the No Mill Road Tesco Campaign

We have sent five documents to Councillors of the East Area Committee in advance of the meeting on Thursday 17th January:

• Our response to the planning officer’s report
• Our original planning objections: [07/0809/ADV] and [07/0811/FUL]
• Open letter to Councillors
• A briefing document covering the issue of vitality and viability
• Comments on the Chesterton Tesco Express by a local resident

We have sent an open letter to Councillors on the East Area Committee meeting in advance of the Thursday meeting.

Read what the traders have to say about the impact of a Tesco on Mill Road.

STOP PRESS: The East Area Committee meeting of 17th January will now no longer cover the Tesco application. See most recent news story.

The rest of this message below is maintained below for the sake of archiving the details.

After huge delays, the Planning Officer’s reports have been published. Despite the unprecedented numbers of objections, they recommend approval. However, it is the role of the elected Councillors to make the decision. (There are plenty of cases elsewhere that we have documented where Councillors have refused Tesco’s applications, and we urge Councillors here to do the same on Mill Road.)The councillors will be sitting in front of the people who voted them into office as they vote. And representatives from Tesco will be there too. The more of us there on the evening, the more the councillors will be reminded that they are there to represent the interests of their own constituents, not Tesco’s shareholders. Please come if you can.The decision will be made by the East Area Committee on 7.30pm, Thursday 17th January 2008, St Philips Church, 185 Mill Road. Please come and witness the discussion, and show your support against Tesco.Available online is:

• The agenda for the meeting [PDF format]
  
  • Report for 07/0809/ADV 163 – 167 Mill Road: Installation of one double sided internally illuminated projecting sign and one internally illuminated fascia sign.
  • Report for 07/0810/FUL 163 – 167 Mill Road: Cambridge Installation of new shopfront including ATM Unit.
  • Report for 07/0811/FUL 163 – 167 Mill Road: Erection of single storey rear extension and installation of plant. [This is considered to be the main application of interest.]

Local councillors will vote on approving or rejecting Tesco’s three planning applications at this meeting.

One of the planning applications is for a store extension. Tesco have stated they cannot open the store without this extension, so this planning decision has the power to stop a Tesco opening on Mill Road.

Since October 2007:

• 1,100 of us have written to the council objecting to these planning applications
• 5,000 of us have signed a massive No Tesco on Mill Road petition
• 600 of us marched down Mill Road on that freezing Saturday in November

And now, on Thursday 17th January, it’s decision time. The meeting starts at 7.30pm in the church. We’ll be gathering on the old Wilco site to talk to the media and grab the attention of passers by from 6.45pm onwards.

In the meantime, please write to your Councillors to tell them how you want them to vote on the 17th. You can find their email addresses at: http://www.cambridge.gov.uk/ccm/navigation/about-the-council/councillors/ or they are listed here:

• Romsey
  • Catherine Smart <chlsmart@cix.co.uk >
  • Sarah Ellis-Miller <sarah.ellis_miller@ntlworld.com>
  • Raj Shah <raj.shah@cambridge.gov.uk>
• Petersfield:
  • Ben Bradnack <ben.bradnack@cambridge.gov.uk >
  • Kevin Blencowe <kevin.blencowe@cambridge.gov.uk>
  • Lucy Walker <lucy.walker@cambridge.gov.uk>
• Coleridge:
  • Jeremy Benstead <j.benstead@cfr-uk.co.uk>
  • Lewis Herbert <Lewis.Herbert@cambridge.gov.uk>
  • Tariq Sadiq <tariqsadiq@btinternet.com>
• Abbey:
  • Caroline Hart <caroline.hart@cambridge.gov.uk>
  • Miriam Lynn <miriam.lynn@cambridge.gov.uk>
  • John Durrant <john.durrant@cambridge.gov.uk>

Tell them to:

• Pay attention to the planning objections made by the No Mill Road Tesco campaign and individuals about concerns that Tesco have no suitable place to make their deliveries, road safety, waste disposal, the removal of 18 parking spaces at the rear of the site and on Sedgewick street and other issues detailed at http://www.nomillroadtesco.org/planning-applications/grounds-for-objection/
• The vitality and viability of Mill Road is a priority of the council’s own local plan for the area. Voting for Tesco goes against the council’s own plans for the future of the last remaining area in Cambridge where independent stores have not been forced out by national and multinational chains.
• Councillors need to have the courage to listen to the people who put them in their seats, including you – the 5,000 signatures on the petition and the hundreds of written objections to the council and the march in opposition to a Tesco store on Mill Road are signs of local democracy in action. Councillors have listened to their constituents in other areas of the UK and stood up to Tesco, we hope our councillors have the confidence to do the same.

This ‘Dispatches’ documentary shown on Channel 4 gives some idea of how Tesco’s have managed to steamroll over the planning process in other ares in the UK:

And please sign up to the announcements e-mail list on if you haven’t done so already.

[Facebook event details]

Decision day is fast approaching for the proposal to open a Tesco store on Mill Road. An overwhelming majority [1] of Mill Road residents and shoppers are opposed to the proposal, which threatens the many independent and local shops that give Mill Road its unique cosmopolitan character.

On Thursday 17^th January, Cambridge City Council’s East Area Committee will meet at 7.15 for a 7.30 start at St Philips Church, 185 Mill Road, to decide on Tesco’s applications for the former Wilco site. These include a new shop-front in Tesco’s ubiquitous livery, 15-metre illuminated signs, and a large extension to the back of the building, with noisy refrigeration and air conditioning units to be installed close to homes on Sedgwick Street.

Tesco has also told the council that they will be asking for the removal of 18 car parking spaces, including four spaces on Sedgwick Street, so that they can reverse their lorries onto the site several times a day.

The No Mill Road Tesco campaign [2], which has collected more than 5,200 signatures from residents opposed to the Tesco store, is urging as many people as possible to attend, so that councillors are in no doubt about the strength of public feeling.

“In its Local Plan, the Council committed itself to preventing any developments that would harm the vitality and viability of local centres, like Mill Road, ” said Sonia Cooter, coordinator of the NoMillRoadTesco campaign. “Yet case after case across the country shows that where a Tesco Express opens, other shops, especially small, independent shops, go out of business. These are the shops that Mill Road is known and loved for.

“If they want to meet their commitments to safeguard the future of this area as a place to work and live and shop, they will reject these applications. Last year, Barnet Council successfully rejected a similar application on exactly these grounds; we hope that our councillors value our community enough to do the same.”

She added there are many other substantial grounds upon which the applications could and should be rejected, including the increase in congestion which the continual arrival of just-in-time deliveries will cause. “The increase in traffic would also put pedestrians and cyclists, including children travelling to Coleridge and St Philips schools, at risk, and would add to delays for motorists who depend on Mill Road. Residents of Sedgwick Street and other streets around Mill Road would be particularly hard-hit by the loss of parking spaces, which are already desperately short in the area.”

Anyone who submitted a written objection during the consultation period is entitled to speak against the proposals during the meeting, provided they have notified the Area Committee Manager, Mr John Blunt, by 12 noon on Wednesday 16^th January. Mr Blunt can be contacted on 01223 457012 or via e-mail, john.blunt@cambridge.gov.uk, or by writing c/o Room 11, The Guildhall, Cambridge CB2 3QJ.

Notes for Editors

[1] Over 1200 written objections to the Tesco proposals were received during the consultation period. Council officers have privately commented that a normal response to a planning application of this kind would be 10 to 12 written objections.

[2] www.nomillroadtesco.org