears it would damage the vibrant town centre. They voted instead for a more recent rival Greenhouse Community Project scheme which combines a Waitrose run store with an educational food academy. The decision is currently in limbo while complaints about the conduct of councillors at the decision meeting back in March are investigated. But local residents are being asked to back calls for a poll, which will be discussed at a public meeting to be held at Sheringham High School on Thursday September 2 at 8pm. The outcome of a poll carries no legal weight, but would go some way to answering long-running claims and counterclaims by the rival sides over levels of support for their schemes. Town mayor Doug Smith said the meeting was being called due to overwhelming requests for a local referendum. The gathering would decide whether to press ahead with a vote - which could be as soon as September 23, the same day a by election to fill a vacant town council seat. It would also decide the wording of the questions - with only people on the Sheringham electoral register able to vote.“There seems to be some kind of deadlock and people feel frustrated. This will give a very clear indication of what the people of Sheringham want to have. The poll will focus the minds of district councillors and will be have to be considered properly,” he added. Mr Smith said he had also asked the district council to delay any final confirmation of a decision until the outcome of the poll was known. The cost, estimated to be about £3,000, would be picked up by local taxpayer. And he stressed it would have to be about land use, not the companies or personalities involved. Greenhouse project leader Clive Hay Smith welcomed the poll as a positive and democratic move that was “late in the day but will allow real people to have a real say” amid the “opaque” planning process. It would show whether Tesco had as many supporters as they claimed. Tesco spokesman Michael Kissman said: “It is clear to everyone that there is and always has been strong support for Tesco in Sheringham. However, planning applications should be decided on planning grounds and our proposals clearly passed those standards when experts last looked at them.”

New twist in Sheringham supermarket saga

2010-06-03T10:44:00.002Z

A complaint against a councillor which is holding up the latest stage of the Sheringham supermarket saga was submitted by the authority's chief executive, it has been revealed. North Norfolk District Council's top officer Philip Burton handed in a 27-page confidential document - seen by the EDP - outlining concerns about the conduct of Candy Sheridan, who represents Stalham. The authority last night said its chief executive's role was a matter of convention and did not necessarily reflect his personal concerns. The complaint, dated March 31, relates to Ms Sheridan's behaviour during a meeting on March 4 to decide who should be given permission to develop a supermarket in Sheringham. A committee voted against the recommendations of officers to give the go-ahead to the Greenhouse Community Project, which would be run by Waitrose, and rejected the latest application by Tesco. The decision is set to be discussed again by the planning committee - because of fears it would not stand up to a legal challenge - but that has been put on hold while a number of complaints against councillors, including Ms Sheridan, are investigated. Last night, district council spokesman Nick Manthorpe explained the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 imposed an “absolute duty” on the authority's monitoring officer to ensure serious allegations against any councillor were properly investigated. He added: “By convention in these circumstances the actual complaint to the standards committee is made by the chief executive.” Mr Manthorpe said the council would be breaking the law if it was to reveal any of the details of four complaints made against three councillors unless and until they came before a standards committee panel hearing. Mr Burton's code of conduct complaint form was passed to the EDP by Eroica Mildmay, chairman of Sheringham Campaign Against Major Retail Overdevelopment (Scamrod). She has now received a letter from the district council telling her the authority is seeking legal advice over how her organisation came to have the confidential documents. It follows a letter sent to the authority by Ms Mildmay and Reg Grimes, chairman of the Sheringham and District Preservation Society, giving their views on the complaint. Last night Scamrod's chairman called the letter a “threat” and branded it “ridiculous”. She added: “The important thing for me is that they have not dealt with any of my issues. They have decided to turn around and shoot the messenger and try to intimidate me.” Ms Mildmay refused to reveal who had leaked the confidential complaint document. Mr Manthorpe said: “The documents in question are restricted to a small number of relevant people, who are all aware that they are to be kept confidential, by law. We cannot speculate or comment further without potentially prejudicing any investigation.” Ms Sheridan announced she was the subject of an ongoing investigation in April when she had to leave a planning meeting while the supermarket saga was discussed.

Sheringham supermarket battle in limbo

2010-06-02T12:23:00.000Z

The great supermarket debate which has engulfed Sheringham for many years looks set to remain in limbo until legal advice is received about the implications of complaints against councillors. As reported previously in the EDP, councillors at North Norfolk District Council decided in March to back the Waitrose supermarket aspect of the wider Greenhouse Community Project on the outskirts of town and refuse permission for the town centre Tesco plan. As also reported at the time, that decision could still be overruled if it turns out, as council officers fear, to have been made on shaky grounds which could be challenged legally. Almost three months on and that situation remains unresolved. A statement from the Greenhouse Community Project, which is being headed by Clive Hay Smith said project members and partners "continued to be frustrated by the apparent reluctance of the council to ratify the democratic decision taken by elected members" in early March. The statement said this was espec-ially frustrating given that the council's external legal advice accorded with the project's own independent advice from leading counsel. They also said complaints against councillors appeared to feature "trumped-up charges" and added: "We are watching this situation very closely and will be taking further legal advice to ensure the democratic process is not abused." Meanwhile, Nick Gellatly of Tesco said: "It is nearly three months since the planning committee took the decision to go against the advice of their officers, consultants as well as local and national planning policy." Mr Gellatly said he was sure many local people would be as disappointed as he was that delays continued." However, we understand that the council must take care to reach proper and justifiable decisions, but hope that they will be able to name the date for a decision at the earliest possible opportunity. "Council spokesman Nick Manthorpe said: "We have sought, and are awaiting, legal advice on the implications of the four standards complaints against three councillors involved in making the decision in March. We need to know whether and how those issues might affect the validity of that decision. We need that legal advice before we can know how to move forward and determine these important applications."

New twist in Sheringham store wars

2010-04-01T11:25:00.002Z

The Sheringham store wars battle has taken yet another twist. Councillors will have to meet again to clarify the reasons behind their surprise supermarket decision at Sheringham. Members of North Norfolk District Council's planning committee went against officers' recommendations when they backed an edge-of-town, eco-friendly Waitrose store and refused a Tesco scheme earlier this month. But there were concerns about the muddled reasoning voiced by councillors at the time. A legal expert has said the decisions would be legally sound providing the reasons were not "perverse or irrational" and were "properly articu-lated". However, barrister James Strachan said the minutes of the meeting did not provide that clarity.Planning officials advised refusal of the Greenhouse Community Project store - which would be run by Waitrose - in Weybourne Road, partly because it went against retail development policy that favoured sites nearer the town centre. But councillors voted 10-6 to approve the store and reject Tesco's store plan for Cromer Road. Their reasons included the failure to give enough weight to the ethos and sustainability of the Waitrose scheme, while Tesco's would harm the town centre and had an incompatible design. However, the reasons for breaking policy had "not yet been articulated by the committee", according to a council report, which says the committee must meet again to reconsider the two applications. And, next Thursday, the committee will be asked to confirm the minutes of the decision-taking meeting on March 4. Head of planning Steve Oxenham said a full debate of the reasons would take place at a special meeting to be called later, when the committee would seek to provide the necessary clarity. It is the latest twist in a long and often bitter saga about supermarket development at Sheringham. Tesco has been seeking a store in the town since 1996, and hoped its revised plans for Cromer Road would answer concerns arising from previous refusals. Yet it continued to face fierce opposition from opponents fearful that it would damage the existing, vibrant town centre. Tesco spokesman Nick Gellatly said: "It was clear from the outset that the decision by the council did not fit with either local or national planning policy, and there was public outcry as a result of this."We welcome the decision to revisit this issue as there must be greater clarity on why the council made the choice it did, particularly when it runs counter to the recommendations from their officers. "Landowner Clive Hay-Smith's more recent rival plan near the Splash pool aimed to provide an alternative store with green credentials, with local food sourcing, electric deliv-ery vehicles and shopper buses, plus a linked food academy. He was not available for comment but has previously praised councillors for their decision, which his lawyers had checked and believed to be legally sound.

Norfolk town wins 14-year battle to prevent Tesco being built in town centre

2010-03-05T10:41:00.001Z

A Norfolk town has won its fight to prevent a Tesco being built in the centre, with officials opting for a community project run by a local farmer.
The decision to instead opt for an eco-friendly supermarket has been welcomed by the residents of Sheringham, who have been protesting against the introduction of a Tesco for the past 14 years.
The Greenhouse Country Store, a project devised by Clive Hay-Smith, will be the greenest supermarket ever built - with rainwater harvesting, solar panels and an electric bus service.

Sheringham residents have won their fight to prevent a Tesco supermarket being built in their town
Mr Hay-Smith, a former president of media empire Pearson, said he was thrilled with the North Norfolk District Council's planning committee's decision.
He said: 'Tesco has run up against someone with the time, the money and the inclination - certainly the inclination - to take it on.'
However, Mr Hay-Smith has run into some opposition from locals after announcing last year he was enlisting the help of Tesco rival Waitrose to run the supermarket.

Clive Hay-Smith devised plans for the eco-friendly supermarket
But many are thrilled with the news that their town will host the greenest supermarket ever built.
Sheringham High School student Hope Worsdale told the council the store would encourage further eco-friendly development.
She said: 'It is the way forward with genuine values and beliefs which are needed to get us out of the mess we are in. The mess my generation will have to live with.'
Friends of the Earth's food campaigner Helen Rimmer said yesterday's decision was a positive sign.
She explained: 'Tesco controls a third of the UK’s grocery market and communities up and down the country are fighting back against its takeover of our towns and cities.
'It is now vital that the Government and local authorities bring in new policies to support independent shops and the local economy to give communities a genuine choice about where to shop.'
Tesco have been fighting for the right to build a supermarket in Sheringham since 1996, but were told by councillors it would damage the town's look, increase traffic and cause problems for independent local traders.
Tesco launched a legal challenge to the council's decision in September 2007 but the original decision was backed by planning inspectors.
The supermarket chain then submitted revised plans for a smaller store in the town last August.
Following yesterday's decision, a spokesperson for Tesco said: 'We're surprised. Planning officers made it clear that the Waitrose application would be detrimental to Sheringham town centre and local shops.
'The councillors' decision is at odds with government planning policy to protect the vitality of town centres.'

Tesco snubbed in first round of battle for Norfolk supermarket

2010-03-05T10:35:00.000Z

Farmer persuades councillors to back 'green alternative' scheme despite opposition from planning officers

A former corporate boss turned farmer was today celebrating victory in the first round of his battle to keep Tesco out of his Norfolk town and bring in the rival Waitrose in its place.
Clive Hay-Smith's Greenhouse Community Project persuaded councillors his plan for a green alternative for Sheringham was a winner despite opposition from local planning officers.
Hay-Smith, once an executive in the Pearson media empire said: "It has restored my faith in democracy … It was very clear officers were not happy with the decision."
The decision by North Norfolk council's development committee will not be confirmed until it has taken legal advice. Officials had told the councillors that the plans would cause the town "material harm".
Waitrose are to build and run the supermarket on a site on the edge of Sheringham having joined the scheme in December. Hay-Smith is to fund a food academy in nutrition and cooking skills.
A spokesman for Tesco said: "We're surprised. Planning officers made it clear that the Waitrose application would be detrimental to Sheringham town centre and local shops. The councillors' decision is at odds with government planning policy to protect the vitality of town centres."

Tesco thwarted over Norfolk supermarket

2010-03-05T10:32:00.000Z

Tesco today lost a controversial bid to site a supermarket in the centre of Sheringham in the latest twist in a decade-long battle by campaigners to resist the expansion of Britain’s biggest supermarket into the Norfolk resort.
Councillors on North Norfolk District Council rejected a plan for a store, even though it had been supported by the authority’s planning officials. Town councillors in Sheringham had opposed the store on Cromer Road on the grounds that it would harm the look and tradition of the town, increase traffic jams and hurt local independent traders.

Instead, North Norfolk District Council approved an edge-of-town community store proposed by local landowner Clive Hay-Smith that will have allotments and a food academy. In a blow to Tesco’s corporate prestige, the environmentally-friendly , the Greenhouse Project will be run in partnership with Waitrose.
Tesco, which has 30 per cent of the UK grocery market, has been fighting for the right to build a store in Sheringham since 1996 and launched a legal challenge to council’s rejection of its plans in 2007. In September 2008, planning inspectors backed the council, saying a 1,500 sq m store would jeapardise the “vitality, viability and retail function” of the historic resort. The supermarket submitted plans for a smaller store last August.
A Tesco spokesman said: “We're surprised by this decision. Planning officers made it clear that the Waitrose application would be detrimental to Sheringham town centre and local shops. The councillors’ decision is at odds with Government planning policy to protect and ensure the vitality of town centres.”
Friends of the Earth's food campaigner Helen Rimmer described the decision as “fantastic news” for the people and businesses of Sheringham.
“Tesco controls a third of the UK’s grocery market and communities up and down the country are fighting back against its takeover of our towns and cities,” she said.
“It is now vital that the Government and local authorities bring in new policies to support independent shops and the local economy to give communities a genuine choice about where to shop.”

Sheringham defeats Tesco with vote for Clive Hay-Smith’s eco-store

2010-03-05T10:20:00.001Z

It was a little town without a Tesco, a curiosity in modern Britain, though no one expected that it would remain that way for very long.
Sheringham, in Norfolk, has held out for 14 years against the advances of the all-conquering supermarket. Yesterday, against expectations and the advice of the town’s planning officials, the forces of Tesco were routed.
Instead of a Tesco in the town centre, North Norfolk District Council planning committee voted in favour of an eco-friendly community project dreamt up by a local farmer.
It may seem an unlikely result, but opponents of the supermarket had a secret weapon: the local farmer was not quite all that he appeared. Clive Hay-Smith, 52, was indeed engaged in a spot of agriculture when he became involved in the fight against Tesco. Before running a farm, however, he had been running a branch of Pearson, the media empire.
After serving as president of the group’s assessment and testing division he retired from the City and moved back to Sheringham, his boyhood home, in search of a more peaceful existence. Instead, Mr Hay-Smith was pitched into what some regarded as a struggle for the very identity of the market town, a place with a high street that seemed to hail from an earlier era, full of butchers, bakers, fishmongers and grocers. His solution to the Tesco problem was to fight fire with fire, and so he proposed to build another supermarket on the outskirts of town.
The Greenhouse Country Store would be the greenest supermarket ever built: with solar panels, rainwater harvesting, eco-friendly refrigeration methods, a sedum plant roof and an electric bus service. Food would be sourced locally and, next door, Mr Hay-Smith would build the Norfolk Food Academy to teach nutrition and cooking skills.
If he won, Sheringham could become a rallying cry for groups across the country fighting the incursions of the supermarkets.
“Tesco has run up against someone with the time, the money and the inclination — certainly the inclination — to take it on,” he said.
He needed some help, however. In December he announced that the store would be run by Waitrose, a move that some of his allies seemed to regard as tantamount to a pact with the devil.
Yesterday, in spite of their doubts and the concerns of planners, he prevailed. “It was a very brave decision for Sheringham’s future,” he said afterwards.
Tesco expressed surprise. “Planning officers made it clear that the Waitrose application would be detrimental to Sheringham town centre and local shops,” said a spokesman.
“The council itself has announced that it will be seeking further independent legal advice on the legality of the decision.”
The battle for Sheringham may not be over quite yet.

congratulations

2010-03-04T21:22:00.002Z

Well done to the brave councillors who once again rejected the might of Tesco and opted for a scheme which would protect and enhance the values of Sheringham.

Let us hope that democracy ends on top and that the legal might of Tesco doesn't once again ride roughshod over the views of local people.

Congratulations must also go to the residents who have protested for so long and haven't given up. Keep up the good work.

Tesco loses Sheringham store wars

2010-03-04T21:20:00.001Z

The latest battle in Sheringham's storewars today saw councillors approve plans for the eco-friendly Greenhouse Community Project while once again throwing out proposals for a Tesco in the town.

But the decision, voted in by a majority of 10 to six, could need to be reconsidered if North Norfolk District Council officers decide it could not be defended in a legal challenge.

The announcement came this afternoon following more than four hours of argument, counter argument and debate at the council officers in Cromer which saw councillors, businessmen, residents, school pupils and a headteacher all have their say.

Clive Hay-Smith's successful plans for the Greenhouse Community Project on Weybourne Road would include a supermarket managed by Waitrose as well as food academy.

After the meeting the delighted businessman congratulated councillors on making "a very brave decision for Sheringham's future" and said, subject to the legal checks, he hoped to have both the store and academy open by autumn 2011.

However Tesco spokesman Nick Gellatly said councillors had “clearly ignored government planning policy and their own officers' recommendations” to reach a decision that was “on shaky grounds” with “reasons to refuse that were cobbled together” and which the company would be studying.

Council officers had recommended councillors should approve the proposed Cromer Road Tesco store and refuse the Greenhouse-Waitrose plans because it was too far out of town.

They argued the Tesco site would encourage shoppers to also visit shops in the town centre while the rival scheme could harm other traders and would be poorly served by public transport - despite the backers' plans to offer a free electric bus service.

But while some councillors agreed, others feared extra retail units which would be built as part of the Tesco scheme for independent traders would soon be used by the supermarket giant to add to its sales space.

Clive Hay-Smith, the man behind the Greenhouse/Waitrose plan.
Councillor Barbara McGoun also insisted the chance to bring something unusual to the area, offered by the Greenhouse scheme, should not be missed. “The Weybourne Road plan is an absolute breath of fresh air,” she said.

In total 14 speakers, plus a representative from the town council, addressed the room during the meeting offering a mixture of views in favour and against both proposals.

During the meeting Sheringham High schoolgirl Hope Worsdale, clutching a plastic globe, spoke passionately in favour of the environment and the Greenhouse scheme which she said would act as a beacon for retailers across the country and encourage further eco-friendly development.

The 15-year-old, who has lived in Sheringham for 12 years, said: “It is the way forward with genuine values and beliefs which are needed to get us out of the mess we are in.”

Following the decision she described the committee's decision as “a move in the right direction” and hoped legal issues would not prevent the Greenhouse Project being built.

But Jono Read, who runs a Facebook group supporting the Tesco plans, insisted fears that the Cromer Road site would mean an end to many of the smaller independent shops were unfounded. “Tesco won't kill the town,” he told the meeting.

He said the plans and the prospect of new jobs created by them would be welcomed by many.

He said: “Weekend, night time and holiday jobs are exactly what people like me are calling out for.”

Tesco in line to win Sheringham store battle

2010-03-03T12:43:00.004Z

Tesco looks poised to win the long and bitter battle to build a supermarket at Sheringham - if councillors follow the advice of their officers. Planning officials are recommending approval of Tesco's long-running bid for a store on Cromer Road and refusal of a rival Greenhouse Project scheme on Weybourne Road. The decision will be taken at a special development control committee meeting of North Norfolk District Council on Thursday, March 4. Councillors have ignored officer guidance in the past, but this time are being urged to back the latest scheme by Tesco, which has been trying to build a store for years, rather than a newer scheme hatched by a local landowner Clive Hay-Smith. His Greenhouse scheme on Weybourne Road is earmarked for refusal as it failed to show it was the best “sequentially available site” closest to the town centre, was poorly served by public transport, would harm the town centre, and was against national and local planning policies. Both store plans are roughly the same size, but the Tesco one is 300m from the town centre and the Waitrose store 1,000m away. The council's retail consultant said the Tesco site's location on the edge of the town centre, with a walkway through, would encourage shoppers to heading to the existing shops. But the farther-flung Waitrose store would cause more harm to the town centre, leading to “substantial closures of food and convenience shops”. Closure of the Co-Op was a “distinct possibility” under both plans. Officers praised the environmental and community initiatives of the Greenhouse scheme - such as linked allotments, educational food academy and local food sourcing - but said they did not outweigh the breaches of planning policy. Highways officials said it was “not a sustainable location” and the offers of electric shuttle bus services were an admission of that. The report says the Waitrose scheme “would be harmful to the vitality and viability of the town centre to a far greater extent than a store sited within easy walking distance.” The impact of the Tesco plan was “likely to be greater than stated by the applicant”, but was acceptable on balance.A previous design was condemned as “mundane” by the appeal inspector, but officials now say the latest one is “the best yet”, being bolder and more linked the surroundings. The Greenhouse plan has received 223 letters in favour and 55 against, while Tesco's had 287 letters of support, with 236 and a 96-name petition against. The 80-page agenda is available from the council including on line at www.northnorfolk.org

D-Day looms for Sheringham store plans

2010-02-24T12:16:00.002Z

Rival plans for a supermarket at Sheringham will go head to head at a crunch council meeting on March 4. The face-off is between two big high street names - one which has been targeting the town for 14 years, the other a newcomer to the battle. Tesco has been trying to build a store in the resort since 1996 in the face of fierce opposition from traders and town councillors who fear it will harm the existing vibrant town centre - a view upheld by a planning inspector who rejected an appeal by the retail giant, and also tagged the design “mundane.” It has come back with revised plans featuring a store that is a fifth smaller, moved closer to the town centre, and designed by renowned architects who created Tyneside's “winking eye” footbridge. Waitrose would run a store promoted last year by local businessman Clive Hay-Smith in a bid to provide an alternative to Tesco. It would have electric delivery vehicles and shoppers buses, and be linked to plans for a neighbouring Norfolk Food Academy teaching cookery and food understanding. It is on an allotment site given in a land swap with the town council, which has created 200 new allotments. North Norfolk District Council's planning committee will debate the pros and cons of each scheme next Thursday at a special meeting starting at 9.30am. It is a decision which will have far-reaching impact on the future of the town and which has seen it split into vocal factions in the past. The council has confirmed the date of the meeting and an agenda containing officers' recommendations should be out by tomorrow. Tesco argues its store is needed to stop the majority of locals driving to supermarkets in neighbouring towns for their big weekly shop and that Sheringham would benefit from spin-off trade as people walked through to the town centre from free three-hour parking - particularly as the Tesco scheme is 150m from the town centre, while the Waitrose one is 1km away. The Greenhouse scheme says it also aims to provide for the weekly shop, with an emphasis on local quality food, and a range of goods designed to complement rather than cripple the local economy. It wanted to prevent Sheringham becoming “another Tesco town” while the sale of the store to Waitrose would bolster a community fund supporting local projects. The plans at a glance:
Tesco
Location - Cromer Road (on site of community centre and fire station, which would be replaced elsewhere)
Sales space - 1,175 sq m Parking - 143 spaces free for three hours
Jobs created - 150

Waitrose / Greenhouse
Location - Weybourne Road (on former allotment land next to Splash leisure centre)
Sales space - 1,250 sq m
Parking - 135, with power points for mobility scooters. Free electric bus.
Jobs created - 155

Waitrose eyes new Norfolk superstore

2010-02-16T13:48:00.001Z

Supermarket chain Waitrose is determined to open a store in north Norfolk, either at Sheringham or elsewhere, says a company boss.

