Tesco in a tangle over town plan

AFTER months of delay, plans for a large supermarket on the edge of Thame are expected to be considered by the district council’s Planning Committee, either in February or March, following new, supportive material submitted by Tesco.

Image courtesy of Elisabeth Winkler

Tesco’s agents are contesting the disputed parts of the supermarket’s plans which Thame Town Council and other opposers say are not in compliance with the Thame Neighbourhood Plan.

In a letter to the Planning Officer dealing with the Tesco application, Tesco’s Agent states: “It is incorrect to suggest that the Neighbourhood Plan prevents out of centre retail proposals. Although the Plan encourages retail proposals in the town centre, it does not, by implication, prevent those in out of centre locations which meet relevant policy tests. Indeed, an attempt to place an embargo on out of centre proposals in the draft Neighbourhood Plan was specifically resisted by the Examiner who confirmed that this would be inconsistent with national policy requirements. Accordingly, this provision was removed from the adopted Plan.”

Ed. (LINK to the Inspector’s report on the draft NP here – page 23 for relevance)

Impact of plan on Thame Town Centre

Tesco also questions the relevance of the Carter Jonas report, Thame Retail Capacity and Impact Study‘commissioned by Thame Town Council, to Tesco’s plans for the DAF site at Howland Road.  The criticism is that the study was commissioned by Thame Town Council to help them come up with a retail strategy for the town, rather than to assess specific retail proposals. Because of this ‘limitation’ – one accepted by the Carter Jonas report, maintains the letter, “any weight to be applied to its findings need to be given very careful consideration when determining the Tesco application. ”

ED. The full Agent’s letter can be read here: LINK  and all the additional material recently submitted to SODC by Tesco, can be read here: LINK

‘Importance of linked shopping trips’

In response to these latest responses on behalf of Tesco, Duncan Nickless, spokesperson for the lobbying group, Thame Centre First, told Thame.Net: “Tesco’s assessment clearly underestimates the impact the proposed store would have on our town centre and has not addressed the impact of lost linked trips on our small and independent stores. Given 80% of us visit other town centre shops and facilities when food shopping in Thame, you can see the huge importance of linked trips to these businesses and the vitality of our High Street.

“It’s also disappointing that a key part of Tesco’s response is to undermine Thame’s Neighbourhood plan which clearly states that new retail development should be located within the town centre.”

The pro Tesco group, TNT (Thame Needs Tesco) stated back in June 2015: “We strongly believe that Thame needs another supermarket that can offer what is currently unavailable, or unaffordable, in the town centre.

‘Thame needs another supermarket’

“Many of us shop in big supermarkets in Aylesbury, Wheatley, Princes Risborough, Oxford or Bicester. But we’d prefer to spend our time and money in Tesco, in Thame. Wanting Tesco does not mean we do not support the town centre shops. We will continue to use them as we do at present if Tesco is built.”

Background: You can read all previous news reports regarding Tesco’s application, HERE