Halstead: Council refuses Tesco plans

11:04am Wednesday 23rd January 2013 in News

Halstead: Council refuses Tesco plans Halstead: Council refuses Tesco plans

Controversial plans for a supermarket giant to move into Halstead have been turned down.

Tesco’s blueprint for a large store off High Street, which it claimed would deliver 130 jobs, was refused by Braintree Council’s planning committee last night.

Tesco town planning executive, Louise Ford, told the committee the development was vital to prevent shoppers travelling to neighbouring towns.

But councillors slammed the plans.

Comments(16)

Boris says...
12:31pm Wed 23 Jan 13

Excellent news. There was no controversy about the Tesco application: nobody wanted it (except Ms Ford), it wasn't needed, it would have done immense harm, end of story.

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itsmyopinionthatcounts says...
12:53pm Wed 23 Jan 13

Boris wrote:
Excellent news. There was no controversy about the Tesco application: nobody wanted it (except Ms Ford), it wasn't needed, it would have done immense harm, end of story.
Too true Boris, Tesco seem to think they can do as they please. There really are helping towards the end of the High Street. I admit I go to Morrisons occassionally, as where I live it is remote and I cannot buy all my weekly food shop items but I have personally boycotted Tesco for over a year now

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hughie-s says...
2:17pm Wed 23 Jan 13

Just the end of Act 1. Tesco will appeal to local authority then if turned down again to the Secretary of State.

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Boris says...
2:44pm Wed 23 Jan 13

itsmyopinionthatcoun
ts wrote:
Boris wrote:
Excellent news. There was no controversy about the Tesco application: nobody wanted it (except Ms Ford), it wasn't needed, it would have done immense harm, end of story.
Too true Boris, Tesco seem to think they can do as they please. There really are helping towards the end of the High Street. I admit I go to Morrisons occassionally, as where I live it is remote and I cannot buy all my weekly food shop items but I have personally boycotted Tesco for over a year now
Snap. I have boycotted Tesco for several years now and thus I have avoided eating their horseburgers.
.
But hughie is right, Tesco always appeal in these situations so it won't be long before they return for Act 2.

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roger bacon says...
5:44pm Wed 23 Jan 13

So Tesco can appeal but the councils must be resolute if they do not want these stores. Many Tesco stores have been turned down like Pendle, Leiston, Maldon,WoburnSands,a
nd Halesworth.. Perhaps these councils realise that having a Tesco means more jobs are lost than can ever be created.

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thepatster2 says...
6:11pm Wed 23 Jan 13

I went to the meeting and my faith in BDC has been renewed knowing that they had a vested interest in the land that tesco wanted and yet they voted against the planned store. people are moaning today on facebook, people who more than likely did not bother going to the meeting and possibly live away from the planned store so it would not effect them. i now believe that now would be a good time to start thinking about doing somthing with the land that would b
ring people into the town i.e a heritage centre highlighting the air raid shelters and the land around it. There are many people who have an interest in such things and BDC should capatilise on this, tourist from as far away as America and even Germany {as it is a big part of their past as well} would enjoy visiting such a place.

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Jane@G says...
10:07pm Wed 23 Jan 13

There is a group of us very concerned about what will be done with the site. We feel that it could be an excellent community site worked on by the community for the community. It would make a lovely town centre ecological area with the historic factors developed to be on display both for local education and as a tourist attraction. There are 4 schools within walking distance that would benefit and could help as part of their studies. There is the town that could enjoy the site. There are those from all over the world that would enjoy the heritage value. These people would then be attracted into Halstead and would then want to visit the town centre. This could lead to all those empty shops being re-vitalised and the market regaining its former glory. (If rental prices for both were brought down this would help as well!) We see this type of development of the site as being far more beneficial than yet another half empty supermarket that takes trade away from everyone else. Imagine a Halstead with an attractive site for a walk, steeped in History, with a High Street full of small shops all booming with trade from the large influx of interested and interersting people, not just few more half empty shopping trolleys. And to finish with a quote: 'Which is better - somewhere to encourage obesity and ill health with yet more unhealthy food or somewhere to be healthy and enjoy yourself both physically with pleasant walking and mentally with the historic value?'
If you are interested in helping with the healthy aspect of retaining our heritage, let us know how to contact you via this website. And so we open the curtains on Act 2.

