Without prior consultation, Tesco are seeking to avoid one of the restrictions placed on their store by the planning inspector and open their store before vital safety work has even been started. Stating that the council have been too slow providing the pedestrian crossing and loading bay, Tesco have asked for the condition to be changed so that they can open next month.
Local councillor Armand Edwards responds: “It is outrageous that Tesco want to subvert the planning system like this. For highway and pedestrian safety we need the crossing and loading bay before the store opens; Tesco shouldn’t put their own commercial gain before public safety.”
The store was granted planning consent by a government inspector in July last year, with two principal conditions; that the store only open between 8am and 9pm and that the pedestrian crossing is upgraded and a loading bay created. There was local controversy when the company sought an alcohol license until 11pm, then retracted at the last minute claiming an administrative error. Now Tesco have formally applied for the second condition to be altered to allow trading to start without the safety works.
In her judgement, the inspector recognised that “there would be an increase in the number of pedestrians crossing the highway as a result of the proposal” and that it would be necessary “in the interests of highway safety” to improve the crossing before the store opened. She also said that the loading bay offered by Tesco would be needed to prevent deliveries blocking the highway and that the development could not proceed without it.
Tesco’s application to the Council says that having paid the money to BathNES, they should be allowed to open the store when they like. However, the £20,000 paid is far less than that needed for a zebra crossing which locals want to see at the site. The council highways department has been carrying out a feasibility study into the works, but are having difficulty working to the small budget. In their letter to the council Tesco also made the threat of further legal action if they were refused, writing “avoiding an appeal, and the associated costs, is in the best interests of both parties.”
Councillor Nicholas Coombes says: “Only last week, Tesco were promising to work with the local community, but now they are trying to dodge their obligations without any prior warning. I shall be strongly objecting to their latest application and urging the planning department to throw it out for the safety of Bathwick’s residents.”
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The application to vary the judgement conditions is 08/00169/VAR available to read and comment at http://planning.bathnes.gov.uk/publicaccess/tdc/DcApplication/application_detailview.aspx?caseno=JUOX22CTKK000