The retailer has thrown its hat into the ring of the town's “store wars” planning battle with rivals Tesco which has split the community in a sometimes bitter war of words and which now looks likely to be decided next month. Waitrose would operate an eco-friendly Greenhouse Project store on the Weybourne Road promoted by local landowner Clive Hay-Smith as an alternative to Tesco's long-running plans on the Cromer Road. The Greenhouse scheme, which would feature electric delivery vehicles and shopper buses, is also linked to a Norfolk Food Academy that would promote cookery and food knowledge next door.

Waitrose's development director Nigel Keen said the company did not want to “get embroiled in spats which have occurred previously. But he said Waitrose had been looking at Sheringham as a possible store venue for “some time,” but felt Tesco had the “dominant position”. When it was approached by Mr Hay-Smith, “some months ago” the scheme matched the company's green and local food sourcing credentials, as well as policies of supporting local farmers and running cooking schools, which it does at its stores in Southend and Cheltenham. “We felt we should support it to give Sheringham people another option. We would like to be close to the town centre but that is not possible. The people of Sheringham will look at both schemes. It is not for us to get into a debate about who is the best operator. If this site doesn't happen we will be disappointed because it is a chance to provide something for the community,” he said, adding that if refused the company would continue to look for sites in Sheringham and other towns.

Waitrose, which is part of the John Lewis group, has 223 stores across the UK, including at Norwich, Wymondham and Swaffham.

The Greenhouse scheme has planning policy hurdles to leap because of its location on the edge of town, while Tesco is hoping its revised plans with improved designs, and moving the store closer to existing shops, will overcome previous objections including potential impact on the existing town centre.

The provisional date for a decision by North Norfolk District Council's planning committee is now March 4.

Sheringham store decision delayed

2010-01-06T15:30:00.000Z

A crucial decision to resolve Sheringham's long-running store wars saga has been postponed again - because of new government planning policies. Rival plans by Tesco, which has been seeking a Cromer Road store for more than decade, and a newer scheme by landowner Clive Hay-Smith whose Greenhouse Project store on the Weybourne Road would be run by Waitrose, were expected to go before a council committee later this month. But the timetable has been de-railed by the recent announcement of 19 new planning policies - which officers need to study in depth to see how they affect the supermarket plans. It is now hoped to reschedule a meeting in February to resolve an issue which has dominated and divided the town for years. Tesco has had previous plans turned down at appeal, over fears about the impact on the vibrancy of the existing town centre and criticism of a dull design - but the retail giant has come back with a revised scheme hatched by top architects, and moved slightly closer to main shopping area. The Greenhouse scheme aims to source local produce, use electric buses and delivery vehicles, and be linked to a Norfolk Food academy promoting cookery and food knowledge - but is farther from the town centre, next to the Splash leisure pool. The potential benefits and drawbacks of each plan has been the focus of long and bitter controversy in the community, which has split into campaign groups and factions doing battle through the press and on the internet. Planning Policy Statement 4 aims to “deliver more sustainable patterns of development, reduce the need to travel, especially by car and respond to climate change”, and promote “the vitality and viability of town and other centres as important places for communities”. As reported earlier, it will replace a previous “needs test” with a tougher one looking at the impact of proposals on a range of areas including the effect on the high street, choice, consumer spending, jobs and climate change. The council said it, the applicants and the council's independent retail consultant now needed to see if, and how, the new policies, backed up by a 100-page “practical guidance” document, affect the supermarket applications, which were initially due to be heard on December 17, then on January 21. Head of planning and building control Steve Oxenham said: “We know these decisions are hugely important to the community of Sheringham, and we want to bring this to a conclusion as soon as possible.“The timing of these new government policies is unfortunate, but we will work as quickly as we can to gather all the information we need, hopefully in time for a February meeting.”

Stores decision delayed until January

2009-12-18T14:12:00.002Z

A final decision on the two competing Sheringham supermarket plans will not be made until after Christmas, it was announced today. Those for and against the long standing Tesco plan and the more recent Greenhouse community project had been hoping for a resolution to the debate on December 17, which was the expected date of a development control meeting at North Norfolk District Council. But the sheer weight of submissions received on the two applications has meant the committee will not consider the plans until either January 21 or 28 - although it could theoretically end up being postponed again. The news was met with very different responses from the teams behind the two plans. Speaking on behalf of the Greenhouse project, Clive Hay-Smith said: “We think this is absolutely the right decision.“There are many critical consultee responses still outstanding, and this brief delay gives the district council's planning officers every opportunity to fully inform elected council members on all aspects of this important issue.” But Nick Gellatly from Tesco said: “This delay will be frustrating for many people who were hoping for good news this Christmas when household budgets are so tight. “I'm disappointed because we're certain our store meets all the planning policy requirements councillors should make their decisions on, it will be a stone's throw from local shops.” Peter Battrick, spokesman for the district council, said December 17 had never been confirmed as a definite date, but it had been the aim of the council to bring it to committee on that day. “We are still receiving some fairly weighty submissions, evidence that needs to be looked at carefully and incorporated into everybody's thoughts,” he added.“It would have been useful to have it done before Christmas, but the council is not going to rush through things.” The two competing sides in Sheringham's continuing supermarket war have both lodged formal objections to the planning application put forward by their rival. Among the raft of supporting and objecting statements which will be considered by council officers and elected members both in the run up to January's meeting are an objection from the Greenhouse team to the Tesco plan and another from the Tesco team to the Greenhouse plan. Each lengthy objection raises a number of points. Clive Hay Smith, the man behind the Greenhouse plan, has claimed that the Tesco plan will see affordable housing removed and not replaced and that there are highways ground to refuse the application.Tesco for their part say their plan is a “more viable, sustainable and policy compliant scheme”. But both objections go into far greater detail than this and are many pages long.

Sheringham supermarket war latest

2009-12-08T15:07:00.001Z

The two competing sides in Sheringham's continuing supermarket war have both lodged formal objections to the planning application put forward by their rival. The long running attempt by Tesco to build a store in town and the newer, rival Greenhouse 'ecostore' plan will both come before North Norfolk District Council's west area development committee on December 17. Among the raft of supporting and objecting statements which will be considered by council officers and elected members both in the run up to and during the meeting are an objection from the Greenhouse team to the Tesco plan and another from the Tesco team to the Greenhouse plan. Each lengthy objection raises a number of points.Clive Hay Smith, the man behind the Greenhouse plan, has claimed that the Tesco plan will see affordable housing removed and not replaced and that there are highways ground to refuse the application. Tesco for their part say their plan is a “more viable, sustainable and policy compliant scheme”. But both objections go into far greater detail than this and are many pages long. Mr Hay Smith, who was the first of the two to enter an objection, said: “The Tesco objection is not unexpected and we don't think that the general public or district councillors will be fooled by Tesco's latest attempt to discredit our scheme with this kind of self-interested misinformation and spin.” And Nick Gellatly from Tesco said: “We have written to the district council explaining why the Greenhouse store would not be right for Sheringham.“We have also found irregularities in the information provided on important issues such as traffic and the store's green energy proposals.”

New Tesco Planning Application

2009-09-07T10:12:00.002Z

The plans for the proposed new Tesco store can be found here -
planning application

Which option is best?

2009-05-03T12:32:00.002Z

At last we have a sensible proposal for a supermarket in Sheringham. It is close to the shops, provides a market place but most important replaces the lost car parking places using land on Cromer Road.
The only stumbling block is that once again the Council believe they are unable to work with any one other than Tesco. Even Tesco, on their own website say that they have no desire to control what the council does.
"The Agreement was not a secret. It does not prevent another retailer from finding a site and securing planning permission for a supermarket, nor does it prevent the Council from selling other Council owned land for retail development. Rather, the Council, in its capacity as landowner, is prevented from taking any steps which might be or become detrimental to, or increase the cost of, our attempts to secure satisfactory planning permission for a supermarket at the Cromer Road site only. "

Come on North Norfolk District Council, be fair to all parties and help come up with the best option for Sheringham.

Third supermarket plan for Sheringham

2009-05-03T12:31:00.000Z

A third supermarket plan is about to be tabled at Sheringham as the long-running store wars saga in the town takes another unexpected twist. The latest scheme, from developer Richard Davies, includes a store on the town's main car park next to the steam railway station, a continental style market, car parking which is partly underground and 54 affordable flats. It comes as Tesco draws up revised plans for its prolonged bid to build a store in the town, and local landowner Clive Hay-Smith recently revealed a rival scheme to provide a “green” supermarket with electric delivery vans and a share of the profits going to a community charity. Mr Davies, the man behind an eco-town plan at the former RAF Coltishall and who wanted to put a Dubai-style sail building in a Cromer clifftop park, said he had originally toyed with his scheme five years ago - and had now decided to lodge the plans, adding: “Everybody else is having a go, so why shouldn't I?”He aims to lodge the plans in the next few weeks, having put them on display in the town to get public feedback.“This is a fantastic scheme which would provide the town with the supermarket it wants, extra car parking, and affordable homes,” he said. “It is elegant and will lift Sheringham.” The scheme puts the 1,400 sq m store on the North Norfolk District-owned car park, along 39 car parking spaces above ground and 150 below. A redeveloped market area would have demountable stalls that would fold into the ground, and street café. But it also features the Cromer road site figuring in Tesco's plans, where there would be another 288 space-car park above and below ground, 54 low cost homes to replace the Lockerbie flats, and coach parking with a turntable to ease access. Mr Davies said the parking and market ideas had come from visits to market towns in Holland and Germany.He realised the land was in the ownership of councils, with Tesco having an option to buy - but he would consider letting the supermarket take it on, adding “If they want to take it from me, it will be my gift.”Sheringham needed a supermarket and the plan could well stir up further controversy to “get things done”. The station site was earlier earmarked for a Budgens store, which won planning permission on appeal, but failed to advance because of a controversial land deal clause between Tesco and the district council over another site, which prevents the council from promoting a rival supermarket on its land. Mr Hay-Smith's green scheme is on the Weybourne Road near the Splash pool, and involves a proposed land swap deal with the town council which would provide more allotments.D istrict council legal manager Emma Duncan said while a supermarket on the car park site was allowable under policy, the Tesco clause meant it was “difficult” for other developers to promote a plan. Even if Tesco released the clause the council would still have to consider whether it wanted to sell the land.

Tesco unveils new Sheringham vision

2009-04-08T12:26:00.001Z

Tesco executives have unveiled a new vision for a Sheringham supermarket, hoping to answer 13 years of criticism. But, as crowds scrambled to get a better look at the plans, the split in the town seemed as strong as ever. The store chain claims to have started from scratch on its plans for the Cromer Road site after its last proposals were thrown out by a planning inspector in September. An exhibition on Friday at Oddfellows Hall revealed its vision of a building that is a quarter smaller than the previous offering, positioned closer to Station Road to encourage shoppers to stay in town and of a design which, Tesco hopes, will answer the inspector's criticisms of a "mundane" appearance. Tesco had brought in Wilkinson Eyre, the architects behind the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, and spokesman Nick Gellatly said that, at just 6.5m high and using a combination of brick and flint, the building would blend in better with its surroundings. He added: "We have tried to make the building fit comfortably with its area. We are using materials used in some of the other buildings nearby."But, while the proposed 1,250 sq ft supermarket aimed to reconcile the two disparate camps in the town, a notice board full of comments from visitors to the exhibition suggested the split was still very much in place. Comments such as "Yes please, do it soon" and "Much needed, best wishes from us who suffer high prices in Sheringham" were balanced out by others saying "Not in my name" and "Too large, wrong place". After looking at the proposals, Pam Blyth, from the Protesc group, said she believed the company had bent over backwards to make people happy. She said of the plans: "They're absolutely brilliant. I think they have gone 150pc towards answering all the concerns of the people. It's absolutely superb and will fit in with the town." But Eroica Mildmay, of Sheringham Campaign Against Major Retail Overdevelopment, said the new plans were too vague to win anyone over. She added: "There is no picture of what the town will be like. It's being kept deliberately vague. I left feeling a little bit inconclusive about what it was they were offering." Tesco said it had purposely not drawn up a finished design as it hoped feedback from the exhibition could be used to influence a final appearance. Several people seemed sceptical about the prospect of a smaller store, believing future expansion was inevitable, but Mr Gellatly said: "The site is so constrained it would be very difficult to extend. You can never say never, but we cannot see how we could do it."

New twist in Norfolk store wars

2009-04-02T09:54:00.001Z

A store wars saga at Sheringham has taken a fresh twist as a new contender entered the fray with a groundbreaking idea for a supermarket which seeks to help the environment and local traders. The seaside town has been the focus of a battle to build a store for more than a decade, with Tesco and Budgens leading the way in the past. But, just as Tesco prepared to unveil its latest plans for a scaled- down store, a local landowner has thrown his hat in the ring with a pioneering plan. It involves a store in an eco-friendly building, that would have electric delivery vehicles and plough a share of its profits back into a new community charity. The rank outsider saddling up for the race to build a store is retired businessman Clive Hay-Smith, driven by a desire to add another option to the long-running debate, and a feeling that Sheringham deserved better than the plans served up so far by Tesco. The 52-year-old, who was chief executive in the Pearson publishing empire, was brought up in Sheringham and had “watched the Tesco debate from afar”. He explained: “I have been thinking about this for a year. The community deserves better than what Tesco is planning.” Mr Hay-Smith's plan on the Weybourne Road near the Splash pool, revolves around a land swap already agreed in principle by Sheringham Town Council. He would give the town 13 acres of farmland, enabling it to double the number of allotments and provide space to expand the cemetery. In return he would build a Greenhouse Country Store on the four-acre allotment plot, in a building with a sedum roof, solar panels and wind turbines. Mr Hay-Smith said he aimed to build and operate the store, but would consider letting a retailer run it if they were “of the right profile”, with 10pc of any sale proceeds going to the charity trust. The swap could go ahead even if the store scheme did not come off, said Mr Hay-Smith who said although his store was the same size as the original Tesco scheme, it was a different, greener approach, and less of a traffic hazard away from the roundabout and fire station. Sheringham mayor Noel Gant confirmed the council had agreed in principle “after considerable discussion” to the land swap because of the benefits to a community where there was a 40-strong waiting list for allotments. Eroica Mildmay, whose Sheringham Campaign Against Major Retail Overdevelopment group has opposed the Tesco plans, could not comment fully about the Greenhouse scheme until she knew all the facts, but welcomed the “community viability issues at the centre of its ethos” and green design. North Norfolk District Council community director Steve Blatch said he was aware of the proposal, and had “not dismissed it out of hand”. But the council had made the developer aware of a “substantial number of policy issues”, such as being well outside the town centre retail area and close to the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.” Tesco's plans, to be revealed tomorrow, aim to overcome concerns - centred on the potential damage to the existing vibrant town centre, and attacks on its bland design - which saw its original scheme rejected by planners and a government inspector on appeal. The company has reduced the size of sales floor space by a quarter, making it similar to the its store at Aylsham.
HOW THE STORES COMPARE
Greenhouse Country Store
1,500 sq m of retail space
would employ 130 staff
orders, made by phone or on-line, delivered by electric vehicles
locally-sourced products used where possible.
a café could be an attraction itself on the coast road
would not sell books, clothes, electrical goods or ironmonger in a bid to co-exist with current traders
a minimum of 10pc of the profits to be ploughed back into a charitable trust to help local causes
An exhibition outlining the green store plans will be held in Sheringham, at the old Lloyds Bank building, on April 7-9, from 8am to 8pm.

Tesco
1,200-1,250 sq m retail space
would offer a “good range of food and groceries, with a very limited selection of other goods”
new plans aim to improve the design and pick up on local architecture
revised plans could also move the store closer to Station Road to strengthen linked walking trips to the town centre
fuller details will be revealed at an exhibition being held at the Oddfellows Hall on Lifeboat Plain, behind the Crown pub on the seafront, on Friday from 10am to 8pm and Saturday from 10am to 3pm.

Tesco seeks smaller store at Sheringham

2009-04-01T10:18:00.001Z

Tesco is looking to make its proposed supermarket at Sheringham about a quarter smaller than its previous plans. Revised ideas for the controversial scheme are being revealed at a public exhibition in the town on Friday and Saturday. The company says the latest plan, for about 1,200 sq m of sales space rather then the original 1,500, would mean it was a similar size to the store at Aylsham. And the position of the store could change, with an option to put it close to Station Road in a move to attract visitors to the rest of Sheringham's shops. Tesco has brought in award-winning architects to take a fresh look at the plans after rejection by planners and a government inspector, centred on concerns it would damage the vitality of the town centre and reservations over the bland design. Emerging new planning blueprints favour a 750 sq m store, but Tesco have always said a larger one was needed to stop people driving out of the area to do their weekly shop. The company stresses the new store would offer a “good range of food and groceries for the main food shopping trip, with a very limited selection of other goods, reflecting views on the previous plans.” Tesco spokesman Nick Gellatly said: "It's clear there are many people that would like a local Tesco. Our new architects, Wilkinson Eyre, have started from scratch to design a better store that will bring value, choice and convenience to local residents. “The official decision on our last proposal also confirmed that Sheringham needs a supermarket but that it should be smaller than our previous plans. We also know the store must be big enough to attract new visitors to town.” Members of the public can see the new plans and talk to Tesco representatives at the Oddfellows Hall on Lifeboat Plain, behind the Crown pub on the seafront, on Friday from 10am to 8pm and Saturday from 10am to 3pm. Further information is also available from www.sheringhamtesco.co.uk

Tesco to reveal new plans for Norfolk store

2009-03-18T12:45:00.001Z

Tesco will reveal its fresh thinking for a store at Sheringham when it visits the town in early April.The company, which has been battling to build a store in the town for more than a decade, is hatching a new scheme after refusal by councillors, backed by a planning inspector, of its earlier bid. Opposition to the store centred on concerns it would harm the vitality of the existing town centre, while its design on the Cromer Road gateway into town was considered bland. Tesco has gone back to the drawing board and hired award-winning architects Wilkinson Eyre, whose creations include Gateshead's stunning winking eye Millennium Bridge on Tyneside. New sketches, reflecting the history and character of Sheringham, will be on display at an exhibition. Tesco spokesman Nick Gellatly said: "We want the new Tesco store to play a really positive role in the life of Sheringham and the next step in this is to discuss the emerging plans with everyone who has an interest." I am looking forward to hearing from the community and discussing our proposals in detail. Whilst we have already had an encouraging response to the news of a new foodstore proposal, I hope that as many people as possible will drop in to give us their views and hear about the improved plans."Members of the Tesco team will be available to explain and discuss the plans and the consultation will record people's comments for use in shaping the plans. Townsfolk have been split over the Tesco store bid, with some people welcoming the move and the company saying it would stop people heading out of town for their weekly shop as well as bringing in spin-off extra trade. But a vocal "anti" campaign has opposed the store's size, siting, design and impact on coast road traffic. Tesco has said the store will be smaller than the originally planned 1,500 sq m, but a spokesman could not say at this stage what size it would be.The exhibition will be on Friday, April 3, 10am-8pm and Saturday, April 4, 10am-3pm at the Oddfellows Hall on Lifeboat Plain. Anyone with an interest or wishing to comment can find out more by emailing info@sheringhamtesco.co.uk

Come on Sheringham- tell Tesco what you want.

2009-02-25T14:03:00.003Z

Tesco have said they are happy to discuss thoughts about a store in Sheringham, just email info@sheringhamtesco.co.uk

Now's your chance, don't say you weren't asked!

Tesco urged to talk to locals over store

2009-02-25T14:01:00.001Z

A “talk to the locals” plea has been sent to Tesco as it redraws its controversial plans for a store at Sheringham. The message comes from the top officer at North Norfolk District Council, which has taken the usual step of making its feelings known in an open letter to Tesco's boss. But it crossed in the e-mail post with a press release from Tesco saying they had already been talking to the locals, hundreds of whom were in favour of a new store. The exchange however has highlighted the fierce divide caused by the saga, with anti big store protestors saying Tesco's claims were meaningless because they did not seek views on the size and location of the supermarket. Council chief executive Philip Burton today called on the retailer to consult a wide cross section of people including opponents and supporters of their scheme. The move follows Tesco's recent announcement they were going back to the drawing board, and hiring award-winning architects to devise a smaller and better looking store on the Cromer Road following years of applications, debates, decisions and appeals that has split local opinion. In the letter penned to Tesco chief Sir Terry Leahy and copied to the local media, Mr Burton said the council had been approached by a number of community representatives asking how they could contribute to the development of the plans during their formative stages. The council encouraged Tesco to engage directly with local community organisations in the development of revised proposals in the hope that a “stronger degree of community support might be secured for any new proposal.” He hoped Tesco would see the “positive benefits” of such an approach. Explaining the move Mr Burton said there was a requirement for Tesco to engage with the community as part of the planning process, but it was felt that, because of the controversial nature of the proposals, there was a need to start earlier than when draft plans were on the table. It was taking the initiative however in its role as community leaders. Tesco spokesman Nick Gellatly said the company was “delighted” to receive the letter as it was “vital the voice of Sheringham people is heard in this debate”. He added that Tesco would be happy to discuss its thoughts with any community organisation or “individual of good will” who could contact him by e-mailing info@sheringhamtesco.co.uk It came as the company announced that 1,200 people - 900 responding to a local leaflet and 300 signing up to a We Want Tesco in Sheringham site on the Facebook social networking internet site - supported a new supermarket. But Eroica Mildmay, chairman of the Sheringham Campaign Against Major Retail Overdevelopment, said the claim was misleading as the question only asked if people favoured a new supermarket.“So do we, but the devil is in the detail of where the location and size. It's like offering a snake and not saying whether it is a harmless grass snake or a venomous viper,” she added.

