Tesco plans recommended for approval (From Basingstoke Gazette)
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1,356 people signed petition objecting to supermarket
11:00am Saturday 21st July 2012 in Local By Emily Roberts, Chief Reporter
PLANS to build a Tesco supermarket in the Brighton Hill area of Basingstoke have been recommended for approval by borough council officers.
A report for next Wednesday’s development control meeting recommends the application to build the 63,000 sq ft store on the former Smiths Industries site is approved, on condition that Tesco pays for important highway and infrastructure improvements.
The £4.2million investment includes putting signals on the Brighton Hill roundabout, with four lanes though the centre island to create a ‘through-about’ and widening of the carriageway. Tesco claim the ‘through-about’ will reduce waiting times from 90 seconds to half a minute during the morning peak time and from two minutes to 30 seconds in the evening rush hour. Signals would also be installed on part of the A30 Winchester Road roundabout, and the approach would be widened to three lanes.
The Harrow Way would also be upgraded with a financial contribution to investigate reducing the speed limit along this road to 30mph. Crossing points for pedestrians and cyclists and cycle lanes would be installed.
The borough council papers give various reasons for approving the plans, including that the development will not harm the “vitality and viability” of other shopping centres in the town, that it is an appropriate design with adequate vehicle and cycle parking, and that the various improvements to the highways will “mitigate the impact of the development in relation to transport and highway and pedestrian safety.”
The application has been extremely controversial, and the papers list objections from various councillors, including Brighton Hill North councillor Carolyn Wooldridge.
She raised concerns about the need for a Tesco store, saying it would have a negative impact on other nearby shops. Brighton Hill South councillor
David Eyre said the area was already well served by other supermarkets. Two petitions, totalling 1,356 names, were submitted against the plans, and another, with 726 names was in favour.
Simon Petar, corporate affairs manager for Tesco, said: “We are extremely pleased that Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council have recommended for approval of our scheme. “The new store will create around 300 jobs and provide investment in the local network.
“We will regenerate a derelict site and provide a highways solution which Brighton Hill residents have been calling for, for many years.”
Comments(23)
Opinions_opinions
says...
6:01pm Sat 21 Jul 12
rufus_bolt
says...
9:33pm Sat 21 Jul 12
Marina Morris
says...
10:56pm Sat 21 Jul 12
Marina Morris
says...
10:59pm Sat 21 Jul 12
Yeah, a bit like the Brighton Hill area is well served by other secondary schools ... in Winchester and Alresford!
Theyouthmatters
says...
3:08am Sun 22 Jul 12
Marina Morris wrote:Haha Good one and The Costello School
"David Eyre said the area was already well served by other supermarkets."
Yeah, a bit like the Brighton Hill area is well served by other secondary schools ... in Winchester and Alresford!
which on a unrelated note I really like the name...
not as good as Basingstoke High
I'm sorry... but I think that's just a fantasitc name for a school.
Anyway about the Tesco thing when I can't sleep I walk an hour to Tesco to get some food and drink, now it will be right next to me... well not really I'm moving from Basingstoke soon.
Theyouthmatters
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3:10am Sun 22 Jul 12
The Mad Mike 1
says...
2:53pm Sun 22 Jul 12
ThatGuy93
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5:06pm Sun 22 Jul 12
planethead
says...
1:53pm Mon 23 Jul 12
deepinsight
says...
3:52pm Mon 23 Jul 12
Why doesn't Basingstoke have a single Waitrose?
Marina Morris
says...
4:54pm Mon 23 Jul 12
ThatGuy93
says...
8:59pm Mon 23 Jul 12
deepinsight wrote:The one in Chineham is tiny and they're shutting that down and to the person who mentioned Sainsburys... that is nowhere near this site....
2 giant Tescos ??
Why doesn't Basingstoke have a single Waitrose?
ThatGuy93
says...
9:03pm Mon 23 Jul 12
planethead wrote:South Ham alone is 8,400 people... I live there right opposite the site I had no petition...
Brilliant who are these Council Officers can they be named! they should be ashamed of themselves for not listening to the majority of wishes of the local residents of which I am one, we have ASDA, the Co-op, Sainsburys at Hatch Warren, Lidl close by and Morrisons and we need another supermarket, utterly disgusted we elect these people and they just do as they wish!!!!
Seriously..... this is such a small minority because if you had the other areas around it... it would push 17,000
Outside Looking In
says...
11:18pm Mon 23 Jul 12
planethead wrote:Well as the meeting hasn't been held yet we don't know who has voted, but if you look on the BDBC site at http://www.basingsto
Brilliant who are these Council Officers can they be named! they should be ashamed of themselves for not listening to the majority of wishes of the local residents of which I am one, we have ASDA, the Co-op, Sainsburys at Hatch Warren, Lidl close by and Morrisons and we need another supermarket, utterly disgusted we elect these people and they just do as they wish!!!!
ke.gov.uk/browse/cou
ncil-and-democracy/c
ouncillors-democracy
-and-elections/commi
tteemeetings?mode=me
eting&meetingid=1685 you'll see after the 25th.....
Opinions_opinions
says...
9:12am Tue 24 Jul 12
The _right_stuff
says...
10:08pm Tue 24 Jul 12
There are shutting down Tesco's in Chineham ?
I'll tell my next door neighbour as they are one of the Managers there.
They haven't heard that...yet ?
planethead
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8:16am Wed 25 Jul 12
Marina Morris
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10:52am Wed 25 Jul 12
Mr_Kipling
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5:34pm Wed 25 Jul 12
I live in Brighton Hill and I can't wait for it to be built - and plenty of other shoppers here, sick of Asda's dominance and the traffic chaos it has created, are pretty glad it's coming too - so clearly the 'majority' you speak of is flawed. The figures signing that petition in in comparison to the local resident count is almost embarrassingly small when you think about it.
Only a politician could try and spin it any other way, but they tend to be the kind of people who consider 27% of the electorate turning out to vote as an endorsement! They neglect the 73% majority who don't - all typical guff and having no basis in fact.
ThatGuy93
says...
10:20am Fri 27 Jul 12
planethead wrote:The Majority of South Ham do, and I'm pretty sure it affects South ham much more that it affects Brighton Hill anyway.
Marina - I am on Planet Brighton Hill where I live and the majority of residents living close to the proposed site do not want another supermarket of this size for obvious reasons, disruption, road conjestion etc what Planet are you on? perhaps you work for Tesco maybe?
ThatGuy93
says...
10:28am Fri 27 Jul 12
Also knowing they work more hours than one of these people with family's there and meant to be on the same wage and getting paid less than them.
I was 17 at the time I got told when I turned up for an extra shift just after Christmas I was being let off and 5 days before my 18th.
I want the store in Chineham to close and all the staff to be replaced. I was applying for jobs for just under 2 years before I got that one and thinking I was being kept on I was full of confidence for the 1st time in years getting let off brought on my mental illness I went through in school.
Theyouthmatters
says...
10:32am Fri 27 Jul 12
rufus_bolt says...
12:15pm Sat 21 Jul 12
Planners can't really grip about it. They allowed a Domino Pizza to open up almost next to Herbies (now gone). They allowed two chemists to exist within 100 yards of eachother, and now two fish and chip shops within metres of each other. Can't really argue that Tesco would have an effect on Asda based on what they've allowed through in the past.