Tesco Call-in Letter - 13 days to write!

There are 21 days from the Trafford Council meeting which approved the MegaTesco to ask the Government to call it in. That was on the 11th, so we are now down to just 13 days!.

Further information at NoMegaTesco and
Keep Chorlton Interesting
If like many residents you are concerned about the impact of one of the largest Tesco stores in the country on shops in Chorlton and around, and you have still to write, please do it now! A sample letter from the campaign is below, please add some personal points about why this is important to you:

Email: John Denham MP john.denham@communities.gsi.gov.uk (Secretary of State)
Michael Morris michael.morris@gonw.gsi.gov.uk (Government Office North West)

Write: John Denham MP, Department for Communities and Local Government, Eland House, Bressenden Place, London, SW1E 5DU

Michael Morris, GONW, City Tower, Piccadilly Plaza, Manchester, M1 4BE

Trafford Planning Reference 74393/FULL/2009 [Date]

Dear Mr Morris / John Denham MP

I write to draw your attention to a planning application ref:74393/FULL/2009. The application by Lancashire County Cricket Club and Tesco Ltd. seeks part full/part outline permission for redevelopment of Old Trafford Cricket Ground and the erection of a food superstore.

On Thursday 11th March 2010, Trafford Council’s planning committee voted that they were “minded to grant” this application.

My concerns relate to the proposals for the large superstore of approximately 166,847 sq ft, that are part of this combined application. I am writing to request that Government Office North West call in the application for consideration by the Secretary of State so that a public inquiry can properly assess the impact of this proposed superstore on the surrounding communities and district centres.I am drawing it to your attention because I feel it runs contrary to government policy on matters of more than local importance, with wide impacts beyond its immediate locality.

• The scale of the proposed Tesco Superstore is grossly excessive for its location and will harm the future vitality and viability of Stretford Town Centre, Chorlton District Centre and other district and local centres. This runs contrary to government policy on matters of more than local importance, with wide impacts beyond its immediate locality.

• Consideration of both the Tesco and nearby Derwent Holdings applications has been hurried and the subject of serious inconsistencies by the Council’s planning committee and officers. The process and decisions made on these applications are fundamentally flawed.

• The proposal conflicts with government advice in PPS4 and PPG17, and also with key elements of the Trafford Council’s own UDP and emerging Core Strategy.

• In 2006 a Planning Inspector upheld Trafford Council's decision to refuse to grant Tesco Ltd permission to build a store of 88,000 sq ft on this site on the basis of concerns over the impact of the proposals on town, district and local centres. Tesco Ltd already has permission to build a smaller store on the site (48,000 sq ft), granted approximately 5 years ago, which it has chosen not to implement. The current proposal will be 3.4 times larger and it is inconceivable that it would not have a significant and detrimental impact both within Trafford and in neighbouring boroughs.

• The Cricket club regeneration and the Tesco superstore should have been considered independently. The Tesco superstore has been recommended for approval on the back of popular support for the Cricket Club and a questionable cross-subsidy initiative. The Council’s role in negotiations as both landowner and planning authority renders it unable to make a fit and proper decision.

I should be very grateful if you both acknowledge receipt of this email and keep me updated in respect of GONW's involvement in this matter.

Yours sincerely

Your Name & Contact details (address and email details)

According to business publication Crain's Manchester Business, the Isle of Man-based Derwent Holdings (who have plans for a nearby Sainsburys which were rejected) will also be appealing against what they see as an inappropriate decision.

Mega Tesco - time to refer to the third umpire.

Despite the news that Stretford Mall has gone into receivership [1], last nights 3 hour debate on the Tesco/LCCC application Trafford Borough Council's planning committee voted to endorse the planning officers recommendations to a) support the Tesco/LCCC application and b) refuse the Derwent Holdings/Sainsbury application for White City Retail park.

The quality of the arguments from the Councillors supporting the Tesco/LCCC application were described by one observer as woeful.

Chorlton Green Party candidate Brian Candeland joined local protesters out side Trafford Town Hall prior to the meeting. They faced a sizeable gathering of cricket club supporters brought in from miles around to back the application (so much for planning matters being the concern of local residents!).

The NoMegaTesco campaign now has 21 days to convince Government Office NW and the Secretary of State (John Denham) that the Tesco application should be subject to a planning inquiry. The 21 days starts when all paperwork has been received by GONW.

A detailed "call-in" template letter which will expose the bias shown by Trafford Council will be available shortly from the campaign

MegaTesco Demonstration tomorrow!

Campaigners against the threatened MegaTesco (see earlier posts) will be demonstrating outside Trafford Town Hall tomorrow (11th March) before the Council planning committee debate the proposal.

They will be meeting from 5.30 pm at the Town Hall on Talbot Road Stretford, and want as many people as possible to join them.

Chorlton Green Party candidate Brian Candeland will be there along with Stretford Green candidate Margaret Westbrook and other Greens.

Mega Tesco - the Threat Looms

The Planners of Trafford Council are minded to approve the huge Old Trafford MegaTesco (while rejecting a smaller Sainsbury at nearby White City). The application will be reviewed by the Trafford Planning Committee councillors next Thursday (11th March). This is in spite of the following facts:

- The Tesco is huge even by their standards and will sit close to sports grounds where there are already massive traffic problems on match days.

- it goes against Trafford Council's own strategy to support local shops

- even the planners admit it would have an adverse impact “on the vitality and viability of Stretford Town Centre”

As we know from the Chorlton Meadows threat, the fact that planning officers are minded to approve an application doesn't mean that a planning committeee will approve it but the omens here are not good. This makes it all the more important that people write to the Government Office of the North West, urging the Government to 'call-in' the application; see here for a sample call-in letter.

The link with the Old Trafford cricket ground improvement has clearly had an effect, but the views of local residents should have a far higher value than the sports fans miles away who have been canvassed with a biased view by the Cricket Club. Local petitions against the development have about 1000 signatures against around 340 in favour.

Green Party candidate for Chorlton, Brian Candeland (pictured discussing the matter with a local resident), said "This is a disgrace. It appears local residents have not been sent copies of the committee report despite requests and the submission from the 'No Mega Tesco' campaign group seems to have been ignored completely.

Along with other campaigners I am not against improving the Cricket Ground - indeed I attended the last Ashes test to be held there, and would like to do so again. But improvements need not, and should not, be done on the back of a project that will damage local shops for miles around. There are other cricket ground improvements taking place around the country, but none are being done on the back of this sort of development. Given the general support for a test ground in the North-West I am sure an alternative route could have been found, had the will been there."