Tesco rethink on Stalham plans

2009-02-17T11:54:00.000Z

Tesco has dropped plans to double the size of its Stalham store shortly before the controversial scheme looked set to be turned down by councillors. The retail giant says the move comes after listening to advice from planning officers, and that it was confident a revised project would provide all the benefits of a larger store while addressing local concerns. It comes less than three weeks after Tesco also announced it was scaling down its equally controversial plans at Sheringham in a bid to find an acceptable solution to a long-running saga. In both towns opponents said a large store would damage the vitality of the existing town centre. At Stalham Tesco originally wanted to double the size of its 1,300 sq m store and up the number of car parking spaces from 189 to 362, move the petrol station and re-jig the entrance road to the supermarket and town. The scheme has already been back to the drawing board once for changes to the road junction after a consultation two years ago. This Thursday the latest plans were being recommended for refusal by North Norfolk District Council's east area development control committee because “the scale, layout and design would have an adverse impact on the character of the town,” along with concerns about road safety and flood risk. But Tesco spokesman Nick Gellatly todayconfirmed they were being withdrawn and an amended scheme would be submitted later this spring. He explained: “We have listened carefully to the advice of the council's officers.“It has been suggested that the design of the extension could be adjusted to reduce the apparent bulk of the building. We want to work up a scheme that is capable of reaching a consensus here. The amendments will also address issues relating to the scale of the extended store which the council's retail consultants have recently raised. We are confident that a revised proposal will continue to provide all of the benefits of a larger store but will also address concerns that have been raised by the council's officers and advisers”.Town council chairman Tony Ross-Benham welcomed a re-think on the plans. His council was among those with concerns about the impact if the larger store, and he hoped Tesco would this time listen to the main reasons for disquiet rather than just tinkering with some of the traffic measures which happened after the last consultation.“There is a need for more stock and choice, but it was too big. We would consider plans for a smaller store,” he added.

Opposition mounts to Tesco Stalham plans

2009-02-16T10:17:00.001Z

Plans to build north Norfolk's largest supermarket in the district's second smallest town will face a mountain of opposition, both from local people and the authorities, at a key meeting next week. Tesco's desire to more than double the size of its Stalham store has been in the public domain since 2006, but a planning meeting on Thursday is the first decision making meeting on the matter. The presence of Tesco in Stalham has been a hot topic ever since the original store opened in 2002. Debate about how exactly much impact the store has had on neighbouring town traders has been vociferous. The extension plans would increase the total size of the store to 5,133 sq m, although it is the retail floor space increasing from 1,400 to 3,070 sq m which has caused the most alarm among local traders - especially as the majority of the new space will be taken up by non-food 'comparison' goods such as clothes and electrical items. Concerns set to be raised at Thursday's meeting will come from a host of directions and will include a view from Great Yarmouth Borough Council that a Stalham expansion, allied with potential expansion at the chain's Caister store, could lead to “a major impact” on shops as far way as Repps with Bastwick, Potter Heigham, Martham and Rollesby. The decision rests with the east area development control committee at North Norfolk District Council, who will hear objection from Stalham Town Council, CPRE Norfolk, the Stalham with Happing Partnership, their own officers, Norfolk County Council highways experts and the Environment Agency. There has been some support of the plans, with parish councils in the area split in their view, with some in favour and some against. If the new supermarket gets the go ahead, it will be bigger than the North Walsham branch of Sainsbury, the Morrison stores in Cromer and Fakenham and the Tesco in Fakenham. The plans include a major rejig of the road layout of the A149, including the construction of a new roundabout. Council officers will recommend Thursday's committee to refuse the plans because:
The scale of the development is unacceptable on retail policy grounds
The scale, layout and design would have an adverse impact on the character of the town and adjacent conservation area
The proposals fail to fully address highway safety and flood risk, while also failing to provide an adequate travel plan
Other issues for discussion will include the fact the expansion land is currently designated as an employment area, whereas supermarket land needs permission for retail use.

Tesco draw up new plans for Sheringham store

2009-01-28T13:38:00.000Z

Tesco is poised to draw up fresh plans for a smaller and better-looking store at Sheringham in a bid to win its long-running battle to build a supermarket there. Its previous scheme was rejected by local councillors and a government planning inspector who felt it would damage the viability of the existing town centre. But the retail giant has appointed an award-winning architect - famous for creating the Gateshead “winking eye” Millennium Bridge on Tyneside - in a fresh twist to a saga which has split local opinion. Tesco confirmed the new store would be smaller than the original 1,500 sq m, but said it was too early to say how big it would be. Emerging planning blueprints suggest a 750 sq m store would better suit the town's needs. Company spokesman Nick Gellatly said the change of tack was a bid to provide Sheringham with the store it needed as quickly as possible. Tesco has challenged the planning inspector's findings through the high court, but a hearing was not due until this summer, and if successful, a new inquiry could take more than a year. It was hoped fresh plans, which sought to answer some of the concerns raised at the inquiry over size and design, could be tabled with North Norfolk District by June.
No decision had yet been made on size, but Tesco's appointment of Wilkinson Eyre Architects showed they were doing their best to provide Sheringham with the best possible store. And he felt there was continued demand for a value store, particularly in the current economic downturn. It was the first time the company had used the top designers for a store, and they would be handed a blank sheet of paper in an attempt to come up a plan that suited the town and surroundings. The previous plan was branded “mundane, poor and characterless” by the inspector. Mr Gellatly said the company had listened to concerns, and wanted to the hear the voice of the “real people of Sheringham who were put off by people waving banners” last time. One of those banner wavers, opponent Eroica Mildmay, of the Sheringham Campaign Against Major Retail Overdevelopment, said they would be looking carefully at the plans, and remained on “red alert.”There was not currently enough detail, including the proposed size, to make a full assessment. Locals felt a logical step for Tesco would be to use the closed Woolworths store at the heart of, rather than on the edge of, the town centre. And Scamrod was alarmed by Tesco's tendency to try to double the size of stores they had already built at places such as Stalham, Watton and Dereham.“You can never tell with Tesco what is really going on. It is very smoke and mirrors,” she added. Supporters of the store plan - which would create more than 120 local jobs, as well as a new community centre and fire station - welcomed the news of fresh plans. Pam Blyth of the Pro Tesco group said she was “delighted Tesco has decided to show faith in Sheringham”. People were crying out for a store in the downturn, and she hoped “the community and local families whose voices have not been heard in the past will give it their backing.”Student Jono Read, creator of the We Want a Tesco in Sheringham Facebook group, said: “I started the group because I know that lots of young people in the area want a new supermarket and supported the plans. We were all very angry and disappointed when they were rejected.” Wilkinson Eyre has won two prestigious Stirling Prizes from the Royal Institute of British Architects in consecutive years, firstly for transforming a redundant steelworks in Rotherham into the UK's first Science Adventure Centre, followed, in 2002 by the unique Gateshead crossing for pedestrians and cyclists over the River Tyne. Director Jim Eyre said the Sheringham store was “an exciting challenge” to be asked to create a bespoke design for a new store that related to other shops.“We are carefully considering the character of the town as the plans are developed. It is obvious from what we have heard informally from Sheringham people that they care for their town a great deal. This is a very important site and we would like it to live up to its obvious potential,” he added.

Woolworths closure could save Sheringham

2008-12-18T13:30:00.003Z

Towns across north Norfolk are bracing themselves for the loss of their Woolworths shops as the familiar high street name heads towards closure. Across the country the retail giant - a year short of its centenary - is facing the shutdown of up to 800 stores and loss of 30,000 jobs after no one was prepared to take on the chain of shops and its £380m debt. Locally, the figures are smaller but the impact just as big. The loss of the long-standing stores would result in the loss of scores of jobs across towns in north Norfolk - at Cromer, North Walsham, Sheringham - and leave gaping holes in prime shopping locations. North Norfolk District Council spokesman for economic matters Clive Stockton said: “Woolworths has been part of the genetic make-up of small towns for nearly 100 years.“It loss is not just economic, it is psychological, and yet another blow to things we thought were stable, like post offices and the banks.” The council would step in where it could to help people who lost their jobs with matters such as preparing a CV and finding new skills through learning centres, but otherwise there was little it could do, he added. Woolworths sites were too big for small, private retailers and too small for larger national chains such as Marks and Spencer. And having them turned into supermarkets might not necessarily be what was needed for every town centre. At Sheringham, however, it might provide a solution to the long-running battle to find a suitable site for a larger supermarket in town. Tesco's decade-long battle to build a new store is awaiting the company's high court challenge of a government inspector's decision to uphold refusal of planning permission. One of the problems has been the lack of suitable more central sites, but if the Woolworths store becomes available it could add a new twist to that particular debateChamber of Trade chairman Janet Farrow said: “Woolworths is an institution. It would be sad to see them go from the High Street but it seems inevitable. But there could be a silver lining for the town, if a grocery store could go in there. It is too soon to jump in just yet, but it is something we would be proactive on - and would alert supermarket companies, including Tesco, to the availability.”

Why Tesco is appealing store decision

2008-11-01T10:53:00.000Z

Tesco is questioning the logic of a planning inspector who threw out its plans for a store at Sheringham, it has emerged. And if the retail giant succeeds in getting the appeal decision quashed, it is likely to result in another public inquiry in front of a different inspector. North Norfolk district councillors, whose refusal of the store was upheld by planning inspector Christina Davies, have been told that Tesco's challenge of the result runs to 19 pages, supported by “voluminous” copies of documents tabled at the last inquiry which ran for three weeks in August. In a briefing to the full council, leader Virginia Gay said the main points of Tesco's appeal against the outcome were: The inspector's findings over the need for further retail floorspace were illogical and irrational. Not enough weight was given to proposed changes to the govern-ment's planning guidelines over town centres, while too much was given to a policy in the district's Local Development Framework core strategy. The inspector's findings and reasoning on potential “disaggrega-tion” of retail provision were illogical. She failed to have proper regard to design changes for the proposed store. There was a failure to undertake a proper “balancing exercise” which would have weighed in favour of approval. Tesco has been battling for more than a decade to build a store on the Cromer Road, which it says will stop people having to drive to other towns for their main weekly shop, and would help Sheringham with spin-off trade. The plans have split the town, but opponents, including a local campaign, town council and chamber of trade, all say it will permanently harm the vitality of the existing town centre - one of the main reasons cited for throwing out the plans in the appeal result. After studying the inquiry findings, Tesco has now decided to fight on with its project, which would also see Sheringham's community centre and fire station relocated. Mrs Gay said the challenge was unlikely to be heard at the high court until mid 2009 because of a backlog of planning cases. If Tesco won, the appeal would be sent back to the planning inspect-orate, and would be likely to see another inquiry in front of a new inspector. Council spokesman Nick Manthorpe later added that any new inquiry might mean freshening evidence, but was unlikely to involve the £200,000 cost of the last one, as much of the work would have already been done.

Sheringham Tesco hearing to take months

2008-10-22T13:42:00.000Z

A final resolution to the Sheringham Tesco saga looks set to be nine months away - and could be longer if the legal process drags out. Tesco bosses confirmed last night that they were expecting their high court hearing to take place towards the middle of next year and explained the legislation under which they would launch the challenge. As reported in yesterday's EDP, the company has promised to challenge the planning inspector's decision to refuse its application for a 1,500sq m store in the resort. As people at Sheringham digested yesterday's news, Tesco spokesman Nick Gellatly said: “We expect the hearing to take place towards the middle of next year.” He also revealed that the company was launching its appeal under Section 228 of the Planning Act. This meant there was no need to launch a two-stage process of initially obtaining leave to appeal and then going on to a full hearing; instead it would be possible to go straight to the full hearing, said Mr Gellatly. Eroica Mildmay, of the Sheringham Campaign Against Major Retail Overdevelopment (Scamrod), said she felt Tesco bosses were taking a risky stance. She said the precedent of land-slide 17-0 support among members of North Norfolk District Council development control committee and the planning inspector's careful and detailed report, both in favour of the campaign against Tesco, meant there was every good reason to believe the Tesco court action could fail. She added: “People I have spoken to since the news of the high court action broke have been appalled and disappointed.”

Tesco to challenge Sheringham decision

2008-10-21T12:17:00.001Z

The battle over plans for a Tesco store in Sheringham took a dramatic new twist last night as the supermarket giant vowed to challenge the decision to refuse its application for a store in the resort. Tesco executives have announced they will take a government inspector to court over a flagship ruling which blocked them from building a new supermarket in the coastal town. The move provoked an angry reaction from campaigners who described branded Tesco's stance as “bullying.”The decision to take the case to the High Court will extend the now infamous Sheringham battle by several more months and looks set to cost the taxpayer tens thousands of pounds. The retail giant was told last month that its drawn out attempts to build a 1,500 sq m supermarket in the town would harm the “vitality and viability” of the community, which prides itself on its range of independent traders. But Tesco bosses have insisted there is an “undisputed need” for the new store and will argue that inspector Christina Downes' decision did not match up with the evidence presented at the July inquiry. The Sheringham Tesco saga began in the mid 1990s when the company showed interest in building a store on the old Hilbre School site on Holway Road.Last night campaigner Eroica Mildmay, of Sheringham Campaign Against Mass Retail Overdevelopment (Scamrod) said the court action proved Tesco was a “bullying and ruthless” company.“I think it's astounding you can't say 'no' to Tesco for valid reasons.“This will cement their reputation for bullying and squeezing every last drop of life blood out of a community.“In my wildest dreams I thought they might have a bit of humility, a modicum of decency. But no.” And Richard Hewitt, a town councillor and planning solicitor, said he was disappointed to hear of the court action.“I would have hoped Tesco would have respected the inspector's decision,” said Mr Hewitt.“That decision last month generated quite a lot of good feeling in the town about looking forwards and getting the right solution for the town - in other words a smaller supermarket than that Tesco was proposing.“There is general agreement in the town that we need something smaller, sensitive and complimentary to the town.” Pam Blyth, of campaign group Protesc, said: “Wow, I am delighted, this has made my day.“I am absolutely thrilled and so will a lot of people be in Sheringham.“The town desperately needs a large supermarket - look at Aylsham with its new Tesco and the large Budgens which has been there for years.“We have thousands of people coming to our town and they have nowhere large enough to shop.“You won't believe how many people have written or contacted me since the inspector's September decision to say how much they wanted a supermarket.”Nick Gellatly, Tesco's regional corporate affairs manager said: “A new Tesco in Sheringham would provide a supermarket in the town centre, for which - as the inspector outlines in her report - there is an undisputed need.“The report also recognises Cromer Road as the best location for a supermarket. That view is supported by North Norfolk District Council officers who originally recommended this proposal.“We are challenging the inspector's decision to refuse planning permission on the grounds of size and design because these were not borne out by the evidence presented at the inquiry.“Sheringham needs a new supermarket. I've spoken to a lot of Sheringham people who have told me that not only will a new Tesco store give them choice but it will bring competition to the town while allowing them to do their main food shop locally.“Shoppers will no longer be forced to leave the town to feed the family each week whilst a new, free, town centre car park will encourage people back to the town all year round. That will be good news for everyone.” District council spokesman Nick Manthorpe said last night: “Without knowing what Tesco's grounds of appeal are it is hard to take a view.“As far as we can see, this is now between Tesco and the Planning Inspectorate.” Tesco will now undertake a two stage process. Firstly they will have to apply for leave to appeal, which will require them to prove they have basic merit in their case. If they are granted this permission, they will then proceed to a full High Court hearing.

Tesco plan to double Stalham store

2008-09-12T12:37:00.000Z

Supermarket giant Tesco is seeking to double the size of its Stalham store so it can compete better with neighbouring supermarkets. The move comes just days after the company's bid to build a new store at Sheringham was rejected by a planning inspector. But Tesco was quick to stress that the Stalham scheme was not linked to the defeat - and that the Sheringham refusal, on the grounds a new 1,500 sq m store would permanently damage the town centre - was not relevant. Spokesman Nick Gellatly said: “The inspector's decision confirms that she visited other town centres including Stalham and found that they had different characteristics and thus the circumstances were not comparable”. Tesco built its current 1,300 sq m store six years ago with 189 parking spaces. Now it wants to nearly double the store and provide 362 spaces. The company said its original scheme was based on the size flagged up in a council design brief, but that “the proof of the pudding” in trading had shown it was not big enough in size or the range of goods to meet customers' needs. It needed to be more like the North Walsham Sainsbury store in size. There was a huge outcry over the original Tesco scheme, and opponents have claimed it killed off high street shops. But the company argued that the closures were down to a decline in the town caused by the death of its cattle market, and that the Tesco was actually helping it recover. Eric Lindo, chairman of the area's regeneration group, the Stalham with Happing Partnership, agreed, saying the store had already brought 85 jobs to the town and was its biggest employer, while demand for town centre shops was the highest in years. There were still opponents, but he felt the expansion would bring benefits including road and landscaping improvements. Tesco's extension using the old abattoir land which they bought several years ago will mean relocating the access road to the store and town centre, to include a roundabout on the A149, improving safety. Mr Gellatly said the latest plans, which followed a similar scheme floated two years ago, had now addressed issues such as the road junction. Before submitting such a major planning application this autumn Tesco has to consult the community, and will be staging an exhibition in the Baptist Church Hall, Lower High Street, on September 26 and 27 - from 2.30-6 on the Friday and 10-2 on the Saturday. Town council chairman Tony Ross-Benham said Stalham had come to terms with the current-sized Tesco, but it remained to be seen what people would think of it doubling.Shops had changed in the centre, but because of a variety of reasons. The high street now seemed to be “mostly let and ticking over.”But some shopkeepers would doubtless be concerned about what other goods the expanded store would sell.

Budgens join Tesco supermarket fray

2008-09-10T11:25:00.001Z

The battle to build a supermarket in Sheringham is back on. With Tesco still licking its wounds after Monday's unexpected announcement that it had lost its planning appeal a local businessman has thrown down the gauntlet and said he is ready and willing to build the supermarket that people want to see in Sheringham. Last night Paul Burnell, who with business partner Jinx Hundal, runs the current small Budgens store in the town, upped the ante in the 13-year saga saying he was best placed to build a supermarket that would complement and not threaten the vibrancy and distinctive nature of the market town. He said: “We want to work with the chamber of trade and the council to find a good solution for a new store and we do want to be that store.“Budgens has a good record in north Norfolk and we work well with the local community.“We do not want to compete with other retailers - we want to work alongside them.”The pledge has been welcomed by the Sheringham Chamber of Trade. Chairman Janet Farrow said: “We would be willing to work alongside absolutely anybody who comes forward to make that happen for the benefit of Sheringham and all its residents.” Yesterday Tesco bosses were giving little away and refused to say whether they would press ahead with their long-held ambition of bringing the brand, which currently has 1,252 stores across the UK, to Sheringham. Nick Gellatly, corporate affairs manager, said the company was disappointed at the decision and was currently taking legal advice.He said: “We cannot rule anything in and equally we cannot rule anything out.“I suppose a question we would ask is would a smaller store achieve what people in Sheringham want in terms of providing a full range of groceries?” The supermarket giant has been left with three options - pull out, take its battle to build a store with 1,500sqm of trading space to the Court of Appeal and challenge the planning inspectorate's decision or work with local people to develop a smaller store of 750sqm that they find acceptable. A major question facing any new supermarket bid would be where to site the store. Tesco could still try and build on the land it has proposed at Cromer Road, in which case North Norfolk District Council would still benefit from a £1.2m cash windfall from the sale of the Lockerbie Flats to the company. Alternatively NNDC may change a previous decision and decide to sell its lion's share of the Station Road car park in the town centre for development. In 2003 Budgens was granted planning permission to build a new store on the car park but the plan fell flat after both NNDC and the North Norfolk Railway, which owns the other portion of land needed, refused to sell.Last night a spokesman for NNDC said it was taking legal advice to understand the implications of the land deal. However, the planning inspector's report did highlight problems with the car park site. The inspector said: “I do not consider that the Station Road site is a practical alternative to the appeal site within the foreseeable future.”

BBC news clip

2008-09-09T15:53:00.000Z

You can watch the BBC news article on the Sheringham Tesco appeal decision by clicking here.

Tesco fails in resort store bid

2008-09-09T12:31:00.000Z

Plans for a new supermarket in a Norfolk holiday resort have been rejected.
A public inquiry was held into Tesco's plans for Sheringham after the firm appealed against rejection by North Norfolk District Council.
Opposition groups said the 16,000 sq ft (1,500 sq m) shop would damage the area by forcing existing shops to close. The inquiry concluded benefits created by the shop would be outweighed by damage to the resort's character.
Planning inspector Christina Downes dismissed Tesco's appeal saying there would be harm to "the vitality, viability and retail function of Sheringham town centre and likely detrimental impact on future investment".
The ruling follows a 10-day planning inquiry held over three weeks in July.
A Tesco spokesman told BBC News: "We need to take some time to consider the inspectors report before we reach a decision on a response to it. But I think it's important to note when you look around the country, and see where there is a Tesco store. In very many cases in towns like Sheringham up and down the country, bringing a new store to a town not only brings jobs, not only brings a great shopping experience for customers but it also helps to add to the vitality and vibrancy of the town centre."
Virginia Gay, leader of North Norfolk District Council, said: "This is a marvellous result, not only for the team at North Norfolk District Council who worked so hard to make and state our case, but also to those councillors and local objectors who have said clearly and compellingly that this was not an appropriate development."

