the No Mill Road Tesco Campaign

Tesco have now made a new application for the old Wilco site. This application is for the installation of air conditioning and refrigeration plant only – there is no new application for an extension. (They are also still trying to get the refusal of the last application overturned by the Planning Inspector, but they don’t seem to think their chances are very good.)

Read the grounds for objection.

You have until 8 July to write to the council. Please write to:

Mrs Angela Briggs
Environment and Planning,
Cambridge City Council,
The Guildhall,
Cambridge,
CB2 3QJ.

Or email her at: angela.briggs@cambridge.gov.uk

Or comment through the Council Planning Portal

Those of you who submitted objections to Tesco’s original applications should have been notified by the Council that Tesco have now launched a second appeal, this time appealing the decision taken by the East Area Committee.

The appeal says, amongst other things, that:
“The appeal site is highly accessible with a number of transport links in the area” (!)

The appeal also focuses on deliveries – Tesco say (wrongly) that they can deliver to the front of the site – i.e. stop on Mill Road. Not surprisingly, the appeal document makes no mention of the facts that:

1. conditions attached to the existing planning permission for this particular site expressly prohibit on-street deliveries;
2. the Cambridge Local Plan also states clearly that deliveries must be made off street (Local Plan 8.21)
3. at least 30 on-street deliveries of up to 40 minutes each in 10.35 metres (34 foot) lorries would obviously cause terrible traffic problems (congestion, emergency vehicles not being able to get down the street).
4. Mill Road already has one of the worst accident records in Cambridgeshire.

They mention that they will also seek to have the top of Sedgwick Street made two way and to have some parking spaces on Sedgwick Street removed.

Please resubmit your objections to the Planning Inspectorate. If you submitted an objection to the first appeal (ref APP/Q0505/A/08/1202697) you can simply resend the same document, changing the reference number to
APP/Q0505/A/08/2073579/NWF. You need to send 2 copies of your letter to the following address:

The Planning Inspectorate
3/16 Eagle Wing
Temple Quay House
2 the Square
Temple Quay
Bristol
BS1 6PN

Letters need to be received by 17 June.

If you submitted your original objections by email, you may not have been notified of the appeal by the council (we have previously told them about this problem). You are still free to make submissions to the Planning Inspectorate, as is anyone who did not make objections to the original applications.

AN MP has accused Tesco of “military efficiency” in its efforts to open up in Mill Road, Cambridge.

Barry Sheerman, MP for Huddersfield, highlighted the case as he called for tighter controls on Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons.

He told business minister Pat McFadden: “When one of those supermarkets decides that it is going to be the dominant retail player in one’s area, it moves in a way that would bring credit to any military operation anywhere in the world.

“Supermarkets are a particularly sensitive issue because of their impact on the versatility, sustainability and diversity of our towns and cities. We can see that shrinking all the time with international global brands replacing local businesses.

“It happened in Cambridge. I believe that the local authority has given planning permission to Tesco in a beautiful part of Cambridge. I know that many people campaigned against it.”

Cambridge Evening News, 7th June 2008

On 6th March 2008, Councillors voted 7-0 to refuse the main application by Tesco for its proposed store. (Two other smaller applications by Tesco were approved.)

Minutes of this March 2008 East Area Committee meeting are now available from the Council’s website.