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Hamiltonandy says...
11:05pm Wed 23 Jan 13

Agree with Jane@G. Great to see a positive objective that meets the community interest. Then I have been impressed with the efforts of Halstead in Bloom. They get community support through meetings, fundraising and the local council works with them.
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If you would accept support from a Colcestrian do give me a call. I am in the phone book under Hamilton at 3, Acland Avenue, Colchester. Dare not say my email as the fanatic art trolls will go to town!

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Boris says...
12:06am Thu 24 Jan 13

Hamiltonandy wrote:
Agree with Jane@G. Great to see a positive objective that meets the community interest. Then I have been impressed with the efforts of Halstead in Bloom. They get community support through meetings, fundraising and the local council works with them.
.
If you would accept support from a Colcestrian do give me a call. I am in the phone book under Hamilton at 3, Acland Avenue, Colchester. Dare not say my email as the fanatic art trolls will go to town!
Andy, they were happy to accept my support. I have e-mailed you the contact details.

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unchainedaura says...
10:57pm Thu 24 Jan 13

Excellent, I have a few friends who would be delighted to come down and assist for a few days, we've seen what tesco does to a town, it has kiloled far too many in my opinion.

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unchainedaura says...
11:16pm Thu 24 Jan 13

those shelters looking at those images look incredibly sound considering their age, they would probably make a great museum for local history, or community project, it'd be a crying shame to see such an asset go unused.

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Hamiltonandy says...
11:13am Fri 25 Jan 13

I read in the Gazette that Tesco has suitable alternative locations but has rejected them. Somewhat unreasonable and I admire the brave Halstead Council for doing the right thing.

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swiftfox says...
11:24am Fri 25 Jan 13

Well tesco,s have been turned down, By a few people who wish to keep Halstead a dead town. Well done.You have just done it. Lets get one thing right, The only supermarket we have is the co-op. Sansbury's is just a small store where you can buy every day things. Have you ever seen a supermarket sign anywhere at Sansbury's In the Halstead store?.
Every day I see at least 4 tesco vans to deliver shopping on one small estate. At the moment Halstead has nothing for people to come here for.
What would happen if one of those air raid shelters was to cave in?. But last of all IT IS YOU WHO CHOSE where you want to shop

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Jane@G says...
11:53pm Fri 25 Jan 13

Some points needing correction:
1)Tesco has been turned down from changing a lovely piece of historic woodland into a concrete junge.
2)There are other sites that Tesco could apply for, which I would dislike but would let them get on with it. Former flat industrial sites are structurally far more suitable for constructing a supermarket than an undeveloped piece of historic woodland on a hill and in a conservation area.
3) Supermarkets do not attract everybody to a town. When I moved here some time ago one of the attractions of Halstead was that it was a small market town without large supermarkets. Something like a large Tesco in the centre would have put me off.
4) I have no idea to whom Tesco vans are delivering but it could well be housebound people who cannot get out. I know that elsewhere I was looking for delivery for my housebound mother. Hence it would not matter whether Tesco was in town or not if those people cannot get out anyway.
5) It is unlikely that the air raid shelters would cave in. They were built to survive bombing. They are engineered to be structurally very sound. They would make excellent educational material for the benefit of all the local schools as well as adults and could be a major visitor attraction. And as an aside I remember playing in my grandfather's air raid shelter. The only problem with it was that it was so spooky, especially for a child wth a vivid imagination.
6) Personally I consider a town overrun by supermarkets to be a dead town and excessively boring, not somewhere I would want to visit, hence why I find Braintree so unattractive. For me and many others an interesting town will have green areas, historical areas, maybe a variety of light industry, definitely a library, interesting walks showing different parts of the town as it has changed over the ages, cycle routes, preferably without cars, places where people can get together, a range of different types of shops but nothing very large, a range of organisations/clubs/
societies for leisure and interest activities.

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MrStatto says...
7:33am Sun 27 Jan 13

I don't shop at Tesco myself as I don't like their food. However I have always admired the success they have made of their business. A true British success story, which has branched out internationally too. I wonder how many people who bash Tesco on forums such as this have pensions or other investments which have benefited from the performance of Tesco PLC shares?

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Jane@G says...
10:29pm Sun 27 Jan 13

Note that the main point we are trying to get over is that the site is not suitable for a supermarket and that we can propose far better uses for the site to the benefit of the whole commuity. Even though the town could probably not be able to support another supermarket - whatever brand - there are other sites, far more suitable that are either available now or due to be available in the near future.

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