Campaigners halt the march of Tesco

2008-09-09T12:22:00.000Z

The relentless march of Tesco in Britain's market town high streets was stopped in its tracks last night - by Norfolk people power. A government inspector said the supermarket giant would not be allowed to build a 1,500 sq m superstore in Sheringham because it would harm the "vitality and viability" of the town, which prides itself on its range of independent traders. Many feared they would be forced out of business if Tesco had won its 13-year battle to establish a supermarket in the town. Campaigners and politicians said the victory would reverberate around the country and help other communities battling the power of Tesco and the other big chains. The Sheringham Tesco saga began in the mid 1990s when the company showed interest in building a store on the old Hilbre School site on Holway Road.Yesterday's ruling is one of only a handful of unsuccessful appeals launched by the supermarket giant, which operates 1,252 stores across the UK as well as offering personal finance and insurance services. Its bosses were clearly shocked at the defeat, saying they needed to "take some time to consider the inspector's report". During the appeal, Tesco had argued that its store would stop people heading out of Sheringham to do their weekly shop and would bring more spin-off trade to the town centre. Last night, Nigel Dowdney, independent store owner in Stalham and Earlham and a member of the Association of Convenience Stores, said concerns about damage to competition were often discussed but not given enough weight by the government. He said: "There is a feeling the government is changing the goalposts slowly but surely and this decision is a major step forward for communities and a major setback for Tesco." The planning inspectorate is finally beginning to stop, listen and look at the evidence."It is a proven fact, the building of a supermarket has a detrimental effect on all sorts of local businesses, not just food stores."North Norfolk MP Norman Lamb said: "I think it will send shockwaves through the planning system nationally as well as locally."There's an assumption that Tesco will always win. But here they haven't."Helen Rimmer, for anti-Tesco campaign group Tescopoly and Friends of the Earth, described the inspector's report as "a landmark ruling"."It's very rare for Tesco to lose an appeal and the Sheringham fight has been such a high-profile case that the decision is of national importance," she said."It shows Tesco cannot bulldoze the rights and wishes of local communities."Sheringham campaigner Richard Hewitt, a town councillor and planning solicitor, felt the Sheringham decision would be "noted nationally".Janet Farrow, chairman of Sheringham Chamber of Trade, said: "What has come out of this is that councils and the government have got to listen more closely to public opinion."The message that has to go out is that residents need to have their feelings taken on board."Big companies do have a lot of power and sometimes seem to be able to get round planning regulations, but I believe that people see results like ours and think they can win their fight too."In her 44-point summary, inspector Christina Downes said that while the store would have some benefits for the town, they were outweighed by irreparable damage it could do to existing traders and the character of the lively resort.She concluded: "The harm that I have identified to the vitality, viability and retail function of Sheringham town centre and the likely detrimental impact on future investment is of overriding importance."While a well-located food store of the right size in the right place would be of undoubted benefit, this proposal is likely to irreparably diminish the attractiveness and quality of the tourist and market town." Tesco argued its planned store on the Cromer Road would stop people driving to do their weekly shopping in other towns and would generate spin-off business for Sheringham.Tesco corporate affairs manager Nick Gellatly said: "We are disappointed by this decision. We will take some time to consider the inspector's report before we reach a decision on our response to it."Pam Blyth, who heads a Pro-Tesc support group in the town, said: "It's a shame, but that's her ruling and it's a democracy at work, so we accept the decision."

David beats Goliath in Tesco battle

2008-09-09T12:18:00.000Z

In a master of understatement, you could say it was a victory which has not come easily.How does David take on Goliath and win?Well, the first thing that David - in this case, a concoction of council and campaigner - has to do is accept he is in for a long haul.As well as elation, there was palpable shock both in Sheringham and within national campaigning groups yesterday as they digested the news that Tesco had been cut down at the hands of a government planning inspector.That shock was clear evidence of the relief that 13 years of campaigning had finally paid off and surprise that the apparently unbeatable giant that is Tesco had, indeed, been beaten.Although there are no guarantees the war is over, the fact a government inspector has made such a clear and strongly-worded ruling puts the campaigners in the best position they have ever been in. The next stage of the process would be a Court of Appeal action - and last night it was unclear whether this was a route, and a new set of headlines, Tesco would want to pursue. It is a decision which will need careful thought at the highest level of Tesco's executive. The implications would be manifold.There are three parties who put in the most work to achieve yesterday's victory. The Sheringham Chamber of Trade, the Sheringham Campaign Against Mass Retail Overdevelopment (Scamrod) and North Norfolk District Council.There will be differing versions of who worked hardest, with Pro-Tesc campaigner Pam Blyth aiming her congratulations firmly at the chamber of trade, leading small-store campaigner Nigel Dowdney saying the council needed to be “patted on the back” and the council itself congratulating everyone involved, while council leader Virginia Gay added that for some fellow members: “It will cast a particularly glowing light on their time as a councillor.”With the inspector's words about how the planned Tesco could lead to “far-reaching decline” in Sheringham ringing in her ears, Eroica Mildmay, from Scamrod, was anything but understated.“This makes 13 years of my life worthwhile,” she said.“It was hard work but the work was put in and we managed to get it.“It took us four months working four hours a day to make our submission to the appeal.“We had to go though all the legislation and get everything we could throw at them. We did all that work with the faith that this was wrong.”Janet Farrow, chairman of Sheringham Chamber of Trade, said: “I am absolutely thrilled that all the work we have done over the last few years has made a difference.“We just now have to wait and see what Tesco will do and hope we can go forward and find something suitable for Sheringham.“We have never been anti-Tesco, we were always just anti this planning application.“If they want to come back with a store that is sensible for Sheringham, then we will work with them.”And Sheringham councillor Hilary Nelson, amid cheers, applause and the banging of tables from fellow councillors, said: “I'm so excited I could almost burst into tears.“It is brilliant news and just think what it is going to do for tourism and Sheringham's reputation.”The three-week inspector's hearing held at the council's head office in Cromer back in July may have been undeniably dry other than one evening meeting in Sheringham itself, but the reaction yesterday and in the coming days will not be.There are still those who want to see a new supermarket in Sheringham and the likelihood of that happening has not disappeared with the planning inspector's report. But what looks likely now is if there is to be a successful new planning application, it will have to be for a far smaller store.Either that or a visit to the Court of Appeal will come to the fore - and the long, sorry and expensive saga that has already been played out for more than a decade will continue.

Tesco lose Appeal

2008-09-08T11:57:00.003Z

The Planning Inspector has issued her decision on whether to uphold the appeal by Tesco against refusal to allow a superstore to be built in Sheringham.

You can read the full result here - Appeal Decision

The key point is shown below -

"Far from strengthening Sheringham’s retail offer and performing an anchor role the size and location of the proposed food store would be likely to result in significant harm to the health of the centre, for the reasons I have given. I therefore conclude that the proposal would have an unacceptable impact on the retail function, vitality and viability of Sheringham town centre. This would be contrary to development plan policy including saved Policy 84 in the LP. It would also conflict with Policy EC 5 in the emerging CS and PPS 6."

She did not accept that traffic or design were reasons for dismissing the appeal.

Final bid to stop new Tesco store

2008-07-17T12:11:00.000Z

Campaigners have made their final impassioned pleas to stop a Tesco store being built in their town.

After a decade-long saga of applications and rejection at Sheringham, opponents of the supermarket scheme outlined their fears as a 10-day appeal hearing ended with closing speeches.

Sheringham Campaign Against Major Retail Overdevelopment (Scamrod) chairman Eroica Mildmay broke down in tears as she said: "We have been trying to save our town and avoid the trauma of watching, through our fingers, as shops drift into decline."

Tesco's scheme for a 1,500 sq m store and 180 parking spaces on the Cromer Road was the biggest development facing the town since railways arrived in the 1890s.

"It has taken generations to build up the High Street, but it could take just three years to completely undo it," she told the inquiry.

Chamber of Trade chairman Janet Farrow said the town centre stood to lose nearly £1m of trade to Tesco in the first year, which would have a major effect on its vitality, while the extra 13,500 shopping journeys diverted to the town would cause traffic congestion on the main coast road and rat-runs down residential streets.

They favoured the 750 sq m store being suggested in the emerging Local Development Framework (LDF) planning policy, because a 1,500 sq m store would cover the same retail floorspace as the rest of the town's shops put together.

James Strachan, barrister for North Norfolk District Council which refused the store plan last year, said allowing it now would "strangle at birth" the new LDF. Tesco's scheme was based on outdated studies and policies and provided a store far bigger than was needed for Sheringham's status as a small secondary town, and which would draw 45pc of its turnover from Cromer and Holt.

The final word went to Tesco QC Russell Harris who said the "well-orchestrated" Scamrod campaign had persuaded councillors to refuse permission "contrary to every piece of rational expert evidence". He attacked the council's evidence as fundamentally-flawed, "puerile mathematical exercises divorced from reality", and littered with schoolboy errors. A string of experts said the store would stop the flow of shoppers out of town, and would enhance rather than harm the town, where there was no significant evidence that trading was vulnerable. The new LDF could be "obsolete before the ink is dry" because of new government planning guidance, announced during the inquiry, abolishing the requirement to establish need.

Inquiry inspector Christina Downes will return to the town later for a guided tour of the site, and to observe its shopping centre, and traffic, as well as visiting nearby towns, before announcing her decision in a few weeks' time.

Tesco hearing nears close

2008-07-16T13:02:00.000Z

Campaigners today made a final impassioned plea to stop a Tesco store being built in their vibrant seaside town.After a decade-long saga of applications and rejection at Sheringham, and a 10-day appeal hearing, opponents of the supermarket outlined their fears. Sheringham Campaign Against Major Retail Overdevelopment spokesman Eroica Mildmay broke down in tears as she said: “We have been trying to save our town and avoid the trauma of watching, through our fingers, as shops drift into decline.” Tesco's scheme for a 1,500 sq m store and 180 parking spaces on the Cromer Road was the biggest development facing the town since railways arrived in the 1890s, she said. Any store would be to the benefit of Tesco, which felt it was acceptable to have some shop closures as a result, rather than the town. That meant shops playing Russian roulette, she said, adding: “It has taken generations to build up the High Street, but it could take just three years to completely undo it.” She attacked the “giantism” of the company, which was now “out of vogue” and should be replaced by more environmentally-friendly local food networks. And she said the level of support for Scamrod, which had taken a 3,000-signature petition to Downing Street, a 900-signature one to the district council, and gathered 1,000 letters, was far higher than the supporting Protesc group which could only muster about 300. Chamber of trade chairman Janet Farrow said the town centre stood to lose nearly £1m worth of trade to Tesco in the first year, which would have a major effect on its vitality, while the extra 13,500 shopping journeys diverted to the town would cause traffic problems, including rat runs along residential roads. They favoured the 750 sq m store being suggested in the emerging local development framework planning policy, because the 1,500 sq m Tesco would be the same retail floorspace as the rest of the town's shops put together. Campaign to Protect Rural England spokesman Ian Shepherd also said the store was too big and would have a devastating effect on Sheringham's economy and small shop feel which was a major attraction to visitors. “Size not only matters in this case but is extremely critical for the character of the town.” This afternoon North Norfolk District Council and Tesco will complete their summings-up. The government-appointed inspector Christina Downes will return to the town on a later date for a guided tour of the site, and to observe its shopping centre, and traffic, as well as going to other nearby supermarket towns including Holt, Stalham and Aylsham. Her decision is expected to be made in six to eight weeks.

Sheringham Tesco inquiry to end today

2008-07-16T12:22:00.000Z

A 10-day planning inquiry into Tesco's store scheme at Sheringham draws to a close today. It will see all the main parties involved summing up their cases in front of government-appointed inspector Christina Downes, who will then announce her decision in six to eight weeks' time.

The outcome will be a far-reaching one for Sheringham, along with surrounding towns and villages, where public opinion has been vehemently split over the “pros and cons” of the store plan.

Tesco, which is appealing against North Norfolk District Council's refusal of their plans, say their 1,500 sq m store will stop people heading out of Sheringham to do their weekly shop and will bring more spin-off trade to the existing town centre.

Opponents, including town and district councils, traders and a campaign group, say it is too big, in the wrong place, and will suck trade out of the centre harming its vitality, as well as causing traffic congestion on the main coast road.

During the inquiry all the sides have outlined their cases, and cross-examined each other in painstaking detail, and a day and evening were set aside so local people could also air their views.
One of the key issues is whether the decision should reflect the emerging new planning blueprint for Sheringham which advocates a smaller 750 sq m store as more in tune with its needs.

Residents pack Sheringham Tesco inquiry

2008-07-09T11:42:00.002Z

Residents and traders in a town split by a Tesco store plan turned out in force last night to give their views to the inquiry that will decide its fate. More than 200 people packed into the community centre on the site where a 1,500 sq m store has been refused permission. The evening session to harness local views was delayed by half an hour after it had to move upstairs to a bigger meeting room - and still had people standing, and listening by audio link from an overspill area. Objectors, who turned out in the largest numbers, outlined fears that the Tesco store would kill off existing traders, as seen in other towns like Hunstanton, and would add to traffic congestion on the busy coast road. Business people relayed how visitors were drawn to the resort by its character and old-fashioned atmosphere, which would be ruined by a large supermarket. And speakers called on the inspector, Christina Downes, to uphold the refusal, which had been democratically backed by the town and district councils. Supporters, however, said Sheringham needed to provide a store for modern-day shopping needs in a town where small stores were expensive and offered less choice. Earlier in the day, back at the hearing's regular venue of the district council chamber in Cromer, the Sheringham Campaign Against Major Retail Overdevelopment and local traders - which is leading the opposition - came under attack from resident Paul Norman for "wanting to see Sheringham preserved as a 1950s theme park".He added: "We are not role-playing extras. We are real people who live and work here in the 21st century with all the pressures that involves."Mr Norman said local families, on low local wages, wanted a bigger supermarket, but felt their voice was being swamped by the anti campaigners. And Malcolm Bass said the relentless anti-Tesco campaign had been a "vendetta on the company rather than the development". It was intimidating, "little short of bullying" and put undue pressure on councillors who made the decision. But shops would close if the Tesco store went ahead and drive a final nail into their coffin, said Phil Smith of the Rural Shops Alliance, which represents 7,000 independent traders nationwide. Tesco was "very professional" in the way it ran stores, but also predatory and ruthless when it came to eliminating the competition. It was impossible to have "the best of both worlds" with a new super-market and a vibrant town centre. And the £16m it was claimed would be clawed back into the economy would only "go into the tills of Tesco" at the expense of Morrisons in Cromer. Chamber of trade spokesman from Cromer Tracey Khalil said her town faced losing £10m of trade in the first year of a Tesco opening. It could undermine the 16 years it took to recover from Safeway (now Morri-sons) opening, which was achieved through £12m worth of investment and five years of regeneration. She feared Sheringham was the final piece in a Tesco jigsaw puzzle which saw them turning North Norfolk into Tescoland.

A purge on malls to protect high streets

2008-07-08T12:56:00.002Z

A shake-up of planning laws designed to curb out-of-town retail parks will safeguard the character of our high streets, it was claimed yesterday.
It is hoped the guidelines will stop the march of bland 'clone towns' as the credit crunch hits small businesses hard. Under the reforms, local authorities will be able to block new developments on sites miles away from town centres if they risk tearing the heart out of existing shopping precincts. Currently, planning chiefs have only to assess whether there is capacity for a superstore before giving the goahead for it to be built. The changes will also require developers to choose town centre sites first, ensure any development does not 'choke existing small businesses or draw valuable trade away from the town' and safeguard the 'unique character of town centres'.
The move, which will be outlined in detail by Communities Secretary Hazel Blears later this week, comes after the Competition Commission revealed supermarkets now hold monopolies in 200 parts of the country. It said it fears this growing domination could lead to higher prices and a poorer range of products and services.
Miss Blears said yesterday: 'We believe small shops are the heart of town centres and local communities. That is why I am taking action to strengthen the planning rules so they better protect our small shops during the credit crunch and keep our high streets vibrant. Popping down to the local grocers or bakery is more than just shopping, it is where people meet and identify with their community. Independent butchers, bakers and booksellers are icons of local pride, giving high streets a style all of their own. Our priority is to ensure we do not see more stretches of the nation's high streets turned into bland 'every towns' where each has the same shops, the look, the same sterile feel. We need more individuality, more small-scale independent shops and a spirit of enterprise on our high streets.'
Consumer campaigners have long argued that the growth in out-of-town shopping malls and hypermarkets, which sell everything from food and clothes to cookware and electrical goods under one roof, is seriously affecting the High Street. In some parts of the country, big stores have even been buying up land in areas where they are already dominant in order to keep out rivals. Small independent retailers are closing at a rate of 2,000 per year, according to the Federation of Small Businesses. A spokesman for the FSB said: 'Town centres are being gradually destroyed. Any proposals which seek to protect their diversity and ensure they get a fair crack of the whip when it comes to planning policies have our full backing.'
The changes will be made to special planning guidance known as 'Planning Policy Statement 6: Planning for Town Centres'.

Priest's Sheringham Tesco store warning

2008-07-04T14:24:00.001Z

The quaintness of Sheringham as a shopping town and seaside resort could be ruined by a planned Tesco store a long-standing resident told a public inquiry today. Retired clergyman the Rev Douglas Durand said he had seen the town develop into one of the nicest seaside towns in north Norfolk over the past 50 years.“Unfortunately if Tesco is approved all that would be put at risk,” he told a planning appeal as it came to the end of the first of three weeks of sifting through evidence and opinions over the controversial scheme. Tesco is appealing against North Norfolk District Council's refusal of a 2007 store plan, and failure to decide on a similar one four years earlier. Most local folk are due to give their views when the inquiry resumes on Tuesday, either during the routine daytime session starting at 9.30am, or a special evening meeting at 7pm in the community centre, with a mixture of opponents and supporters due to speak. Mr Durand said when Tesco originally submitted its plans in 2003 it did not have supermarkets in either Aylsham or Fakenham. That had now changed, so any store at Sheringham should be smaller as “we don't want north Norfolk to be overloaded with supermarkets.”The 1,500 sq m store at the centre of the inquiry was twice the size of the 750sq m being recommended in the latest emerging planning policy for the town. A large one-stop store would be “devastating” for the local traders in a resort whose attraction was partly down to the “funny little shops which give the town its character.” The store on the Cromer Road would also result in summer gridlock, which would also keep customers away, while people living down side roads feared their roads would become rat runs. There were also issues with the design of the store opposite the town's only, and “very special” listed building, the Roman Catholic church designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott - whose other creations include the Anglian Cathedral in Liverpool, the London power station that is now the Tate Modern, and the red telephone box. Mr Durand said the planning saga over the store in recent years, had done little for public faith in the planning system, and he felt people did not trust Tesco, which he said he “pressurised” the local council into signing a related land deal that stopped the authority selling another possible store site to a rival firm. Tesco's QC Russell Harris said his decision not to cross-examine Mr Durand did not mean he agreed with him, just that he would be tackling the issues later. The rest of the day saw Tesco planning and policy representative Malcolm Alsop being quizzed on his evidence. While opponents say the store will kill the vitality of the town, Tesco's case is that it will stop townsfolk driving to Cromer for their weekly shop, and bring in more people who would provide a positive spin off for other town traders.

Residents hit out at Tesco in noise row

2008-07-02T12:07:00.001Z

RESIDENTS in a Sheffield suburb have condemned supermarket giant Tesco for ruining their quality of life with disruptive delivery lorries. People living near the Tesco Express store on Abbeydale Road South at Totley Rise say the store has blighted their life with huge, noisy lorries often clogging up local streets.It comes as councillors at Sheffield Council agreed to allow the store to receive deliveries on Sundays and Bank Holidays. Under the terms of the store's original planning consent deliveries on Sundays and Bank Holiday were prohibited - to allow locals to have some peace and quiet. But the store argued it had to have deliveries on these days too to keep it well stocked. The move was opposed by Sheffield Hallam MP and Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg, a 173-name petition and the council received 55 letters of objection. Brian Stubbs, aged 61, of Devonshire Road, who lives around the corner from the store, told the meeting: "Tesco seems to be like a magnet. It is almost like they are giving food away free. People come from all around."Planning officer Chris Heeley said the suggested changes were a "reasonable compromise". But the meeting's chairman suggested amending the proposed changes to 10.30am to 6.30pm on Sundays and Bank Holidays, with Monday to Saturday deliveries as originally proposed, and the suggestion was carried. Mr Stubbs condemned the decision and said: "Who will police this? Tesco just do what they like."It is not just about the noise of deliveries, it is about parking. People park on double yellow lines, on verges, but when the big delivery lorries are there it is just much, much worse."Neighbour Ian Cockburn, 60, also of Devonshire Road, added: "Tesco has dramatically altered our quality of life. It's pathetic."

Sheringham Tesco hearing under way

2008-07-02T12:07:00.000Z

A new Tesco store is vital for the future of Sheringham to halt its gentle decline and stop food shoppers driving out of town.
Or it could be the beginning of the end and suck the life out of the vibrant seaside resort's town centre.
The two sides of the long-running argument were outlined yesterday on the opening day of a major planning inquiry into a store scheme. It is a debate which has split local opinion for 10 years. Now, over the next 10 days, the bones will be picked over again by sharp-suited lawyers, experts and concerned locals keen to ensure their voice is heard by government inspector Christina Downes, whose decision should be known six to eight weeks after the hearing finishes.
Tesco is appealing against North Norfolk District Council's failure to decide a 2003 store plan, and refusal of a similar 2007 one. The company's QC Russell Harris said its 1,500 sq m store was “an opportunity, not a threat” which would enhance rather than harm the town's vitality.

His claim that Sheringham was “still vibrant but in gentle decline as a result of the absence of any significant investment over the past 10 years” drew shouts of “rubbish” from a packed public gallery - prompting the inspector to remind them it was a formal inquiry hearing, not a “theatre”.

Tesco also said the positive impact had been mentioned in expert advice which had been “airbrushed” from the council's case. Mr Harris said the council's reversal of a previous statement - saying it would not object to one of the appeals - was “close to bizarre”.

