Campaigners admit defeat in battle to stop superstore

Campaigners fighting a huge new Tesco have admitted defeat after a government minister decided not to step in to the row.

Hazel Blears, secretary of state for Communities and Local Government, has announced she will not call in the decision by Havant Borough Council to give the go-ahead to the new superstore in  Solent Road. Had she done so then she could have overturned the decision. But it is now seen that her decision is the final nail in the coffin for campaigners who have been trying to stop the superstore being built.
Ray Cobbett, Hampshire co-ordinator for Friends of the Earth, wrote to the Government Office for the South East, which represents central government in the region, to ask for Havant Borough Council’s decision to be reconsidered. But the council has now received a letter from GOSE saying no action is to be taken.
Mr Cobbett said: ‘We always knew it was a long shot and obviously these things are very rarely called in.
‘But we thought we ought to go the last mile for the 2,000 or so petitioners and not leave any stone unturned.
‘That’s the end of the process now unfortunately. There are no other steps we can think of . We hope for everybody’s sake that the gamble the council has taken pays off.’
The existing supermarket in Solent Road Havant, is to be bulldozed and a new Tesco Extra store more than double the size built in its place. About 2,000 people signed a petition against the superstore, and many traders in Havant are worried about the impact a larger Tesco will have on their businesses.
Mark Sloan, from GOSE, wrote to Havant Borough Council saying the secretary of state would not interfere with decisions made by a local planning authority unless there were issues of ‘more than local importance’. He said: ‘She is satisfied that the issues raised do not relate to matters of more than local importance, which would be more appropriately decided by her rather than the local planning authority. ‘She has therefore concluded that the application should be decided by Havant Borough Council.’ 

The News 18 January  2008 

This entry was posted on 18/01/2008 at 05:43 pm and is filed under Planning. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

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