TESCO MUST NOT BE THE GREAT WHITE SHARK WHICH DESTROYS ST ALBANS

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Tue 29th Apr 2008

Why can't Tesco review its existing store in St Peters Street?

Speaking at the standing-room only Stop Tesco public meeting on 29th April at Trinity URC, Sandy Walkington, Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for St Albans and former councillor for St Peters Ward, welcomed the all-party support for the campaign.

"It has been great to say on the doorstep when canvassing for the local elections that opposition to the Tesco plans is not a party political issue. You cannot slide a razor blade between the local parties on this matter. Other campaigns against applications to build superstores have only been successful when communities are united in their opposition."

Sandy reinforced the main planning reasons against the proposals as listed by all the speakers - the huge increase in traffic on local roads which are not coping with current pressures; the air quality implications of more stationary and idling traffic; the draining away of the vitality of the city centre and market; and the hugely destructive impact on a charming residential area.

He asked why Tesco could not review "its existing and venerable store in St Peters Street? With the smallest bit of imagination, this could be expanded and improved, make them lots of money and play the food retail anchor role which St Peters Street needs. That's where they should be looking, not trying to create a rival magnet to our ancient city centre."

Sandy also criticised the so-called "planning gag" which means that councillors of all parties who sit on the relevant planning committees are not allowed to comment on the plans or they lose their right to vote. "This is so undemocratic. When I was a councillor in the 1980s and 1990s, the only factor which excluded a councillor from speaking out was whether he or she had a pecuniary interest. People do not understand and certainly do not accept the legal niceties of the current position. It is vital that this is addressed by central government or the reputation of local democracy will be further diminished. Why should people even stand for election if they cannot speak out on key planning issues without being barred from voting on the same issue? It's a complete nonsense."

He also warned that while campaigners successfully halted Tesco's proposals for a giant store at Tolworth in Surrey, the site there remains in limbo while Tesco "consults" on what to do next and lurks under the waterline "like a great white shark."

"We don't know what the economic downturn will portend. We must win the campaign to get them to withdraw this current application. But we cannot allow the site to stay in limbo. Tesco must not be allowed to dodge their commitment to St Albans council to bring the empty dwellings back into a habitable state and let them out by August this year. There has to be clear evidence of work being carried out by the end of May early June or the council should press ahead with an Empty Dwellings Management Order with the aim of transferring the homes to a housing association which will let them out.

"But that still leaves the rest of the site," Sandy said. "There are so many valuable uses to which it could be put including as a possible site for the new primary school which St Albans so desperately needs, maybe leisure use, and of course sustainable housing. It will be intolerable if Tesco just lets the site fester in its already too large land bank.

"Tesco will bring out big and expensive battalions in any planning battle," Sandy concluded. "We will have nothing like the same resources. But the successes of other campaigns will offer pointers about how best to marshal our own arguments and find the killer case. St Albans has many residents who work in senior roles in national media - we have to let Tesco realise that they have bitten off more than they can chew."

ENDS

For further information, please call Sandy Walkington on 07802 177317