the No Mill Road Tesco Campaign

The future of Cambridge’s controversial Mill Road Tesco store has been thrown into doubt.

In a night of high drama Cambridge city councillors voted against an application for air conditioning and a refrigeration unit at the site.

Campaigners, who believe Tesco should stay clear of Mill Road because of its reputation for independent traders, were “relieved”.

But Tesco bosses have yet to respond to the latest twist in the saga.

For the full story, see Friday’s News.

Cambridge Evening News, 31st July 2008

CAMPAIGNERS against plans by Tesco to open up in Cambridge’s Mill Road are urging councillors to refuse the supermarket giant’s latest application tonight.

The company’s plans for air conditioning and a refrigeration unit are the final hurdle in its battle to open an Express store on the street, famed for its mix of independent retailers.

A campaign against the supermarket’s venture has been running since last September and hundreds of objection letters have been sent to Cambridge City Council.

But planning officers have recommended the scheme be approved and councillors will make the final decision tonight.

The No Mill Road Tesco campaign is urging members of the East Area Committee to vote against the recommendation.

Ruth Deyermond, planning coordinator for the No Mill Road Tesco campaign, said: “There is simply no sound basis for approval of this application.

“If you think that issues such as road safety, traffic congestion, and the impact on local residents are relevant, which the planning guidance says they are, then the application needs to be refused.

“But even if you agreed with the planning officer that only the direct impacts of the air conditioning and refrigeration units are relevant then the application would still have to be refused on planning grounds.

“Tesco’s acoustic report is the only evidence on which the planners are asking the councillors to judge the application, and it simply doesn’t stand up to even the most basic scrutiny.”

Sonia Cooter, campaign coordinator, added: “We were expecting the council’s planning department to recommend approval, but the poor quality of the report has surprised us.

“We are urging everyone in the Mill Road area to come along to the East Area Committee meeting on Thursday, 31 July at 7.30pm in St Philip’s Church, Mill Road, and let our councillors know – this is not acceptable.”

Speaking when the approval advice was announced, Tesco’s Michael Kissman said: “We are pleased with the recommendation. If the plans are approved we have got a team in place and can look at completing the work which needs to be done in the following weeks and months.”

Cambridge Evening News, 31st July 2008

A reminder that tomorrow (Thursday 31st) is the East Area Committee meeting to decide the latest application by Tesco. Please come along and show your support.

The meeting starts at 7.30 and is held at St Philips Church, Mill Road. The campaign has again been allowed 10 minutes to make our case, which shows the level of public interest in the application.

Thank you to everyone who submitted objections, and who helped deliver newsletters over the weekend. We particularly appreciate the level of detail that people included in their objections; this was mentioned in the case officer’s report, which must be fairly unusual!

Hope to see you tomorrow for the latest round in the fight to keep Mill Road a Tesco-free zone…

The No Mill Road Tesco Campaign is urging Councillors to vote against the recommendations of the planning officers report on the latest Tesco application when they meet on Thursday night.

Planning Officers have again recommended approval of Tesco’s application – this time for a refrigeration plant and air conditioning unit on the existing site on Mill Road. But the No Mill Road Tesco campaign believes the report is based on two false assumptions.

Firstly, campaigners believe the assertion in the report that issues of deliveries and waste are irrelevant is simply untrue. If Tesco is really serious about opening a smaller store, all the other impacts of a Tesco Express opening on this site will necessarily follow from approval of this application. Deliveries, waste and other issues are as relevant to this attempt to open an Express store as they were to the last attempt. This means all the reasons why the last application was refused on delivery grounds still apply.

Secondly, planners have ignored the fact that Tesco’s acoustic report, on which the recommendation is based, is fundamentally flawed. No Mill Road Tesco approached an acoustic consultant to look at the report when it was published, and he found a number of serious problems in the way Tesco’s acoustic consultants did their tests. This is the only document the council uses to judge the noise impact of the planning application. The planning officers have recommended approval based entirely on Tesco’s own, fundamentally unreliable acoustic report.

Ruth Deyermond, planning coordinator for the No Mill Road Tesco campaign commented “There is simply no sound basis for approval of this application. If you think that issues such as road safety traffic congestion, and the impact on local residents are relevant, which the planning guidance says they are, then the application needs to be refused. But even if you agreed with the planning officer that only the direct impacts of the air conditioning and refrigeration units are relevant then the application would still have to be refused on planning grounds. Tesco’s acoustic report is the only evidence on which the planners are asking the councillors to judge the application, and it simply doesn’t stand up to even the most basic scrutiny.”

Sonia Cooter, campaign coordinator added “We were expecting the council’s planning department to recommend approval, but the poor quality of the report has surprised us. We are urging everyone in the Mill Road area to come along to the East Area Committee meeting on Thursday, 31st July at 7.30pm in St Philip’s Church, Mill Road, and let our councillors know – this is not acceptable”.

On Thursday 6th March, Tesco received their first major knock in their attempts to open a shop on Mill Road. You turned out in your hundreds to St Philips Church, to watch the East Area Committee Councillors vote unanimously against Tesco extending the old Wilco shop to make it a viable space for them to trade in.

Read our new Newsletter, July 2008

The planning officers have (as usual) recommended approval of Tesco’s most recent application, for the installation of refrigeration and air conditioning plant. We think they are wrong, in planning terms, to recommend approval – in fact, we think that their report cannot be a sound basis for approval because it depends entirely on two false assumptions.