Council barrister James Strachan said the Tesco store would double the amount of food shopping floorspace in Sheringham and account for a quarter of all the shop floorspace in the town. The size was inappropriate for the need, and could see the closure of the local Co-op store, its “generic” design was poor for a main gateway to the town, and extra traffic could cause congestion on the busy coast road.

Chamber of trade chairman Janet Farrow, who feared it could spell “the beginning of the end”, said traders accepted there was a need for more grocery shopping in Sheringham but opposed the size and location of the Tesco plan.

Eroica Mildmay from the Sheringham Campaign Against Major Retail Overdevelopment, was concerned the town would face the “slow death” suffered by other centres hit by supermarkets, and would become another “bleak” clone town, adding: “It will suck the life out of the town.”

Local businessman Richard Hewitt said there was no justification or reason to take a gamble with Sheringham over the Tesco plan.

In the morning there were parking problems outside the council headquarters at Cromer, but by the afternoon, when the evidence turned to nitty gritty retail impact argument, the public gallery had virtually disappeared. It is planned to run the inquiry 9.30am to 5.30pm on most days, but a 9am start on Fridays, and an evening session at Sheringham next Tuesday to help local people attend.

CAMPAIGNERS SAY STORE INQUIRY WILL BE NATIONAL TEST

2008-07-01T11:43:00.000Z

Environmental campaigners are claiming that a public inquiry due to begin today in Norfolk will be a test of the ability of local councillors and residents to prevent what they see as damaging supermarket developments. The inquiry will look into plans by Tesco to build a store close to the seaside town of Sheringham. The Campaign to Protect Rural England says the result could have implications across the country.
At the hearing, which is expected to last for three weeks, the company is challenging a decision by North Norfolk District Councillors, who in December unanimously voted to turn down an application for redevelopment of a site on the edge of the town. CPRE is supporting residents and local campaign groups opposed to the development.
Tom Oliver, Head of Rural Policy at the Campaign said, “This is a crucial moment in the struggle by local people to decide for themselves what kind of place they will live in and how their town develops in the future.” He added that the case was about people having a real choice and not allowing big businesses to dominate their way of life.
During the inquiry Ian Shepherd, Planning Policy Co-ordinator at CPRE in Norfolk, will be giving evidence and he emphasised the wider importance of the hearing. “This public inquiry could be critical, not just for the future of Sheringham, but as a case study for other inappropriate and unwelcome supermarket developments,” he said.
Mr. Shepherd said local people and councillors had consistently expressed their opposition to Tesco’s proposals and felt a new supermarket could cause serious damage to the vitality and viability of the town centre. “The small independent retailers, which give Sheringham so much of its appeal and character, could suffer, as well as the wider Norfolk economy, including local suppliers and tourism,” he added.

Sheringham Tesco Inquiry Starts

2008-07-01T11:39:00.000Z

The Public Inquiry into Tesco's application to build a store in Sheringham begins at the North Norfolk District Council offices in Cromer at 10am on Tuesday 1 July. The inquiry, chaired by a Planning Inspector appointed by the Secretary of State, is expected to last for three weeks.
The inquiry will take place in the Council Chamber, and seats for members of the public wishing to observe or speak during the proceedings will be limited by the fire regulations that apply to the room. Therefore anyone hoping to speak is particularly advised to arrive in good time before the start of the hearing. It should also be noted that filming or recording of the proceedings will not be allowed by the Inspector.
A second inquiry, concerning proposed residential development for Norfolk Homes at Cromer Road, North Walsham, is also being held on 1 July. Since car parking at the Council offices is limited it will be available on a strictly first come, first served basis. Parking is available nearby and elsewhere in the town of Cromer.
As the Council offices will be very busy before 10am on 1 July, anyone not concerned with the planning inquiries is advised that if they can they should delay their visit until later in the day.

Battle plans over Tesco store

2008-06-19T12:09:00.002Z

Battle lines are being drawn for a big supermarket planning inquiry - and the main “bullets” are now going on show to the public. The long-running saga of Tesco's bid to build at store at Sheringham will come to a head at a 12-day appeal hearing in front of a planning inspector which opens on July 1. But documents outlining the main arguments of the main protagonists are now sitting at council offices for anyone to browse through before the debate begins. North Norfolk District Council's planning legal and enforcement manager Roger Howe said the inquiry would be a mix of detailed expert evidence from the council and company with strong objections from some locals. The four main issues being addressed are:
planning policy - from national and local level, including the location of supermarkets, the “sequential” test to see if there was a more suitable central site, and the emerging new Local Development Framework, which is advocating a that any store that is half the size of the one planned by Tesco
highways - looking at the impact of the store on the coast road, roundabout, and potential for “rat runs” down residential roads
retail impact - not to do with competition, but whether the 1,500 sq m store would harm the vitality and viability of the town centre
design - following criticism that the glass and panelled building is too bland for its surroundings.
Tesco have argued the store is needed to stop people heading away from Sheringham for their weekly shop, and will provide good spin-off trade for the rest of the town. But opponents, including the Sheringham Campaign Against Major Retail Overdevelopment, the town council and chamber of trade, say it will destroy the existing town centre and cause congestion chaos on the busy coast road. Tesco is appealing against the failure of the district council to make a decision on its 2003 plans, and refusal of amended 2007 plans which are similar but include a right turn access lane. The hearing is set to run from Tuesday to Friday, 10am to 5pm during each of the three weeks, at the district council chamber in Cromer. Letters are being sent to 1,500 people who have had dealings with the council over the planning saga, notifying them of the inquiry. Proofs of evidence are available to inspect at the district planning department - with people asked to phone 01263 516130 to make an appointment - or at Sheringham Town Council offices which are open from 9.30am-12.30pm Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Sheringham Tesco inquiry goes to Cromer

2008-04-28T13:41:00.000Z

A public inquiry into Tesco's plans for a store at Sheringham cannot be held on the site because of disabled access problems at the town's community centre. Campaigners had hoped the 12-day appeal could be staged at the centre to make it easier for local people, especially traders, to attend.But the inspector who will chair the hearing in July has ruled it out after visiting the building - so the sessions will be held at the district council chamber in Cromer instead. Inspector Christina Downes said the centre's main room was on the first floor and only accessible by a narrow flight of stairs. Although Sheringham would be more convenient for locals she had to take account of the duty of public bodies under the Disability Discrimination Act to enable people who were wheelchair-bound or with mobility difficulties to be able to take part. The inquiry will begin at July 1, and look at North Norfolk District Council's refusal of one Tesco plan and failure to deal with another. The company wants to build a store on the Cromer Road in a scheme which would see them relocate the town's fire station and community centre which would have to be knocked down to make way for the development. Sessions will run from 10am to 5.30pm most days, but 9.30am to 4pm on Fridays. It might be possible to run a 7pm session at Sheringham to help people who cannot attend during normal times, but the inspector will decide on that at the start of the inquiry when she has gauged the level of public interest.

Tesco offers Sheringham £1.2million

2008-03-05T13:21:00.002Z

COUNCIL coffers will get £1.2m from super-market giant Tesco if the controversial store at Sheringham gets the go-ahead. But North Norfolk District Council has stressed that the deal does not affect the long-running planning saga - which is due to come to a head at an inquiry, which will take place in July. Tesco's planned site covers a range of council-owned land, which includes flats, a community centre and fire station. Part of an original deal between the council and company over the Lockerbie Flats in 2003 included asking Tesco to provide 11 replace-ment homes at nearby Weston Terrace and £150,000 in cash. But the council changed tack, and sought a total cash deal, which has now been negotiated at £1.2m and was agreed by the cabinet on Monday. Chief executive Phillip Burton said the cash offered more flexibility in how the money was spent, and got around problems being encountered in developing the Weston Terrace site. The homes plan had sparked opposition from neighbours as it would remove land which had been for allotments, and was in a sensitive location near Beeston Common. The report to cabinet added that all the former Lockerbie tenants had been rehoused, and the Weston scheme for bungalows for the elderly did not really tackle the higher local need for family accommodation. Resources portfolio holder Peter Moore told the cabinet: “I must emphasise the deal has no bearing at all on the planning appeal. We are just making sure our position is safeguarded if Tesco are successful, and if they decide to build.”After the meeting council leader and cabinet chairman Simon Partridge said: “People may talk of this being a Tesco bribe, but nothing is further from the truth. “The land and planning issues are totally different. If the appeal finds in our favour we don't get Tesco or the money.” If the council lost and got the money most of it would be spent on affordable housing. The Tesco appeal hearing will start on July 1, at the council headquarters, and is expected to last three weeks.A sum of £200,000 has been earmarked to prepare the council's case, and a further £350,000 set aside in case it loses and has costs awarded against it.

Cambridge still fight against another Tesco store

2008-03-03T14:22:00.001Z

Campaigners against a new Tesco store have challenged the supermarket's claim that few shoppers will travel there by car, after a survey of another shop in Cambridge. The No Mill Road Tesco campaign surveyed the Tesco Express in Cherry Hinton over 12 hours on February 12 and found 110 people parked their cars on the street while they shopped. The figure rose to 142 during nine and a half hours on February 15. There were nine deliveries on the first day and five on the second. Tesco has said there will be 30 deliveries a week if its applications to extend the former Wilco building in Mill Road, and install new signs and a cash machine to make an Express store, are allowed. Campaigners claim their survey of the Cherry Hinton shop shows the company's estimates of the traffic generated by the plans are too low and also fear it will add to car parking problems due to there being far fewer spaces in the Mill Road area. Richard Rippin, from the campaign, said: "In less than two full days, the Cherry Hinton store received almost half their projected weekly total deliveries, so it is clear that there will be far more than they say."On Tuesday, one lorry turned up before the time it was allowed to unload, as people who live near the Tesco Express on Chesterton Road have told us happens most days."He said the peak times for shoppers arriving by car and parking on the street were the morning and evening rush hours. He added: "This tells us that a significant number of customers appear to be stopping on the way to and from work to do 'top-up' shopping by car."Since Mill Road is one of the main routes into and out of the city centre, we can be sure that at the times of day when Mill Road is already heavily congested, there would be more traffic congestion created by people, many of them likely to be parking illegally, dropping into the Tesco Express."No Mill Road Tesco has given the data to planning officers and members of Cambridge City Council's East Area Committee, which will decide the application when it meets on March 6 at 7.30pm.

Tesco set for victory after Norwich Council cave in

2008-02-28T09:28:00.002Z

Tesco's pursuit of sites for new stores across East Anglia took a new twist last night with taxpayers in Norfolk paying a high price for saying no to the supermarket giant. Yesterday it emerged that Tesco could win “significant costs” and get its wish for a controversial new store in Norwich despite overwhelming opposition - after warnings that councillors botched a decision to turn it down. Tesco - which has also fought a long campaign to build a Sheringham store and has recently bought land in Halesworth for a potential new development - has failed four times to build an 'Express' store in the heart of the city's golden triangle against the backdrop of a well-orchestrated protest campaign. The supermarket giant was set to appeal the latest refusal of planning consent by City Hall.But now the firm looks on course for victory - and an 'invite' to try again with its planning application - after an independent report commissioned by city council chief executive Laura McGillivray concluded the planning committee was wrong to turn the golden triangle store down and stood no chance of winning an appeal. The report, carried out by Phil Kirby, Broadland Council's chief planner, was in response to councillor complaints about the advice officers gave to members in the run up to the decision about the proposed store on the former Arlington Garage in Unthank Road. It also warns that asking Tesco to try again though “likely to be the least costly in financial terms” would “undoubtedly add to the public scepticism as to the fairness of the planning process and would need careful handling”. Planners last year recommended the scheme - but councillors rejected their advice because of concerns about congestion and the impact of delivery lorries on parking. While broadly backing the officer's handling of the issue, the independent report concluded the refusal decision made by members was “inconsistent and indefensible, and leaves the council vulnerable to a successful appeal and an award of costs against it”. It said the firm had ticked all the boxes to produce an acceptable scheme after taking on board suggestions made when previous applications were refused, but councillors shifted the goalposts when turning down the scheme.“I am of the opinion that the applicants have extremely good grounds on which to successfully appeal the council's decision and be successful in any application made for an award of costs,” he said. “Two fundamental issues of principal had not been raised in previous consideration of applications relating to this site, and as such makes a decision clearly open to challenge, notwithstanding the lack of evidence to support the reasons for refusal.” The report said the council faced a choice between mounting a costly and unwinnable legal defence at an appeal, not putting up a defence, and facing the wrath of objectors and the likelihood that Tesco would resubmit its bid - and a third choice of 'inviting' the firm to submit a new application which addressed the congestion and parking issues with a car-free scheme. But it also said it would have been helpful for officers to set in writing the consequences of saying no in advance of a follow-up meeting in January when councillors gave their detailed reasons for saying no - rather than a verbal briefing at the start of the session. Either way City Hall is at the mercy of the shopping giant, after the report concluded that Tesco would need to have a “reasonable expectation” that a fresh bid would get the green light. Further resistance to a revised would be deemed “unreasonable” and “reckless” and could even see members personally liable for the legal bill. The last time the council lost an appeal in 2005 over the St Anne's Wharf scheme it was hit with a £93,000 legal bill - while in Sheringham anti-Tesco campaigners have raised a £500,000 defence fund, a sign of the vast sums needed in any fight. Chris Hull, Green county councillor and a member of Residents Against Unthank Tesco, insisted the fight would go on and said the council should not feel railroaded into making a decision.“It's trying to tie the hands of elected members and giving them no option,” he said. “There shouldn't be any pressure for members to reconsider a decision. We are still very much determined,” he said. “Our supporters will feel even more let down and angry by the system. Laura McGillivray, who will decide which option to take, said: “In the majority of cases, committee members take officers' advice. In this particular case members' local knowledge of the locality led to their questioning the officers' recommendation and turning it down. Members and officers raised some concerns about the process and protocols followed in relation to this application, and I commissioned this report from an experienced independent planner to advise us as a council what course of action we should follow.“It will still be open to Tesco to resubmit the application, taking into account the concerns raised by members at the time of the decision.”A Tesco spokesman said last night the firm would consider its options.“In light of the decision by Norwich City Council in January to refuse our application we feel that were left with no choice but to go to appeal. Should any circumstances change or another option is presented to us we will of course consider it but in the meantime we will continue with the appeal process.”

Tesco use same tactics in Cambridge

2008-01-30T12:10:00.000Z

Tesco protesters hit out at 'arm-twisting'

CAMPAIGNERS have fired a furious volley at Tesco bosses after they "bulldozed" council planners. The No Mill Road Tesco Campaign has accused the supermarket giant of "arm-twisting" and "disrespect" after it bypassed slow moving councillors over plans for its store in the street famed for unique shops. Angry Tesco bosses lost patience with the council after delays on its planning applications and lodged an appeal with the planning inspectorate. Cambridge City Council hold-ups on the three applications for an Express shop in Mill Road could hit taxpayers' pockets. Planning officers had recommended the plans for approval despite a massive public outcry. The council has failed to make a decision on the applications within normal timescales. That failure could lead to financial penalties for the local council. Tesco lodged its plans for the store 18 weeks ago. A spokeswoman from the No Mill Road Tesco Campaign said: "Tesco say that the choice to avoid an appeal now lies with the council - presumably if they vote in favour of Tesco. This is precisely the type of arm-twisting tactic that gives Tesco such a bad name."In taking this step, Tesco have shown their lack of respect for local democracy by attempting to pressurise council officers and the councillors before the decisions have been taken."By choosing to lodge an appeal now, Tesco are potentially costing Cambridge Council Tax payers money with the costs they will claim from the council."She said it was regrettable the council had failed to meet planning deadlines. The campaign group had respected every deadline set. "This is in contrast to the repeated submission of new information and proposals by Tesco in the last three months - actions that must, presumably, have contributed to the delay about which they now complain." If Tesco really believe in local democracy, they will withdraw their appeal and allow local councillors to take the decisions on February 28. Given that although Tesco claim to listen to the local community, but have ignored the 5,000 signatures on our petition and the 1,100 planning objections lodged, this is unlikely to happen." We would encourage Tesco to rethink this decision which undermines the normal processes of local government and makes them look as if they are trying to get the result they want by putting pressure on the decision-makers. If they are confident of their applications they can save themselves and everyone else time and money by letting the normal planning process take its course."

Council's £500k Tesco fighting fund

2007-12-13T10:27:00.000Z

A fighting fund of more than £500,000 has been agreed by a council facing a planning battle with supermarket giants Tesco. North Norfolk District Council last night agreed to put aside £200,000 to cover its own possible costs at a planning appeal over the company's long-running bid to put a store at Sheringham - recently rejected 17-0 by a joint development committee. But it also agreed a contingency fund of £350,000 just in case costs were awarded against the authority - even though members were told that was unlikely unless its decision was considered unreasonable. Resources cabinet member Peter Moore said it was just a prudent sum to back its “robust” defence which “we expect to win”. The council's costs were high because consultants were needed to put its case after planning officers recommended approval of the store. Opposition leader Angie Tillett praised the planning committee “courageous” decision to refuse Tesco and said potential costs did not come into the debate. And council leader Simon Partridge refuted claims from some members of the public that the vote went against majority wishes, adding “It was totally democratic. If people don't get the decision they want, they say it was undemocratic.” Eric Seward said there was no need for an appeal if Tesco bowed to democracy and came back with revised plans which met the council's criteria."

Tesco get everywhere

2007-11-27T12:26:00.000Z

I received an email from Tony that said -

"I have just been to the NNDC website http://www.northnorfolk.org/default.asp and entered the word 'Tesco' into the Council's search engine, also clicking the button marked 'All Norfolk Council sites'. The result is quite surprising, the first link to come up on the list is the direct conection to Tesco's groceries home delivery site! It seems odd to me that the Council would allow such a commercial link from their own website."

I found this quite intriguing so followed it up with Norfolk County Council, here's their reply -

"Many thanks for your interesting email. We whole-heartedly agree with you that the Tesco homepage should not appear as the first option under All Norfolk sites. We have asked our website team to investigate and remove this anomaly. I do appreciate you bringing this matter to our attention, and will further update you once I have confirmation that it has been addressed. Kind regards"

I don't suppose we'll ever find out who was responsible but it just shows how much effort Tesco go to to get noticed!

Tesco to challenge LDF next week

2007-11-26T11:45:00.000Z

Tesco will be at the Inquiry into the North Norfolk Local Development Framework(LDF) next week. They are attempting to get the clasification of Sheringham and Stalham changed so that they are no longer classified as secondary towns for development. In particular they want the document to state that - “1,500 sqm of net sales convenience goods floorspace will be accommodated on an appropriate site within the town”.
If this happens then Tesco will be strengthened in any future appeal over the current refusal for their store. We must hope that the Council defend the LDF with the same fortitude shown by the councillors last week.

Sheringham on BBC Radio4

2007-11-23T16:27:00.000Z

Why not listen to a Sheringham campaigner on BBC Radio 4's You and Yours program commenting on the Councils refusal of the Tesco application.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/youandyours/ram/2007_47_fri_04.ram

Enough is enough as town defies Tesco invasion

2007-11-23T11:32:00.000Z

The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) hailed a unanimous decision today (Thursday) by a local council to turn down a supermarket application at Sheringham in Norfolk. “The decision by North Norfolk District Council sends a clear message of hope for local communities up and down the country that the supermarket onslaught can be successfully resisted’, said Tom Oliver, Head of Rural Policy at CPRE. CPRE calls on the Government to take heed of the decision and reject a mistaken quest to liberalise the planning system in the spurious name of consumer choice. Tesco should also reconsider their on-going appeal in the light of this clearest of verdicts. You would have to set your mind against the democratic process not to understand the significance of this decision. Those in Government who urge an easing of planning rules for supermarkets should think again and listen to the will of the people expressed today in Norfolk’, Tom Oliver continued. Almost all the evidence suggests that overprovision of out-of-scale supermarkets in market towns damages their local economies, reduces real choice and diminishes their distinctive character. CPRE has long campaigned to strengthen existing planning controls on supermarket expansion and the Sheringham decision vindicates this position.
‘This is wonderful news. There was an informed and thoughtful discussion by councillors which was heartening to all who have faith in the benefits of local democracy. The council are not going to roll over to a powerful organisation when they believe they have a right and just case’ said local CPRE’s local campaigner, Ian Shepherd.
‘We congratulate the local council on their courageous decision and have every confidence they will plan and deliver the right retail facilities for the town’s long term benefit’, Tom Oliver concluded.

