This article was published in 2008, in Newsletter 81.
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As you may know, a 14th Tesco-owned store in Cambridge has been proposed for Mill Road. Mill Road is a busy distributor road which is the third worst accident blackspot across the whole of Cambridgeshire, a situation that is not helped by lorries on what is a narrow street. As we reported in Newsletter 77, Councillors refused the proposals, as none of the delivery options to service the store was considered practicable.
At the start of October we gave evidence at the Public Inquiry, going up against a (no doubt highly-paid) barrister from Tesco, who seemed somewhat flustered at the well-researched nature of our arguments. Our concerns have been strictly on the transport-related issues.
The Inspector’s report has now been published, and it upholds the views we put forward against Tesco’s application. The conclusion reads:
Earlier in the report, the Campaign was noted as a knowledgeable and seemingly reliable source:
In describing the main delivery option, that of lorries unloading twice a day for 41 minutes at a time from Mill Road itself, the Inspector, David Nicholson, who acted with the utmost professionalism and fairness to both ‘sides’ at all times, stated in the report:
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Tesco now have no option with this other than to take the matter to the High Court, which seems extremely unlikely.
However, Tesco have a second appeal standing – for their other application on the same site, which is merely for an air conditioning unit at the back rather than an extension. But the transport issues are the same, in fact, so it is hard to see how Tesco could win that appeal. We hope they withdraw the application and save everyone’s time in having to fight the proposals again.
Martin Lucas-Smith