I really hope that Tesco's application to increase the size of their store by 50% is rejected on the basis of their arrogance.The Mid Sussex Times reported this week that Tesco had collected over 1,000 signatures from an instore petition which they will use in an attempt to convince Mid Sussex District Council that they should be granted planning permission.
It's all very well Tesco collecting 1000 signatures, but how many customers chose not to sign the petition? For every one person that signed, another 10 customers may have declined, but of course we'd not get to hear about that. Additionally, what percentage of those that did sign actually live in the town? People from surrounding towns and villages come to Burgess Hill to shop at Tesco but don't use the town centre shops, thus the future of smaller local traders is of no concern to them.
What really takes the biscuit is the quote from Jonathan Simpson of Tesco.
He said "I'm delighted to have seen so much support for our plans and hope that Mid Sussex District Council makes the right decision for Burgess Hill"
And the right decision is the one that sees Tesco's profits soar and puts local traders out of business, further killing the town centre? Yeah, good one Jonathan.
On a related note, how much of a fool will council leader Gary Wall look if MSDC do allow the Tesco expansion, considering he's been telling us all in recent weeks that between the council and NewRiver Retail, the town centre is going to be improved.
It doesn't take a genius to work out which way the decision will go.
2 comments:
Could a petition opposing the expansion be started?
It seems that what Tesco wants Tesco gets!! We live locally to Tesco and the expansion will have a dramatic affect on us. No one we know wants it to go ahead. But we and the local residents have had meetings with Tesco and it seems our opinions do not count!
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