Archive for 12th October 2007

TV coverage of petition

The hand-in of our petition generated news coverage on BBC and ITV.

Click on each image to play the video.

BBC Look East, 12th October 2007:

ITV Anglia Tonight, 12th October 2007:

Press release: campaigners to hand in a petition of over 2250 signatures

Press release – 11/10/07 – For immediate release

No Mill Road Tesco campaigners to hand in a petition of over 2250 signatures to city planners

On Friday 12th October, a huge petition signed by concerned residents, workers and shoppers from the Mill Road area will be submitted to the Planning Department at the Cambridge City Council. This submission by the No Mill Road Tesco campaign coincides with the deadline for objections to the planning applications Tesco have filed. Tesco have leased the old Wilco site and are waiting for planning permission before converting the site into a Tesco store. The message from local residents to the city planners is clear – ‘Please help us ensure Tesco stays away from Mill Road’.

In just three weeks since the start of the campaign, the petition has collected in excess of 2250 signatures, and more a coming in every day. Local councillors, traders, community and faith groups and residents are backing the No Mill Road Tesco campaign. Hundreds people have signed up to receive campaign updates by email.

Sonia Cooter from the No Mill Road Tesco campaign said ‘The size of this petition shows how strongly local people feel about Tesco. People who live, shop and work in this area have built up relationships with local traders and appreciate the diversity of goods and services available. Tesco is the exact opposite of everything we love about this area. When we already have so many Tesco stores in and around Cambridge, opening yet another store on Mill Road is crazy. There are also a range of planning issues such as lorries having to unload from the pavement, waste disposal problems, inability to access their proposed rear parking area, traffic generation, and lack of cycle parking.’

‘I hope this petition sends a clear message to decision makers that local people don’t want the supermarket giant here and to Tesco themselves, that they are simply not welcome’.

ENDS

Notes for Editors:

PHOTO OPPORTUNITY – handing in the petition at 12:30, Guildhall, Market Square

More information about the campaign can be found
at www.nomillroadtesco.org .

Details about Tesco’s planning applications and some objections can be found on our website.

This includes the results of a shopping basket comparison which found goods from a Tesco Express store to be MORE expensive than goods from Mill Road shops (including the existing Co-op store).