Sheringham 17 - 0 Tesco

2007-11-23T10:49:00.000Z

It may have looked like any other day in the busy shopping streets of Sheringham yesterday.But the spring in the step of long-established traders, and chink of wine glasses from smiling campaigners, were clues that it was not.Opponents of a long-running bid by Tesco to build a store in the town were cock-a-hoop after the scheme was turned down by an overwhelming 17-0 vote by councillors, which earned that rare accolade for elected members - a standing ovation from a cheering public gallery. But celebrations will be short-lived, as the retail giant is already taking the matter to appeal, meaning a fresh battle looms in the New Year.However campaigners feel their latest victory will strengthen their case for the next chapter of a saga stretching back more than a decade.After a two-hour debate by North Norfolk District Council's joint planning committee, Eroica Mildmay from the Sheringham Campaign Against Major Retail Overdevelopment, said the outcome was an “absolutely fantastic victory for common sense over corporate bullying”.And chamber of trade chairman Janet Farrow was “elated and ready to fight on” after local councillors listened to local people.The committee refused the 1,500sq m store on the Cromer Road saying it was too big, at twice the size recommended in an emerging new planning blueprint for the town.There were fears it would harm the existing town centre traders, and cause traffic problems on the busy coast road.Councillors also said its design on a prominent gateway to the town was also incompatible with the surroundings, including Sheringham's only listed building, the Catholic Church opposite.The scheme involves a store, 188 parking spaces, and pedestrian walkway through to the town centre. A package of linked plans will see the community centre and fire station on the site rebuild elsewhere.Tesco, and a pro lobby group, said it would help the town by stopping people heading to neighbouring stores for their weekly shop, and providing spin-off trade for the town. But it has met with fierce opposition over its potential impact on the town centre.Planning officer Andy Mitchell said there was a “divergence of opinion” shown in a new survey by the pro-Tesco lobby this month which said 53pc of people were in favour and 47pc against.Officers recommended approval, and warned that if councillors refused it, costs could be awarded the authority at appeal if it could not produce evidence to back up the reasons.Among members of the public to address the committee was Dr Ian Shepherd, from the county branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England, who said any decision should not be based on appeal costs, but on local knowledge. Vibrant towns tended to be “supermarket light” and independent shops, which were the heartbeat of the community, were an endangered species.Twenty-year-old Laura Thomas said people her age were the future of Sheringham, which should be “untouched by the dull clone town effect” which could result from “another greedy victory” for Tesco.Co-franchisee of the local Budgens supermarket Paul Burnell pleaded with councillors not to bow down to the “fat wallets, landbanking and bullying tactics” of Tesco.But Tesco supporter Paul Norman said a lot of local people felt bullied by the “strident” anti lobby which was determined to reject change even if it benefitted many people.Protesc campaign leader Pam Blyth said a majority of local people were in favour of the plan, while Tesco agent Malcolm Alsop said the proposed store, 60pc the size of the Cromer Morrison's, could provide the same kind of regeneration as a new Tesco had at Fakenham.Sheringham's councillors were all against the plan, with Hilary Nelson saying that a large store might suit a major inland town like Fakenham, but was unsuitable for a smaller seaside resort, where it threat had been a “sword of Damacles” blighting town investment for more than a decade.Penny Bevan Jones threw down the gauntlet for Tesco to “redeem its tainted reputation” by working with the local community to come up with a smaller eco-friendly store made of straw.The move to refuse the store came from Henry Cordeaux, who said it was too big, and a poor design with “acres of glass and some flint”.Afterwards Tesco corporate affairs manager Michael Kissman said it was a “sad day for the majority of residents of Sheringham” who wanted the store. But that the company would continue to press for their plan at appeal.Budgens' Mr Burnell also said the company, which has permission for a smaller store on part of the main town car park, would seek to work with the council and community to reignite its proposals.

Campaign behind great towns, not ghost towns

2007-11-19T11:21:00.000Z

Momentum has been growing in favour of the EDP's Shop Here campaign since its launch earlier this year to encourage readers to seek out locally-sourced and produced goods when heading to the shops. The idea is a simple one - use your local shop, buy goods which are locally produced and sourced - or lose it.
But it is not simply about keeping the character and prosperity of our local communities, there are environmental and ethical spin offs to shopping locally as well. This week will also see councillors in North Norfolk meet to decide whether to give the green light to a controversial scheme for a new Tesco in Sheringham. At stake opponents believe is the vibrancy of a community blessed with independent traders. And should councillors throw out the plans, the issue is sure to become a cause celebre across the country. The battle is finely balanced, which is why many are now taking a stand.

More than 800 local shops and traders have signed up and support is now reaching the corridors of power. Tory leader David Cameron has already spoken of his support for the initiative on a visit to Diss, hailing it as a perfect example of how communities can work together to help each other. And North Norfolk MP Norman Lamb is to table a Commons early day motion to gain the backing of all MPs. While the government is also keen to recognise the benefits of promoting local trade as it seeks to create sustainable communities.
Housing minister, Yvette Cooper said: “It is great to see that EDP is supporting small local shops. Town centres are the bustling hearts of every community and the government's policies will continue to be about creating great towns, not ghost towns. The government's town centres first policy means planning rules have to prioritise town centres over out-of-town shopping and block developments that threaten the survival of high streets and small shops. It is right that the planning system supports prosperous high streets, where small shops can succeed and there is choice for local people.”
Mr Lamb's motion to Parliament states: “This house supports the EDP Shop Here campaign; recognises the aim of retaining local shops and post offices, particularly in rural areas; recognises the importance of local businesses in terms of sustainability, the vitality of the local economy and retaining diversity; recognises the very real threat to local shops due to the power of supermarkets and other multiple stores; applauds the passing of the Sustainable Communities Bill, with all-party support; and calls on the government to ensure that policy development supports the objectives of this campaign.”

Last night the MP said it was vital to stand up for local businesses.
“All of us, particularly in rural constituencies, see the real threats to local shops,” he said. “The great danger is that communities will lose their diversity and vibrancy. That's why I'm pleased to support the EDP's campaign.”

EDP deputy editor Pete Waters welcomed the all-party support for the newspaper's campaign. “Many of our local independent shops are suffering from the predatory behaviour of large national companies and politicians should take this into consideration when thinking about planning laws and the kind of environment and communities we want to live in. There needs to be some protection for local traders so that we not only keep a thriving local economy but also retain our own unique local identity. We don't want our market towns to become clone towns, we don't want charmless homogenised high streets and we don't want the local traders in our city to be muscled out by the big boys. There is every indication that local independent shops not only improve the character of an area, and help attract visitors, but also put more back into that local community, helping it to thrive and prosper.”

Speaking about today's free Shop Local magazine, Mr Waters added: “This is an indication of the strength of feeling felt by local traders. Many of the area's largest independent retailers are backing this initiative, and together we're asking our readers to think about using local shops to do their Christmas shopping and to support our local communities.”

The campaign has previously received the support of Tory leader David Cameron. Writing in the special EDP Shop Local supplement, Tory leader David Cameron again sets out his vision for vibrant local communities. “If we care about our communities, and the local, independent retailers that give them their character, then it is our responsibility to support them - not just by signing petitions and joining campaigns, but with our cash,” he writes.

Tesco plans rejected - for now!

2007-11-06T09:51:00.000Z

Well done to the Councillors who, on Friday, decided that the application for the proposed Tesco store in Sheringham should be refused. Unfortunately, the Head of Planning Control, an unelected officer, decided that the application needed to go forward to the Full Planning Commitee for a final decision on November 22nd. It is hoped that councillors from outside the Sheringham area will abide by the decision of all four local councillors and agree that the application be dismissed.
Why the unelected officers should continue to promote the Tesco case is a mystery. It must be hoped that there is nothing untoward happening here.

It will all be over by Friday!

2007-10-29T12:11:00.000Z

The NNDC planning committee are meeting this Friday morning 2nd November to decide the Tesco application. Despite all the excellent work by campaigners the Council Development Control officers are recommending that the councillors authorise the application subject to a few minor issues being resolved

If you read the report available on the NNDC web site, you will see that they have ignored the huge amount of objections and even have the County Council highway officer stating that "there will be no adverse impact on the operation of the highway network". Has he even been to Sheringham?
The Analysis of the application could have been written by Tesco themselves.

Please contact your Local Councillor and let them know how you feel. This is probably your last chance to influence the decision.

Supermarket boss swaps £250,000 Tesco salary for his own corner shop

2007-10-18T10:44:00.000Z

From the Daily Mail.
Peter Durose is a man who had the world at his feet. A quarter-of-a-million pound salary plus bonuses, running the biggest produce section at Tesco with potential of a board membership and the annual salary of £1.5m that went with it. Yet earlier this year Peter, 42, made the momentous decision to end his glittering career to run a small high street grocery shop in the rural town of Buntingford in Hertfordshire.
It's been a huge change not only for Peter, but for his wife Marion, 35, and two daughters Grace, seven, and five-year-old Lauren. He says he realised he had to quit when, one Sunday morning in April last year, his daughter asked him to read her a story. "I can't," he snapped. "I'm far too busy." Then he turned to his Blackberry to send yet another email to a colleague.
Like so many top businessmen and women, his career had taken over his life, to the exclusion of his family. He says: "The work never, ever stopped. There was a huge amount to be done, and so little time. Thanks to technology, the culture today is such that you never stop working, even at weekends - I didn't. The pressure to succeed was so intense I felt every waking moment had to be spent on my mobile, the laptop or checking my Blackberry." A few weeks later, driving into work early one morning, he was overtaken by his immediate boss racing to get to the office first, and realised the pressure would never end. "It was beginning to dawn on me that, however high up the ladder I reached, the pressure would simply become greater and greater. The culture of life-consuming hard work goes right to the top at Tesco, as it does at so many other major companies."
A normal working week would see Peter leaving the family home at quarter to seven, returning home at about eight at night. "It would not be unusual for me to see my daughters once during the week, for about half an hour on a Friday night." He could fly to 50 countries in a year to check out new suppliers.
Marion, who now works with him in their high street grocery shop, says she firmly believes it would have killed him to continue. "He was so grey, as if all the oxygen had been sucked out of his body. "In the winter he wouldn't even see daylight, driving to work in the dark and coming home in the dark, spending all day in his office on the phone or in meetings. He worked under never-ending pressure."
Peter was, until earlier this year, Tesco's director for horticulture, providing fruit, vegetables and flowers for 2,500 stores across the country. He worked at the head office in Cheshunt, 15 minutes drive from the family home. "The sales value of my category was two billion pounds a year, so you can imagine how much pressure there was. I was directly responsible for buying and stock control and had about 160 people working underneath me."
Peter had worked for Tesco for ten years, before that working as the marketing manager for Boots the Chemist, having taken a Business Studies degree at Nottingham University. "Don't get me wrong, it was a great job," he says. "My days were adrenaline-fuelled and there were huge perks, like the bonuses which could be as much as 50 or 60 per cent of my annual salary in a good year - not to mention the pension, the company cars and the healthcare benefits. "As a family, materially we wanted for nothing. I'd bought - virtually mortgage free - a beautiful 200-year-old, four-bedroom converted barn worth about £800,000 with a huge garden. "We had at least two luxury holidays a year, sailing in the Mediterranean or staying in five star hotels in Barbados. But it had reached a point where my only family time were those two or three-week holidays a year. I was permanently exhausted and grumpy with the children. I was no father at all."
Today, life could not be more different. In June last year, he walked into his boss's office and told him that he was leaving. It was, Peter admits, an extremely difficult moment. "I felt tremendous guilt that I was letting them down, but I knew that for my health and my family, I could not take any other decision. He was very disappointed and asked if there was anything he could offer me to stay. But I said that my mind was made up, I was leaving."
Four months ago Peter opened the doors to his dream — a little grocery shop on the High Street in Buntingford in Hertfordshire. Instead of his powerful Mercedes, he pulls up in front of the shop in a little Mini. Instead of scores of staff waiting to obey his every beck and call, he has two local ladies, Lorraine and Sue, who come in to help out. And, instead of his smart grey suit with black polished brogues, he puts on a greengrocer's pinny. Perhaps more importantly, he has just dropped his two children off at the local school. "I can't believe how much pleasure I get out of that," he says. "I also try to pick them up at least twice a week, and then I take them home and make them something to eat while they do their homework and they tell me about their day."
Instead of selling two billion pounds worth of produce from all over the world, he is selling only home-made and locally-produced seasonal food. He has become passionate about British food, the decline of traditional values and the need to follow seasons. It is, in effect, the antithesis of the Tesco mantra where a shopper can buy any vegetable or fruit at any time — thanks to the thousands of air-miles the food has travelled. He is now running the kind of small, local shop which Tesco has forced out of business up and down the country. "There is terrific food available from small British producers but no one is selling it," he says. "Thanks to the supermarkets, food now needs to be produced in industrial- scale quantities using latest technologies and flown half-way across the world to meet demand." Peter's shop now sells apples picked ten minutes away.

A local poet named Jean not only provides a poem for Peter's website, but also brings in gooseberries from her garden. Mel the baker rustles up her classic Victorian sponge in her own kitchen among other delicious home-made cakes, and swinging from the ceiling of the shop are locally-smoked hams and turkey. "I shudder now when I see a plastic pack of ham," Peter says. "It has no flavour whatsoever. We eat so much rubbish in this country, in terms of microwave food and ready-made meals. We are eating convenience food, which is killing us. The ethos of the shop is that all we sell must be British and seasonal. It looks and smells terrific — locally made game pies, salmon caught on the river — it's the way the British used to shop and eat in the 1950s when people would shop every day."
It has, however, come at a price. Gone are the luxury holidays. Gone are the designer clothes, the weekend shopping trips during which Marion says they could spend hundreds of pounds on items for the house, or on clothes or shoes. Peter's decision has turned Marion's life upside down. "The crunchpoint for me was after we'd driven home from a weekend away last spring. It was a Sunday night, but as usual Peter's mobile and Blackberry - which I used to call the 'family-destroyer' - hadn't stopped all weekend. It rang again, and Peter said: 'You know, every time my phone rings I get pains in my chest. I know it's another thing to sort out, another problem.' I turned to him and said, bluntly: 'You'll be no use to me or the girls dead.' He was so grey, so exhausted all the time. We'd live for those two two-week breaks every year, but even then he'd have his Blackberry with him and it would take him three or four days to unwind. A lot of the time he'd be asleep on holiday." She says there were many times when she hid his Blackberry in drawers at weekends, so he would have to spend some time with his family.
Peter says: "The first time I actually thought: 'Right, I am going to leave' was when we were sitting in the car that Sunday night. Marion had said: 'Why don't you just quit?' and I said: 'I will.' Even as I said the words, I was thinking: 'Can I? Can I really give up such a great job?' I already had the seeds of the business I wanted to run all planned out in my head, but it was such a leap of faith to actually make the momentous decision to leave Tesco. There are times when it has been really scary to think of the security I have given up, but I feel I have gained so much in terms of my quality of life. It's taught me life is not all about money. You do have a choice about how you want to live."
Marion agrees: "Now we take the dog for a walk together at lunchtime, or we'll pop into the pub for a drink and a sandwich. Little things, but you can't put a value on them." She says he was a changed man within six weeks of leaving Tesco. "We'd both become caught up in the executive lifestyle. You always want more. At dinner parties we'd talk endlessly about holidays, clothes, cars, homes abroad and it became such a lesson in one-upmanship. I didn't need to work because Peter was earning so much, and filled my days with making the house look immaculate, buying things we didn't need and planning holidays."
Once Peter made the decision to leave, they sat down and worked out exactly what they needed to spend money on and realised just how much they wasted. Dropping out of the rat race has profoundly changed her life, too. "I now get up and pull on an old sweater and a pair of jeans rather than thinking what smart outfit I ought to wear to keep up appearances. The irony now is that I am working more rather than less - Peter has downsized and I have restarted my career. But I love it."
Working together in the shop has put the fizz back into their marriage. "We have always been strong but who knows if we would have survived? There are very few board members at Tesco who have stayed married to the same person. It puts so much pressure on your life that the majority of marriages crumble."
Marion put her flair into designing the shop and laying out the produce, while Peter took charge of stock and the balance sheets. They both serve in the shop, but with two local ladies as staff they can take time out during the week to pick up the children from school or just take the dog for a walk.
"The pace of our life has slowed right down," Marion says. "We've got time to talk to each other, to enjoy the little things in life, rather than hankering after more material possessions. Really, how many pairs of shoes do you need? Is a £200 meal in a top restaurant any more delicious than a simple, home-cooked meal at home? Are the children happier in a five-star hotel in Barbados or splashing about on the beach in Cornwall? It makes you re-assess all of your priorities."
The business cost around £100,000 to set up and the family used their savings rather than take out a loan. But they've had to cut right back — and four months after the shop opened, they're still not taking any money from the business.
"All the frills have gone," Marion says. "And yet we are both much happier." Peter agrees: "I wake up feeling relaxed, instead of having that tight feeling across my chest. I wake up enthused, thinking about what we can do in the shop, what I will cook for the girls that night."
Marion says: "I had all the trappings of wealth, but I didn't have much self-esteem. I hardly saw Peter, and when he did come home he was so exhausted he was like a distant stranger. Now I have designed and decorated the shop, and I love it. It's as if I regained control over my life." But doesn't she miss the money? "We could have been very wealthy, but at what price? Look at what happens to millionaires. Their marriages break up. They have heart attacks due to the stress."
Peter admits there have been moments when he's sat bolt upright in bed in the middle of the night thinking: "What have I done? I've thrown away our financial security. We don't have enough money to live on for the rest of our lives, far from it," says Marion. "We have to make this succeed to have enough money to live on. It is a gamble, no doubt. But I welcome the challenge, and I love the fact that Peter and I are in this together. We'll only have ourselves to blame if the shop fails. The most important thing is that Peter has a life now and we have a life together, as a family. That is worth more than anything else in the world."

Curb growth of Tesco, demands Waitrose boss

2007-10-11T12:57:00.001Z

Tesco, the country's largest supermarket chain, has come under heavy fire with rival Waitrose accusing it of being anti-competitive and of aggressively using its vast wealth to keep rivals out of the market.

Mark Price, Waitrose's chief executive, said he is calling on the Competition Commission to prevent the UK from becoming "Tescoland". The Waitrose boss predicted that unless action was taken the country's high street grocery industry could, in just 25 years from now, consist of just Tesco and Asda. Mr Price said he feared the retail environment would be very different in years to come, unless the Competition Commission moved to curb the growth of Tesco. The commission is expected to report the results of its groceries inquiry later this month.

Tesco is reported to have said that it is confident the commission will determine that there is sufficient choice in the grocery market.

The attack from the Waitrose chief comes only a week after market research analysts CACI revealed that Tesco was the most dominant supermarket in 81 of the UK's 121 postcode areas. It was followed by Asda which had the largest market share in 19 postcodes.

Last week Tesco unveiled group sales up 9.2 per cent to £24.7 billion, with pre-tax profits up 18 per cent to £1.29 billion for the half-year to August 15. Mr Price told trade magazine The Grocer that Tesco was against competition and used its vast cash reserves to keep other retailers out of the market. "They are so aggressive and will buy everything to keep out the competition" he said. "Waitrose, and all the other retailers, often go head to head with them over property, but they have such deep pockets. It is a challenge because there is so little property out there. Tesco has more in its land-bank than Waitrose has trading space."

Mr Price said he feared the market could be whittled down to just two major players if something was not done to prevent the march of Tesco. "In 20 to 25 years' time, I wouldn't be surprised if it was just Tesco and Asda in the market. I think the Competition Commission needs to do something to stop this turning into Tescoland. The commission needs to realise what is happening. The Government should also be concerned about how vulnerable the country would be if all our food was controlled by one retailer. They say customers want choice and are choosing Tesco, but people will go to the store that's most convenient, so if there is a Tesco on every corner, that's where they will go."

Mr Price said Tesco also made lives hard for smaller rivals by using its might to sell products below cost.

A spokesman for Tesco said: "Waitrose should know full well it is a very competitive market out there. More than 94 per cent of the population has access to three or more supermarkets. There is plenty of choice out there."

Tesco to sell clothes as well.

2007-10-01T15:50:00.000Z

Tesco PLC will unveil plans to sell clothes over the internet for the first time later this week, according to The Observer.

The report said the UK's biggest supermarket chain will offer around 150 lines from this autumn. The Observer said analysts believe the move makes sense for the retailer, which already turns over 1.2 bln stg from its internet operation.

The internet fashion business will come via the Tesco Direct website, which already sells household items and electrical goods, said the report.

Katherine Hamnett ends Love affair with Tesco

2007-10-01T15:46:00.001Z

The 'Choose Love' clothing line from Katherine Hamnett will no longer be available in Tesco stores, as the designer has opted to end her relationship with the chain, citing ideological differences.

Hamnett launched the range in March. The capsule collection consisted of organic, fairtrade cotton t-shirts bearing slogans such as 'Choose Love' and 'Save the Future'. But Hamnett ultimately felt that the sentiment expressed by the garments were at odds with the morals of Tesco.

Hamnett told Drapers magazine: ‘I was initially really excited about the tie-up because I thought we could increase demand for ethical products. But I’ve come to the conclusion that [Tesco] simply wants to appear ethical, rather than make a full commitment to the range. Choose Love is only available in 40 stores and the merchandising is practically non-existent.’

Tesco carbon footprint bigger than Mauritius

2007-09-27T12:46:00.000Z

Tesco's recent attempt to present itself as a force for environmental good appears to be backfiring, as evidence emerges that Britain's biggest retailer has severely underestimated its true contribution to climate change.
Development charity Christian Aid says Tesco's carbon footprint does not include the emissions caused by shoppers driving to and from its stores or those incurred by its suppliers. Christian Aid believes that the true impact Tesco has on the environment could be as much as 12 times higher than the level the supermarket admits to. Campaigners from the charity will meet Tesco representatives tomorrow at its distribution centre in Chepstow to urge the company to come clean on its carbon footprint which stands, even by its own estimate, at 4.13m tonnes of CO2 equivalent - bigger than Mauritius.
Dr Sharon McClenaghan, Christian Aid's senior policy officer, said: 'Tesco has made some promises that it now needs to live up to. Currently, even the company's own green auditors have said that there is still a long way to go. We are seeking assurances that the company will stick by its promises, but also ensure that it does not do so simply by axing overseas suppliers, where what's needed is help and support from rich world companies to help them to go green too.'

Tesco 'limited competition' claim

2007-09-27T12:36:00.000Z

Regulators accused supermarket giant Tesco of limiting competition and choice following its acquisition of a former Co-op store.
The Competition Commission has provisionally ruled that the purchase of the store in Slough, Berks, in 2003, by the UK's largest supermarket group, has resulted in a "substantial" lessening of competition in the area. The Office of Fair Trading referred Tesco to the Competition Commission in April after it failed to find a buyer for the site it had been told to sell in 2004.
Tesco purchased the former Co-op store, just 800 metres from its existing shop in the town, to trade from as it developed its original site. It was then due to sell the grocery shop after it moved back to its original store. However, the group has been developing the site into four smaller units and the Competition Commission has raised concerns that the new development will not be sufficient to attract a sizeable enough competitor. It ordered Tesco to stop working on the development last month. Inquiry group chairman and Competition Commission chairman Peter Freeman said: "Tesco's own internal assessment and the evidence of both stores' performance shows that, under another owner, the Co-op store was the main potential competition to its existing store. We will now look to discuss what action we can take with regard to the Co-op site and restoring competition."

