When will Tesco take no for an answer?

By courtesy of its almost bottomless fighting fund and a smart legal department elbowing aside protestations that another store will add nothing to the quality of village life, Tesco has once again refused to take no for an answer and applied a third time for permission to build a Tesco Express, with no extra parking spaces, in an already congested area of our small village.

Also, one can imagine the chaos caused by lorries delivering goods and possible gridlock in the village while the store is being built.

The Government is worried about the effect on communities of Express outlets but this is obviously of no concern to Tesco PLC in spite of its stated policy of ‘listening to the people’.

Letters to Sir Terence Leahy are not even acknowledged; in the case of Bourne End a deaf ear would seem more applicable.

This proposed Express store would be less than two miles from the one in Wooburn Green.

Five outlets within a two-and-a-half mile radius would seem one outlet too many, especially if Wooburn Green Express is anything to go by, as prices would be no lower than the Co-op and Somerfields, and a third convenience store will probably cause the closure of our newsagent, greengrocer, butcher and baker.

Is this something which should be referred to the competitions commission?

Another interesting fact is the police house was not offered on the open market, though originally it was paid for by the taxpayer who therefore should have some say in its disposal.

KM and AK WOOD
Brantridge Lane
Bourne End