• Detailed response to the Officer Report to July 2008 EAC

Here is a summary of two main points in our submission:

Continue reading ‘The planning officers’ report: our response’ »

Following a recent article in the CEN, our Planning Co-ordinator has responded as follows:

If, by this, you mean that I find it unfortunate that the planners have failed even to note that the grounds for approval are completely unsound, then yes, I’m disappointed. If you mean I think it’s surprising that the planners are relying entirely on an acoustic report paid for by Tesco – a report which a professional in the field has told the planners is unreliable – then yes, I’m disappointed. If you mean I think it’s very regrettable that the council website wrongly told local people trying to object on line that the deadline for for objections had passed when it hadn’t, then yes, I’m disappointed.

It’s also disappointing that Tesco are wasting local taxpayers’ money with this application when they clearly don’t intend to open a store with it. It’s disappointing that Tesco care so little about this application that they couldn’t even be bothered to submit all the correct documents (such as an accurate site plan) when they applied. It’s disappointing that a company that claims to listen to local communities is happy to ignore thousands of local people on issues as important as road safety and traffic congestion.

But am I disappointed in the sense in which you claimed? No. Tesco have lost every battle so far and I do not expect their losing streak to end with this slipshod application which has all the same problems as the other, failed applications before it.

Ruth Deyermond
Planning Co-ordinator
No Mill Road Tesco Campaign

Here is the original article:

Tesco poised to win Mill Road battle

TESCO is set to win its battle for Mill Road as its plans for air conditioning and a refrigeration unit are recommended for approval.

The planning application is the final hurdle for the company which first submitted plans for the former Wilco store in the popular Cambridge street last September.

It seeks permission to install three air conditioning units at the back of the shop and erect a refrigeration compound.

Tesco says the planning permission it already has for signs and a cash machine means it can open a store in Mill Road.

If the current application is granted by councillors on Thursday,July 31, work will start as soon as possible.

The site is currently occupied by squatters who have set up the Mill Road Social Centre but the supermarket giant has already secured a possession order which will force them to move before work starts.

Hundreds of objections to the plans have been received by Cambridge City Council but case officer Angela Briggs said the issue was not whether Tesco should open up on the street, but whether the application was in line with the rules.

In a report to councillors, Mrs Briggs wrote: “Despite being very aware of local concerns about the perceived implications of this development and the genuine concerns raised, I do not consider there to be good, clear cut and sound reasons for refusing the application for the condenser and the air conditioning plant and approval is therefore recommended.”

The No Mill Road Tesco campaign said it was disputing the acoustic report submitted with the application and also claimed the inclusion of a condition on delivery times conflicted with the report’s assertion that debates over car parking and deliveries were not relevant.

Ruth Deyermond, from the campaign, said: “We are obviously disappointed that they have recommended approval again.”

Michael Kissman, speaking on behalf of Tesco, said: “We are pleased with the recommendation and will now wait for the final decision.

“If the plans are approved we have got a team in place and can look at completing the work which needs to be done in the following weeks and months.”

Cambridge City Council’s east area committee will consider the application when it meets at St Philip’s Church, Mill Road on July 31 at 7.30pm.

Council planners have now confirmed that a decision on the new application by Tesco will take place at the next East Area Committee on Thursday 31st July. Details of where and when to follow. Please put the date in your diary.

The council planners have now published their report. As we expected, and as they did last time, they recommend approval. The Campaign is in the process of analysing this report and will publish our views shortly.

In the meantime, please write to your Councillors to tell them how you want them to vote on 31st July. You can find their e-mail addresses at:  http://www.cambridge.gov.uk/ccm/content/committees/area-east.en and 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>
  • Chris Howell <chris.howell@cambridge.gov.uk>
• Abbey:
  • Caroline Hart <caroline.hart@cambridge.gov.uk>
  • Miriam Lynn <miriam.lynn@cambridge.gov.uk>
  • Margaret Wright <margaret@corona4.fsnet.co.uk>

We have heard that some people were unable to submit their objections to the latest Tesco application, because the council’s electronic submission form told them that the deadline for objections had passed several days before it actually had. As you may remember, there were problems with the electronic submission of objections for the first application, and it appears that this problem has still not been sorted out.

We are trying to collect details of all the cases where this has happened. If your objection was submitted before the deadline (8 July) but was not accepted, please let us know. You can email us at info@nomillroadtesco.org

BATTLE plans to stop Tesco opening in Mill Road are being drawn up by protesters.

The No Mill Road Tesco Campaign is meeting next week to thrash out its next move.

They are determined to stave off the march of the supermarket giant into the street famed for its unique independent shops.

The move comes after Tesco bosses vowed to start work on the controversial shop in July, as the News reported.

They decided to go ahead with the store despite being refused planning permission for an extension.

That proposal was kicked out by councillors in March after more than 1,000 letters of objection and street protests.

Now Tesco chiefs have one more bridge to cross – planning permission for an air conditioning and refrigeration plant.

But the next meeting of council planners will be on July 31, which protesters say may scupper Tesco from starting work as planned.

Campaigners believe the bid will be blocked because Tesco’s announcement that it will start work in the store before the application is heard will “alienate” councillors.

And they have vowed to carry on fighting the supermarket giant, which already has more than 50 per cent of the grocery trade in the city.

Campaign spokeswoman Ruth Deyermond said: “Obviously they could, in theory, start work on the site before the council vote, but I can’t think of a quicker way to alienate the councillors than Tesco giving the impression that they expect any application they make to be simply nodded through.”

In the last six months, Tesco planning applications for stores in Poynton, Cheshire, Stourbridge, Inverness, Sheringham, Norfolk, Bradford and Mill Road in Cambridge, have been rejected, giving hope to campaigners.

A Tesco spokesman said: “The planning application will go through the normal democratic process, and we will await the outcome.”