Tesco said it had been working to sell the Co-op site, but had failed to find a buyer that met competition approval. "We identified a number of potential buyers over the years - including our main rivals - but most were prevented from buying by the OFT on competition grounds," it said. "We want to continue with the redevelopment of the (Co-op) site in order to make shopping even better for local people and we will work with the Commission to do so in a way that they find acceptable and that will achieve our shared goal of selling the site as quickly as possible."

The Competition Commission is currently investigating Tesco along with the other major supermarket retailers, as part of a probe into the wider grocery industry. The regulator is looking at supermarkets' dominance on a local scale. This is the second time this week that Tesco has been named by regulators, after the OFT accused a number of supermarkets and dairy producers of colluding to fix the price of milk, butter and cheese during 2002 and 2003.

Tesco has vowed to "vigorously defend" itself against the allegations.

TESCO SPARKS 'MIS-LABELLING' ROW

2007-09-27T12:23:00.000Z

Westcountry farmers' leaders and MPs are demanding stricter food labelling laws after a supermarket trumpeted one meal as "British" - only to reveal in small print that it was made from New Zealand lamb. Hilary Datchens, 57, said she felt "tricked" when she discovered that the "British" slow cooked lamb shanks she bought from Tesco at Padstow, North Cornwall, were actually from the other side of the world. "I bought them, took them home and we sat down and ate them," Miss Datchens said. "It wasn't until I was going to throw the packaging away that I noticed it said New Zealand lamb. I try to buy as much local produce as I can and I wouldn't have bought it if I'd known it was from New Zealand. I just feel that they'll try any trick they can." Part of the Tesco "Finest" range, the packaging clearly labels the meal as "British" in capital letters over a picture of a rural landscape. In much smaller type it says they are "tender shanks of marinated New Zealand lamb". The side of the sleeve, as seen when stacked on the shelf, merely states: "Slow Cooked Lamb Shanks" with "British" underneath. St Ives MP Andrew George said: "A lot of shoppers have become heartily cynical about the way in which supermarkets behave. This is just further evidence that supermarkets are happy to dupe customers. If the supermarkets really want to address peoples' genuine concerns about their activities there must be substance behind the claims they make about supporting British agriculture." South West Conservative MEP Neil Parish promised to raise the issue with Tesco, the European Commission and the Government saying it was an issue which had "gone on for far too long. A product should not be described as British when it is really from New Zealand," Mr Parish said. "It seems that there has been some processing of this meal in the UK, but I still think they have gone further than they are able." Ironically, the complaint about Tesco surfaced as the Food Standards Agency started a consultation exercise on new guidance for food businesses on "Country of Origin" labelling - a particular issue with ready meals. It includes advice on "avoiding misleading labelling with regard to products that are of a particular culinary style". Melanie Hall, South West regional director at the NFU, said a change in the law was needed to stop "confusing" shoppers who clearly wanted to "buy British". "I think it is time that legislation was in place to support the home supply base and stop confusing consumers when they are looking for that produce," she said. "We need to see far clearer labelling. The Red Tractor logo gives consumers the assurance that produce is British."
A spokeswoman for Tesco said the "British" description was designed to highlight the "type of cuisine" rather than indicate that "every single ingredient came from the country on the dish". She added: "We would never intend to mislead and the process has already been put in place to change the labelling on this product. People should see that in store in the next couple of weeks." She stressed that Tesco was "committed to clear labelling" and only sourced lamb outside the UK when local meat was not available.

Tesco Juggernaut rolls on

2007-09-05T11:20:00.001Z

The grocery giant already owns vast swathes of the country. Now Tesco is under fire for driving a bulldozer through the planning system. From Bury St Edmunds to Liverpool, it is angering councillors, local residents and its rivals.
Only this week, furious officials from picturesque Bury decided to make a stand against Tesco and reject its appeal over a superstore extension it had already erected without permission.
Earlier this month, the Competition Commission ordered Britain's biggest retailer to halt a controversial development in Slough. Tesco had bought a store from the Co-op, tried and failed to get permission for a megastore, then demolished it in order to protect its own position. One top property agent says: 'Tesco is the most aggressive organisation in Britain when it comes to the use of space and planning.'
The supermarket chain's rivals, which are jealous of its rapid expansion, accuse it of misleading councils to get permission for new supermarkets and paying over the odds to secure sites. In March the Co-operative Group objected to an application for a new Tesco in Yiewsley, West London, which was later rejected. The Co-op says Tesco's claims that the store would not hurt local shops could not be backed up. Co- op property director David Pringle said: 'There were serious flaws in Tesco's application, in terms of justifying the retail need and the way the impact on local stores had been calculated.'
A property executive at a rival chain says Tesco is using its muscle to push back the boundaries of planning laws. It now accounts for £1 in every £7 spent at retailers. The supermarket chain already controls 32pc of the grocery market and Sainsbury reckons Tesco owns 55% of the land that could be turned into stores. As well as being accused of sitting on a landbank to stymie its rivals, Tesco's aggressive tactics with local councils are seen by some as bullying.
However, sympathisers point out that because of its sheer size, Tesco is bound to have more run-ins over planning than its rivals. As the Tesco juggernaut hurtles on, its power over the local communities grows ever greater. It doesn't just build supermarkets, it considers altering the face of entire towns to suit its own needs.
In Kirkby, near Liverpool, Tesco plans to build a new football stadium for Everton FC, the team Liverpudlian boss Sir Terry Leahy supports. The Kirkby Residents Action Group claims 74% of residents do not want Everton FC in their area, fearing an escalation in crime, fighting and traffic. Tesco argues it is merely 'regenerating' as encouraged by the government. Property developers are required to 'give something back' to local communities in return for permission to build. Tesco is funding the stadium so it can erect a superstore next door. But Kirkby wants neither.
On Tesco's behalf, property developers Goodmans are seeking planning permission for an 850,000 square foot distribution centre on the outskirts of the tiny Hampshire town of Andover. It will be bigger than Heathrow's Terminal 5. Tesco says discussions over the site are at an early stage. But locals fear it could mean 6,000 massive HGVs zooming around Andover, which has just 35,000 residents and no motorway. More than 95% of residents are against it, according to a poll conducted by local Conservative MP Sir George Young. Pete Jopling, vice chairman of local Clatford Borough Council, says: 'Andover needs jobs but we want a business park to attract a mix of people.' Instead, Jopling claims, the Tesco site could lead to a massive influx of low-paid pickers, packers and lorry drivers. Tesco boss Sir Terry Leahy is trying to win public support by talking up the grocer's green credentials and trying to highlight its focus on locally produced food.
He has taken control of gardening chain Dobbies, apparently to encourage us to buy solar panels and wind turbines. But it will need a lot more than a few eco-friendly measures to win over the locals.

Manningtree to fight Tesco superstore plan

2007-09-05T11:20:00.000Z

Residents of England's smallest town are preparing to fight an application by Tesco, Britain's largest retailer, to build a superstore they say will destroy the town's distinctive character and put local shops out of business. The David and Goliath contest over the town of Manningtree in Essex is expected to begin in earnest when a planning application is lodged this autumn. It has already stirred up a hornet's next of opposition in the area.
Campaigners nationally say the planning application for such a large food store in such a small community will be a further striking case of the negative impacts of supermarket power. The proposal comes at a critical time when the Government is finalising details of a new test set out in its planning White Paper that will replace the "need" test for retail developments which was supposed to protect the character of market towns. There have been widespread fears that Tesco's dominance of the market is creating 'ghost towns' because small High Street shops are being forced out of business. The Competition Commission is looking at the effect of the big retailers on local competition in its latest inquiry which was extended recently after emails were discovered from Asda and Tesco allegedly instructing suppliers to lower their prices. A survey of 50 senior directors of supermarket suppliers published last week found that three quarters do not believe their firms are protected by Office of Fair Trading rules. More than half said they feared making complaints against supermarkets because they might lose their contracts.
Manningtree, historically a port, lies between the far larger towns of Colchester and Ipswich on the River Stour and its railway station serves a wide rural hinterland and is the gateway to Constable Country. The town, which claims to be England's smallest by area, has a delicatessen, a farm shop, a whole food shop, two bakeries and a twice-weekly market with butcher, fishmonger and greengrocers and, currently, a small Tesco Express. Tesco is now proposing to build a 30,000 square foot store on the edge of the town, right next door to the farm shop, opposite a newsagent and adjacent to the existing Five Ways Co-Op supermarket, the only large food store in the town, which has lodged an application to expand. Residents point out that there are already 10 Tesco stores within 10 miles of Manningtree already and the roads to them are better than the narrow roads of the Dedham Vale. The proposed new store is not on the local plan. An estimated 200 people packed the scout hall in Lawford, the neighbouring village to express opposition to Tesco's proposals when they held a consultation last month. Jenny Hawley, chairman of Stour Community First, a group set up to oppose the planning application when it comes, said: "What Tesco is proposing is totally out of proportion with the need and character of a small, historic town. We are not prepared to sit back and watch Tesco take over Manningtree. Its shops and restaurants and the smallholders and farm shops of the surrounding area would be unable to cope with it. It would totally change the character of the area." Nicky Young, a working mother with children who moved into the town eight years ago, said: "I'm very passionate about Manningtree as I moved there from Colchester because of the community spirit, the shops and the school. We will lose all that if there is a big Tesco here. It would attract people from a wide radius and it would change the things that make Manningtree special, that sense that you can send your children out to the local shop and it is safe. If I had wanted a Tesco I'd have stayed in Colchester."
Lee Lay-Flurrie, the mayor, said: "There is no doubt I am against it in principle on a personal basis but as the council we do need to wait until we see the application."
Lady Cranbrook, who successfully campaigned to stop a superstore in her local town of Saxmundham in Suffolk and who is a member of the Tory Quality of Life policy group, said: "Small shops provide elderly people with their only contact with humanity. On a profound level, we have been destroying the means of having society banks and post offices, pubs. Tesco provides a big car park and the pattern of car parking changes. People don't want to walk to the high street. There is only so much retailing available. The large retailers mop up what there is. But small shops are the seedbed for new businesses."
Henry Oliver of the New Economics Foundation, which has campaigned against the excessive power of supermarkets, said that much would depend on the Government's planning guidance following the consultation on the White Paper, which has just closed. Kate Barker, the Treasury's planning adviser, recommended the removal of the "need test" for retailing but the present proposal is that an "impact test" should be retained.
A Tesco spokesman said: "It is not true to say that everyone is opposed to our proposed food store in Manningtree. We have just conducted an extensive public consultation over four days. 600 people came to the exhibition. A large number said they want something that better meets their food shopping needs. At the moment eight out of 10 people say they are driving to large food stores in nearby towns. That does not fit with protecting the town centre. This proposal is at present in draft. That is why there has been such an extensive public consultation. We will continue to work with the council to define the town's shopping needs."

Tesco faces demolishing supermarket extension

2007-09-05T11:16:00.000Z

Councillors in Bury St Edmunds have refused to grant Tesco retrospective approval for a store extension which was built without planning permission. The council could now force the leading supermarket chain to demolish the extension. The embarrassing case is just the latest example of Tesco being forced to seek retrospective planning permission. Tesco has been forced to seek retrospective permission for wind turbines on stores. Last year the supermarket chain was forced to seek backdated approval after it was discovered that its new store in Stockport was 20pc larger than planned and more recently the retailer has also been forced to seek retrospective permission for wind turbines on stores.
The decision by councillors at Edmundsbury Borough Council - against the advice of the council's own planning officers - has set the set the council up for a David and Goliath battle with the UK's largest supermarket chain. Council sources expect Tesco to appeal against the decision. However a spokesman for Tesco said they hoped to work with the council to resolve the impasse. "The intention was never to go ahead and do this without permission. We consulted with council officers throughout. We will now work with the council to come up with a solution," said the spokesman.
Councillors overruled their own officials and refused to grant retrospective planning permission after hearing from the supermarket's neighbours. Objectors said the building was too big and had inappropriate white cladding instead of the red brick found across the back of the main superstore.
Mayor Margaret Charlesworth, who voted against the Tesco extension, said: "It wasn't in keeping with its surroundings in either scale or material. It is as ugly as you can imagine and it doesn't fit in with anything. Tesco should have been more sensitive - people's gardens should be their own private spaces."
Trevor Beckwith, a member of the planning and development control committee, told the East Anglian Daily Times: "It was dominating the backs of people's gardens. It was blocking the light at certain times of the day. People should be able to enjoy their gardens when they want and not when Tesco wants them to.
"The building itself is also pretty ugly and I don't see why people should have to look at that," he said.

The age of Tesco edges closer

2007-09-05T11:02:00.000Z

Hailsham is beginning to feel the impact of the controversial new Tesco development - which continues to divide opinion in the town.
Demolition work on the North Street site has finally got underway, 14 years after it was first earmarked for retail use and more than six months after Tesco won its long-running battle for planning permission. Two derelict buildings next to the Grenadier pub, on the corner of North Street and the High Street, are being pulled down and the cleared land will eventually form part of the new superstore. Across town in Marshfoot Lane, the new White House primary school is starting to take shape. Tesco has paid for the school to relocate from North Street so it can bulldoze the school's current buildings and incorporate that into the development. But while youngsters will eventually get shiny new classrooms and shoppers a consumer heaven that will take the number of Tesco-brand stores nationwide to nearly 2,000, not everyone is happy. Last Wednesday vandals targeted the fence near the current White House school and painted the slogan 'affordable housing would be better than Tesco'. Just 48 hours after it was cleaned up, more anti-Tesco graffiti sprang up on the same fence. White House School headteacher Heather Baldwin said, "I think it's sad that people have to resort to that." The work has started. The only people it's affecting now are the children and the staff at the school, not the big boys."As futile as graffiti may be, it is a sign of the strength of feeling among those in Hailsham who are worried at the effect the retail giant - the fourth largest on the planet - will have on the town centre. Mayor Nick Ellwood said he was particularly concerned about the plan to convert North Street into a two-way road. He said, "We have been opposed to it because we feel the whole gyratory should be reversed."The way they've designed it is so that all the traffic feeds into Tesco, doubtless its intention."I believe 'Planet Tesco', as I call it, wants to take over the world." We have restricted them in what they can sell but studies show that when Tesco comes into towns the size of Hailsham there is a 26 per cent closure of high street shops as a result." Robin Sadler, one of the landlords at the Grenadier, said it was 'about time' the derelict buildings adjacent to his pub were knocked down. He said, "I just hope that Tesco can be sympathetic to all the other shops in the town."But the owner of one such town centre shop said changes to the flow of traffic through the town could hit some local businesses hard. She said, "There is a lot of negativity around about it. Making North Street two-way is going to cause havoc with town centre traffic and that will affect the High Street." But all the time the debate rumbles on, so construction work gathers pace. Constructor Kier expects the new White House school to be completed by Easter 2008 - paving the way for the old site to be swallowed up and become Tesco superstore number 434.

Tesco told to halt work on new Slough store

2007-08-10T13:44:00.000Z

The Telegraph has reported that Tesco has been ordered by the Competition Commission to stop work on a controversial retail development in Slough.

The controversial development is only a mile from Tesco's largest store in the country. The unprecedented move follows a long-running row about Tesco's acquisition and subsequent demolition of a Co-op supermarket on the site - a mile from one of the largest and most profitable Tesco stores in the country. In April, the Competition Commission was asked to look at the circumstances surrounding the purchase and demolition of the Co-op, after the breakdown of talks between Tesco and the Office of Fair Trading. The OFT first launched an investigation into Tesco's acquisition of the Co-op in 2003 after complaints from rivals.
Tesco agreed with the OFT to dispose of the store to a rival, but only after it had used it as a temporary store while it refurbished and extended its existing store in Slough. In 2004, Tesco moved into the Co-op. The retailer moved out a year later when it reopened the extended and refurbished Tesco Extra store a mile away. The former Co-op store remained derelict until it was demolished at the end of 2006.
Rival retailers say the store being developed by Tesco - which is just 26,900 sq ft, compared with the original 44,000 sq ft Co-op store - is too small to compete with the neighbouring Tesco hypermarket, which is almost four times as large. A spokesman for the Competition Commission, said: "We have decided to put a halt on things until we come to a decision. We want to keep our options open. Obviously, the further that construction goes on, the more work there might be to 'undo' in order to create a bigger store, which would cause further delay and could also make it less attractive for potential purchasers." However, a spokesman for Tesco, said they were disappointed. "This decision will only further increase the overall delays."
Meanwhile, J Sainsbury has this week submitted a planning application to build a 100,000 sq ft store on the site. A Sainsbury's spokesman said: "With a planning permission in place, Sainsbury's will be able to provide a new, competitive food store at the earliest opportunity should it acquire the site following an order by the Competition Commission requiring Tesco to sell the site to a competitor."

Tesco Public Inquiry to go ahead

2007-08-10T12:23:00.000Z

Due to the delay in deciding the latest Tesco planning application the Appeal to the Secretary of State which had been held in abeyance since last year has now been reactivated. This means that there will be a Public Inquiry into the Planning Application.

Please keep an eye on the local papers and the NNDC website for details of the Inquiry date and what you need to do if you wish to contribute.

Spoof ad highlights how Tesco destroys local shops

2007-07-17T12:52:00.001Z

Friends of the Earth has today launched a new on-line advert, 'Every Little Helps'. Voiced by Alexi Sayle, the ad urges shoppers to spend a few more pounds in their local shops. The light-hearted spoof carries a serious message - there is a real threat that many small shops could disappear completely. Across the country independent shops are being squeezed out of business by big supermarkets - but people actually want more local stores. A new NOP survey shows that 80 per cent of the public want more local shops. And more people would oppose a new Tesco store than would welcome one.
The Government needs to listen to what people want and put in place rules that promote a variety of shops - not just out-of-town superstores.

Watch the ad -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGoWKVA87ro

Tesco blasted for "arrogance"

2007-07-17T12:52:00.000Z

Norfolk retailer Nigel Dowdney has taken the battle for the high street right to the heart of the enemy by joining other protestors at Tesco's Annual General Meeting (AGM). Nigel believes that the arrival of a Tesco store in Stalham, Norfolk has reduced choice for local people and "turned a thriving market town into a Tesco town". He said that footfall in the town's high street was reduced by more than 55% after the Tesco store opened. As the owner of one Tesco share, Nigel was entitled to attend the AGM in Central London, but despite several attempts to ask a question he was not called upon to speak because, he says, he was recognised from previous protests.
Another shareholder brought up the case of Sheringham in Norfolk where Tesco plans to build a store despite strong local opposition, but Nigel says her protests were not addressed. "The whole event was run with pure arrogance," he told Convenience Store. "I'm glad I went because it has strengthened by resolve to carry on fighting. Next year I'll make sure I go in disguise."
Representatives of Friends of the Earth also attended the AGM and used the occasion to reveal the results of a survey which claims that nearly half of local residents would oppose a new Tesco in their area. The GSK NOP survey revealed that 43% of people in the UK would oppose a new Tesco store and only 33% would welcome one.
In Cuffley, Hertfordshire, home village of Tesco boss Sir Terry Leahy, the chain has said it will continue with its plans to build an Express store despite local residents voting against the move in a referendum.
Jacqui Mackay, spokesperson for the anti-Tesco campaign Tescopoly said: "We are seeing more active campaigns against Tesco. Communities are simply not prepared to sit back and let Tesco take over their towns."

East Anglians prefer to shop local

2007-07-11T11:50:00.000Z

Consumers in East Anglia are keener on shopping locally than anywhere else in England, according to environmental campaigners Friends of the Earth. A survey released this week reveals that 85pc of the people questioned would like to see a wider variety of independent stores in their communities, giving wholehearted backing to local producers and retailers. Throughout Britain, only Wales and Scotland were more supportive of smaller shops, with 94pc and 88pc respectively calling for a wider grocery market locally. Also, almost half of the people questioned nationally - 43pc - would oppose a new Tesco store in their area while 33pc would welcome one. Jennifer Parkhouse, Friends of the Earth co-ordinator for Norfolk, said: “Every little trip to the corner shop is a small step that can catch on in a big way.“It puts the breaks on huge supermarkets encroaching into the retail market and blocks vital funds from being sucked out of the local economy.”

Businesswoman shops around for antidote to Tesco towns

2007-06-21T12:47:00.000Z

TV production worker turned businesswoman Joanna Moyser is urging shoppers to support local traders in the face of a growing stranglehold on communities by supermarket giants. Joanna, 29, of Sheffield, is the brains behind a new Shopper’s Guide To…(www.shoppersguideto.co.uk) franchise which encourages traders to be featured on handy maps promoting a “united front” against the growth of so-called “Tesco towns.”She said: “The supermarket giants are decimating communities. The best message to get out there is shop smart - shop local. My Shopper’s Guide To…maps can help small shops encourage potential customers to do just that.“There’s a common misconception that shopping locally is more expensive or offers less choice.“This isn’t true. In fact, shopping in the high streets or arcades closer to home brings key social, economic and environmental benefits and helps keep communities alive.“There is a fantastic range of produce and goods available from small shops in cities, towns and villages across the UK. But they are finding it more and more of a challenge to compete with supermarkets and out of town retail parks.“I hope that by making the most of my Shopper’s Guides To…, traders and customers can get to know each other better and help bring a fresh impetus to shopping locally."More than half a million people are employed in retail in the country’s rural towns and villages, and they in turn contribute to the local economy."Research shows that, for every £10 spent in an independent shop, £25 is generated for the local economy, compared to £14 if the same amount is spent in a multi-national chain."Joanna previously worked with Diarmuid Gavin at the BBC before joining Frontline Television where she worked her way up to production and distribution manager. Then she and fiance Rob Moyser made the bold move to leave their careers in London to get married and start a family back home up north, in Sheffield, where they could afford to buy a house. She said: “The way the Shopper’s Guide To…franchise works is that I supply start-up packs, providing people who want to boost their income with everything necessary to produce the guide.“The idea came to me while I was out shopping in my local area, in between looking for production work. A local shop keeper was upset that people would come in saying they didn’t know he was there when he’d been there for years. My idea stemmed from that.”“I needed to get a key cut but didn’t have a clue where to look. I thought a map would be of great benefit to the area, so I got involved with the local trade association and created one. The Shopper’s Guide To provides a fantastic resource for shoppers and shopkeepers alike so advertisers are sponsoring a genuinely useful publication – and they’re guaranteed fantastic exposure.”The Shopper's Guide to... is ideal for someone who is ready to try something new, develop new skills and feel a real sense of achievement. It is also a great way to get involved with the community and help the local economy and the environment by encouraging people to shop local.
Seven reasons to Shop Local by www.shoppersguideto.co.uk
Your local shops:
· Have a brilliant range of products that won’t cost you the earth.
· The shops are on your doorstep – why not walk! Save time, money and petrol.
· Promote a sense of community
· Give a special shopping experience thanks to independent, often quirky or “different” traders who listen to their customers.
· Are more environmentally friendly - supporting locally sourced produce and cutting down on travel.
· Boost local employment
· Support worthy causes through trade associations, rotary clubs or other networks.
For more information, please see: www.shoppersguide.co.uk

Local Development Framework - Core Strategy Public Consultation

2007-06-20T15:52:00.000Z

Following on from the Preferred Options consultation last autumn, NNDC has now prepared the Core Strategy Development Plan Document for submission to Government. An independent Inspector is being appointed to assess if this document is fit for purpose and you will shortly have the opportunity to make comments to the Inspector. A 6-week period of public consultation will commence on June 18 and close on 30 July. From Tuesday 15 June you can view or download the consultation documents, download the comments forms, or find out how to make comments online. Please visit the LDF website for further information.

