the No Mill Road Tesco Campaign

12 February 2008
For immediate release

Among the many grounds for objecting to the proposal to open a Tesco Express store on Mill Road is the disturbance and disruption that just-in-time deliveries would cause to residents and road users.

In the Local Transport Plan, the City Council states as one of its five overall objectives ‘to minimise the adverse effects of transport on people and the environment’.

Tell that to the families living at the Mill Road end of Sedgwick Street, if the experience of a resident living across from the Chesterton Tesco Express is anything to go by. The following is a verbatim report:

‘The time of first delivery was from 5.30am onwards. They could only officially unload at 6 and so would often park up and wait. The reversing into place outside the shop involves the ‘bleeping’ and then crashing as the tail lift is put down. There is then constant noise as trolleys are pushed up and down the length of the lorries. After much complaint the deliveries now happen from 7am onwards. But this also includes Saturdays and Sundays.

‘There are a MINIMUM of 3 deliveries per day and in actual fact there are more like 4-5 per day. This is because there is a separate bread delivery, then a milk delivery occurs (directly from separate companies), followed by Tesco’s own lorries.

‘The size of the Tesco lorries is also an issue as they are huge HGVs. Not only is this leading to more wear and tear on the speed bumps in Chesterton but the lorries stick out into the street when they are parked.

‘Especially at peak times (8.30-9.30am and then 5pm-8pm) there are huge numbers of cars pulling up for Tesco’s. There are double yellow lines that people park on illegally. Then there’s the problems of people constantly doing three-point turns and reversing round corners of adjacent roads. As a cyclist there are more hazards of car doors opening, pedestrians stepping into the road without looking, and cars pulling in and out of parking spaces.’

This is what the residents of Romsey have to look forward to if Cambridge City Council’s East Area Committee gives in to Tesco’s bullying tactics [2].

Local councillors will make their decision about Tesco’s applications on 6 March, and the public have until 21 February to submit comments and objections. (But if you objected to Tesco’s original applications, there is no need to resubmit your objections). Links to Tesco’s planning applications, and details of how you can object, can be found on http://www.nomillroadtesco.org/planning-applications/

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Notes for Editors

[1] From the Channel 4 Dispatches programme Tesco: The Supermarket that’s eating Britain televised on 17 February 2007

[2] Because of the Council’s delay in reaching a decision ‘partly due to the huge number of well-founded objections from local people’ Tesco has decided to lodge an ‘Appeal for Non-determination’, effectively bypassing local decision-making by going over the heads of the Council to the Planning Inspectorate. This puts additional pressure on councillors because the City council – and therefore council taxpayers – would be liable for the costs if Tesco’s appeal were successful.