Your chance to comment on the NNDC LDF Core Strategy

2007-06-13T12:38:00.000Z

Following on from the Preferred Options consultation last autumn, North Norfolk District Council has now prepared the Core Strategy Development Plan Document for submission to Government. An independent Inspector is being appointed to assess if this document is fit for purpose and you will shortly have the opportunity to make comments to the Inspector. A 6-week period of public consultation will commence on June 18 and close on 30 July. From Tuesday 15 June you can view or download the consultation documents, download the comments forms, or find out how to make comments online. Please visit the LDF website for further information.

New Committee members for Planning Applications

2007-06-07T11:33:00.000Z

Following the elections in May the councillors who will make up the Development Control Committee (West) are now decided. These people will decide whether the current Tesco proposal is acceptable or not.
You can get their contact details by clicking on the links to the Council webiste below.

Bevan Jones, P
Cabbell Manners, B.
Cordeaux, H.C.
Green, A.R.
High, P W
Moore, T.H.
Perry-Warnes, J.H.
Savory, J.D.
Sweeney, A C
Trett, J.
Wyatt, J.A.

Budgens are here to stay.

2007-06-04T10:46:00.000Z

Staff and customers at Budgens of Sheringham will be celebrating National Independent's Week in style as the nationwide campaign aimed at encouraging consumers to back local retailers coincides with the store's relaunch following £100,000 worth of improvements. The store was taken over a year ago by business partners Paul Burnell and Jinx Hundal and, in spite of the threat of a Tesco supermarket looming over the town, the pair were determined to turn it into a thriving business.“A lot of people have seen what Tesco has done to other towns in terms of small businesses closing down, but we were confident that wouldn't affect us,” Mr Hundal said.“I think there will always be a need for small, town centre stores as what we offer is that local touch, which is something you don't get at big supermarkets. By getting the basics right, such as focussing on friendly, personal service and locally-sourced products, I think we can keep, and build on, the loyal customer base we already have.” Budgens of Sheringham now stocks newspapers and magazines, has a hot food counter serving freshly-made sandwiches, pies and pasties, and sells locally-sourced produce ranging from Norfolk Tawny and Binham Blue cheeses, to bread baked by Linzers of Norwich.“One of our success stories has been Broadland Hams, who now supply sausages, bacon and all our cooked meats,” Mr Burnell said.“It is great to be able to support local suppliers, especially when you take into account the concern about of food miles. The environment is a huge issue and, as part of the community, we want to be socially responsible.” The business partners last month took over a second Budgens store at Cromer, and insist that, whether or not Tesco comes to Sheringham, they are here to stay. National Independents' Week runs from June 4-10. Budgens of Sheringham will be celebrating by running in-store events including a colouring competition for local children. The store will be officially reopened on Monday, June 4 by a local celebrity, with attractions including a magician, food and wine tasting, and children's activities. For more information, phone 01263 822126.

Listen to the people.

2007-06-04T10:30:00.000Z

The EDP reports that - East Anglian campaigners last night urged the government to “listen” to the people as a survey gave overwhelming backing to the dwindling network of independent shops and pubs. They also called for money to be put directly into the hands of people living in towns and villages to kickstart projects and facilities to revive community spirit. In a ringing endorsement of the EDP's Shop Here campaign, the survey found almost nine-out-of-10 people believed a good range of independent shops was crucial in keeping communities together. The study, to mark today's launch of National Independents' Week, found that most people placed great value on community spirit - flying in the face of the view that old-fashioned values are disappearing. But My Shop is Your Shop, the organisation behind the survey, warned that there was a “great sense of anxiety” about the growing threat to neighbourhoods and communities. Nigel Dowdney, who owns independent shops at Stalham and West Earlham, Norwich, said: “I'm heartened by this. The survey is backing up something we've been saying for a long time. It's extremely important to have a vibrant local community and local shops are a crucial part of that.” Mr Dowdney, a member of the Association of Convenience Stores, added: “Independent shops are a meeting place for people. They are a focus for the community.” He said the government needed to “listen” to what was being said, and felt the survey showed “increasing concern” at the growing power of the supermarket “big boys”. Peter Medhurst, chairman of Norfolk Rural Community Council (NRCC), said: “I think independent shops and pubs are really the key to reviving local communities. I don't think you can have a community without some sort of centre. Sense of community is even more important than it has ever been. We've got to try to think of ways to bring people together. In this region, the East of England Development Agency (Eeda) ought to be putting more of its resources into pump-priming community development. There are a lot of small projects that don't need a lot of money, just enough to give them a start. We think small amounts of money should be given to communities to develop their own solutions.” The survey, conducted by YouGov, found that 65pc of those questioned would like to take a more active role in their local community and more than half (57pc) feared that communities were under threat from a lack of activities for the young. People believed the most important factors in achieving a successful community were clean safe streets (51pc), effective policing (48pc) and a strong neighbours' culture where people looked out for one another (39pc). However, more than half (52pc) believed that community stretched no more than two miles from their front door. An overwhelming majority (87pc) believed a good range of local independent shops was important in maintaining a good local community and mentioned the pub and the church as the other places where personal relationships were nurtured. Alan Toft, chairman of the My Shop is Your Shop campaign, said: “Clearly people are feeling a sense of real anxiety about the threats to their neighbourhoods and communities and want to see more done to protect and promote their local shops, services and cultures. What is really encouraging however, is that they want to do something themselves to further the local cause and we know from the perspective of our 55,000 local shopkeepers across the country that they too are increasingly engaging in community activities.” The findings are firmly in line with the ethos behind the EDP's Shop Here campaign, which encourages people to support their local shops and amenities. The campaign was recently given strong backing by Conservative leader David Cameron during a visit to Norfolk in April. The previous month, the Prince of Wales praised Norfolk's food producers as he visited two shops run by a family farming co-operative.

See the objections.

2007-05-22T15:18:00.000Z

Some of the detailed objections sent to the Council are now available on the Save Our Sheringham website.

Objections to the Planning and Retail Assessment submitted by Tesco are available here and objections to the Traffic Assessment are here.

They are great reading if you can't sleep, but they also show how easy it would be for the council to turn down the application as it doesn't satisfy all the necessary planning criteria.

Councillors get chance to appear on film.

2007-05-22T13:03:00.000Z

Films of Record have requested permission to film the West Area Development Committe when they meet to determine the Tesco planning application for Sheringham. This would be part of a programme on planning to be shown on ITV.

The Council says it is as open as possible when dealing with planning issuues but is worried the cameras will affect the conduct of the meeting and that a long meeting could be condensed into a few minutes of the programme.

The council had hoped to decide the application on Friday 8th June but they think this is too soon to address some outstanding issues.

Competition Commission finally gets tough.

2007-05-09T12:28:00.000Z

The Competition Commission has been forced to issue subpoenas to a raft of retail industry trade bodies in a desperate attempt to secure evidence in its drawn-out probe into the supermarket sector. The rare move highlights just how difficult the commission has found it to gather information in its investigation. The trade bodies, most of which consist of suppliers to the "big four" grocers, are believed to have been reluctant to come forward with evidence lest they upset the supermarkets with whom they do business.
Peter Freeman, the commission's chairman, has already pushed back the publication of the anti-trust body's provisional findings from next month to September due to the volume of work involved. This latest move highlights just how sensitive the issues surrounding retailer-supplier relations are. The commission sent legally binding Section 109 letters to a "small number" of trade bodies last week, a spokesman confirmed. Under the Enterprise Act, the letters require the organisations to submit information they have regarding their members' relationship with retailers. "This is not something we do lightly. But it gets to a point when you believe that there is relevant information that you haven't been able to get. The information we are after relates to a full range of supplier issues," said the spokesman.
The Food & Drink Federation is believed to be among the bodies that have received the letters. However, the National Farmers' Union is not.

Tesco - cheap at any price

2007-05-09T12:19:00.001Z

Tesco, the UK's largest supermarket chain, is sending CDs and DVDs on a round journey of almost 1,400 miles in order to exploit a tax loophole that allows customers to avoid paying VAT.
The disclosure is likely to spark allegations of hypocrisy - last year Tesco chief executive Sir Terry Leahy unveiled a "green plan" and pledged to reduce the retailer's carbon footprint. Tesco is due to launch its latest green initiative today, with the announcement that customers will be able to recycle paper-based food cartons in 100 stores. Tesco has also pledged to develop a carbon labelling scheme, which will show the carbon footprint of individual products. However, Tesco is shipping CDs and DVDs to Switzerland and back in order to save customers as little as £1.56 on a DVD, despite claiming in its corporate responsibility review that it was "taking practical steps to reduce ... energy use and greenhouse gas emissions". Tesco.com is one of a number of online retailers, including Asda and Amazon, that ships CDs and DVDs to customers from outside the EU in order to exploit a tax loophole. Because the products are worth less than £18 they qualify for "low value consignment relief" and do not attract the usual 17.5pc VAT. The loophole means that the retailer can undercut rivals and offer the latest DVDs for as little as £8.97. Earlier this year Tesco.com was forced to close its operation in Jersey after the Channel Island government refused to renew its licence following pressure from the UK authorities.
Although the retailer is now "posting" the DVDs and CDs from Zurich, it has no capability to process the orders in Switzerland. It is understood that the orders are being processed and the envelopes packed in west London by distribution firm EUK before being shipped to Zurich.
MP Jim Dowd, who is chairman of the All-Party parliamentary group for small shops, said: "Small retailers just don't have a chance. This is not in the public interest and it is not fair competition. If Tesco thought it was cheaper to ship CDs to Tanzania and back I'm pretty sure it would."
Tesco said: " Following changes in local legislation in Jersey and so that we can continue to offer these great prices to our customers, the fulfilment operation of this business is now based in Switzerland."

Tesco get free run.

2007-04-29T10:54:00.000Z

Well, the Council decided to give in to Tesco yet again. They have removed the 750sqm retail size restriction from the draft Local Development Framework for small Towns. This was demanded by Tesco as it would have left their plans for a 1500sqm store looking way too large. Despite many other councils including reatil size thresholds, NNDC decided that Sheringhams small shops didn't deserve any protection.

Don't forget you have a chance on May 3rd to elect a councillor which could change the situation. Ask the candidates their views on the Tesco debate and then make your choice.

Council meeting 18th April

2007-04-13T15:25:00.000Z

One of the items to be discussed at the Council meeting on 18th April is the Core Strategy for the LDF.
Interestingly, one of the items they will be discussing is whether they should be setting limits on retail floorspace in Secondary towns. No doubt Tesco have threatened them again if they stick to the limits put in the draft document, as this would prevent their store in Sheringham from getting approval.
Isn't it about time the will of the people had some precedence over big business? The Working Party have already rejected Tesco's objections once.

Come on NNDC. Stick to your guns.

Supermarkets are unpopular!

2007-03-02T12:56:00.000Z

British consumers are being forced to shop at supermarkets against their will, a survey suggests. A poll of grocery shoppers conducted by the Oxfam charity shows that just 11 per cent prefer shopping at supermarkets – despite the fact that 92 per cent do so. More popular are buying direct from farmers, local independent retailers or growing own food. The survey comes amid a growing debate about whether supermarkets restrict or provide greater choice in the range of products they sell. Consumers seem convinced that supermarkets hold the greatest power to influence Britain's grocery-buying habits. Forty-eight per cent said supermarkets could do the most to change shopping habits, compared to 30 per cent for consumers and 16 per cent for the government's potential impacts. Oxfam used the poll to draw attention to widespread concerns about ethical and environmental issues. The charity's director of trading, David McCullough, congratulated the Co-Op and Waitrose for their efforts in providing fair trade products and said competitors like Tesco and Asda should "take their lead from such groundbreaking moves". "By doing more to commit to fair trade practices and reduce their environmental impact, the biggest retailers can start to reverse the suspicion felt by many consumers over their huge influence," he suggested. Following a referral by the Office of Fair Trading last May, the Competition Commission is currently conducting a probe into whether supermarkets keep prices too high by restricting sector access to new competitors. Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury and Morrisons together control three-quarters of Britain's grocery market.

Yet another town battling against Tesco.

2007-03-02T12:47:00.000Z

Controversial plans for a large Tesco store in the centre of Penistone, Yorkshire could be decided next week. Councillors are to make a site visit next Tuesday to examine the area affected before holding a meeting at Barnsley Town Hall to discuss the proposals later in the day. The meeting is the culmination of years of debate over the future of Penistone centre and the former cattle market.
Opponents argue that the current proposals are so big that they would have an adverse effect on the market town atmosphere of the community and would put smaller, competing, businesses in the area at risk. Instead, they would prefer the redevelopment to resurrect plans drawn up several years ago which would have allowed the construction of a smaller supermarket along with a new market square, smaller shops and possibly flats above. Those proposals date from 2001 and were discussed at a public meeting in 2003 but have not been advanced since then.
Group spokesman Pete Riley said: "Barnsley Planning Regulatory Board have the power to say no to the Tesco application and invite the developers to come forward with a new proposal which builds on the market town character of Penistone. "It is extraordinary that the earlier plans which were paid for by tax payers have been dropped like a hot potato," he added.

Tesco accused of bullying council.

2007-03-01T12:55:00.000Z

South Somerset District Council councillors have accused Tesco of bullying tactics after receiving a letter from David Prichard, of consultants Farrell Bass Prichardin response to a proposal from planning officer Andrew Gunn that a decision on the application be deferred to consider changes to the design.
Towards the end of the letter Mr Prichard states: "It would be both unreasonable and irrational for the council to seek to refuse the current application on the basis that some members are seeking to secure additional changes to the design which, based on the advice given by officers, are unnecessary, would clearly adversely impact on the adjoining conservation area and are without merit - especially in view of the fact that my client's fallback position is to implement the currently approved food store. In the event that the application is either deferred or refused my client will: (a) proceed with implementation of the current approved food store scheme; and (b) reserve its right to pursue and appeal in respect of what would be unreasonable refusal of an application for a scheme which actually enhances the design of the proposed food store. The legal advice which we have received (which is consistent with our view) is that an appeal on the narrow ground of design is likely to succeed and the council would place itself in a potentially vulnerable position if the main reason for refusal is the failure on the part of my client to agree to amend the design of the food store to introduce a pitched roof which, in terms of design, would adversely impact on the character and appearance of the adjoining conservation area. I trust that you will draw this letter to the attention of your members in the hope that common sense will prevail, and they will support the clear and considered officer recommendation, which is to approve the application."
At public question time former Ilminster Mayor Margaret Excell described the letter as "bullying tactics". Ilminster district councillor Kim Turner said: "I don't like receiving a letter saying their legal advice says an appeal is likely to succeed. I feel this letter from this agent or from Tesco is a bullying tactic and I disagree with anything like that." Linda Vijeh agreed, saying: "I don't think blackmail letters should be any reason to vote for it."

The deadline has passed!

2007-03-01T09:39:00.000Z

Well, I hope you all managed to get your objections to the Tesco store submitted to the council.
Now you can start pressing your councillors to read all the submissions and make the only acceptable choice, to reject Tescos planning application.

If you missed the deadline, then still submit your objections. It is likely, given the size and attention of the application, that they will be getting plenty of correspondence on this issue right up to the wire.

Good Luck, and thanks.

New Petition on 10 Downing Street website

2007-02-26T10:58:00.000Z

Why not add your name to the lesstesco petition on the prime ministers website -
http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/lesstesco/

its aims are "To put a cap on supermarkets opening up any more stores (particularly on high streets) to the detriment of small businesses. This will give people the choice to source more local/fresher/healthier food which is less damaging to the environment."

It may not help Sheringham, but it could help in the future.

Deadline for Objections is approaching

2007-02-22T13:07:00.000Z

Don't forget. All objections to the Tesco store need to be made by Feb 28th.

Email planning@north-norfolk.gov.uk and quote ref: 20070217

see saveoursheringham.googlepages.com for more details.

Unearthed: grocery giants’ land grabs

2007-02-19T13:49:00.000Z

Some local markets are already dominated by a single supermarket chain. That grip could tighten as new stores are built, writes Ben Laurance.
The Competition Commission’s language was formal and measured: “The weight of evidence to date supports a finding that the relevant geographic market for the supply of groceries is local, rather than national.” When the commission last month presented its first broad ideas - its “emerging thinking” - after the launch nine months ago of an inquiry into the grocery sector, this single sentence was arguably more important than any other in setting the framework for the investigation’s next steps. It showed the commission’s determination to cut through nationwide data to focus on local markets in trying to establish if consumers are well served by the grocery retail industry.
Today, The Sunday Times can disclose the results of a new investigation that pinpoints the areas of the country where individual supermarket operators hold their tightest grip - and where that grip is likely to become even tighter. It shows that in some places one company is likely to control an astonishing 60% or more of large-supermarket retail space. These areas are likely to be the focus of the watchdog’s most intense scrutiny.
At one level, the commission was merely stating the obvious: people living in Devon don’t do their shopping in Doncaster. The watchdog has now formally signalled that, during the coming months, it will be examining the position facing consumers in every locality in the UK. In the words of the commission’s chairman, Peter Freeman: “We need to see what choices shoppers have in particular areas.” He is careful not to suggest that Tesco is the target of the inquiry. But nobody disputes that Tesco is the giant of the UK supermarket industry, with grocery sales almost double those of J Sainsbury or Asda. Tesco’s land bank - the sites it controls but where it has yet to build - is far bigger than those of its competitors. Although the commission acknowledges that Tesco controls more undeveloped land than anyone else in the UK, both in absolute terms and as a proportion of existing retail space, it is not giving details.
An investigation for Channel 4’s Dispatches has identified the areas where individual supermarket operators already have a strong grip on existing space. And by scrutinising data from the Land Registry, planning applications, company announcements and other public sources, it has pinpointed areas of Britain where a single chain will gain a predominant position by developing new sites and extending existing stores. The investigation has looked at supermarkets of 15,000 sq ft or more - known as “one-stop shops”, outlets big enough to do an entire weekly shop for a family. The evidence suggests that nationally, Tesco controls sites that would allow it to build as much one-stop space as all its competitors put together. Asda accounts for about a quarter of the potential new space on sites earmarked for development. Sainsbury and Morrison each account for less than 10%. This reinforces the picture of Tesco’s unparalleled success over the past decade in identifying development sites and snapping them up. As disclosed by The Sunday Times in December, Tesco accounted for more than half the net increase in UK retail space - both food and nonfood - in 2006. Sainsbury, overtaken as Britain’s biggest food retailer 12 years ago, has been distracted by trying to sort out its internal problems while Morrison has had its hands full grappling with the botched integration of Safeway since a £3.2 billion takeover three years ago. Even Asda, so skilfully revived by Archie Norman and Allan Leighton in the early 1990s, has faltered under the ownership of Wal-Mart. Far more importantly, given the commission’s newly declared “local” approach, it is the size of land banks in particular areas rather than the national picture that is now coming under scrutiny. The research highlights the mainland Britain postcode areas where a single operator has 40% or more of the existing one-stop grocery shopping space. Tesco is the biggest in 21 areas, Sainsbury in six and Asda in one. Stores in the pipeline mean that Tesco is likely to control more than 40% in 22 areas once it has developed its land bank. Asda will be above the 40% mark in three — Bol-ton, Sunderland and Kirkcaldy. The expansion plans of rivals will mean that Sainsbury is likely to see its relative position eroded in Bromley, to the southeast of London, but the company will still have at least 40% of one-stop space in five areas. In some postcode areas a single operator is likely to have a hugely dominant position. Sainsbury is enormously strong in southwest London, where it is reckoned to have 63% of one-stop grocery retail space. Expansion plans of its rivals will chip away at that share. But based on public data, Sainsbury will still have 60% of space. Tesco has managed to secure sufficient land in areas where it is already strong to make it even stronger. Developing its land bank in the Cambridge area will put it on target to have 61% of one-stop space. In Dum-fries and Galloway, its share could hit 68%, and in both the Uxbridge and Inverness postcode areas its share could hit 76%.
The commission is aiming to publish its provisional findings in June. Already Freeman’s words must be worrying some people in the grocery giants. He said: “We’re not here to punish the success of individual retailers, but we’re concerned with whether Tesco, or any other supermarket, can get into such a strong position, either nationally or locally, that no other retailer can compete successfully.”

The Supermarket That’s Eating Britain will be shown on Channel 4 at 8.00pm tonight.