If you would like to raise objections to the proposed expansion of Tesco, you can of course write your own letter. If you would like some guidelines, we suggest cutting and pasting the following text into your own word processor, editing it as you see fit, or, if you agree simply signing it, and forwarding it to the address at the top of the letter.

Please bring this to the attention of friends, colleagues, or anyone else in Petersfield who you believe would be concerned about this matter.

your name here

your address here

Julia Mansi/Planning Department
East Hampshire District Council
Penns Place, Petersfield
Hampshire
GU31 4JX

Dear Julia

Objection to EHDC Planning Application F.21595/025/FUL/JM Tesco Stores and The Petersfield School.

I believe that Tesco in its application and supporting material has failed to demonstrate the case for a sales area increase of 70% in its Petersfield store.

The joint application of Tesco’s expansion and the Petersfield School sports facilities should not be considered as being inextricably linked. The Tesco development should be assessed as an application on its own grounds.

The expanded store situated on an edge of town site with its proposed larger offering of convenience and comparison goods will damage the vitality and viability of the nearby established centre particularly, chemists, opticians, book sellers, small grocers, newspaper shops, domestic appliance retailers, clothes, homeware and furniture retailers as well as the vibrant Sunday farmers market. I consider that the size of the store after the proposed expansion (5765m2) will be out of scale with the size, function and shopping order of the host town.

Data in the Tesco commissioned reports underestimates the number of deliveries required to service a store of the proposed eventual size and no information has been collated with regards to the effects of vibration on the local houses from Tesco and supplier delivery vehicles. There is a high likelihood that The Causeway, Dragon Street, Hylton Rd and Sussex Road junctions will become severely congested as a result of this development. This increase in road congestion will also result in raised levels of pollution in the area.

The application raises questions of interpretation around local, regional and national planning guidelines and the applicants provide no sound evidence of how a new, larger store would benefit the town centre as a whole.

My main concerns with the current proposal are in relation to:

• A comparison of the proposal with national planning document PPS6
• A comparison of the proposal with the EHDC Local Plan
• The retail impact of the development
• The congestion, noise, vibration and pollution associated with increased traffic levels
• The comparison of the proposed structure with national planning document PPS1
• The joint application of Tesco and The Petersfield School

As well as this, for personal reasons my objections are as follows:

·         I am concerned about the detrimental effect which it will have on the local independent economy, which will struggle to compete on both price and convenience with Tesco's economies of scale. These will be short term gains for Petersfield residents, but in the long term I believe people will regret the loss of the unique suppliers and outlets which differentiate Petersfield from other towns and give it its individual character.

·         I fear that Petersfield will become just another ghost town, its high street left to charity shops and transient retailers, with little opportunity for real, organic, sustainable business.

·         I object to the homogenisation of the retail economy and anticipate with no enthusiasm an environment in which the only choice for Petersfield food shoppers is between Waitrose, Tesco and Marks and Spencer.

·         In turn I fear the effect that this will have on local food producers as retail outlets shrink and they become dependent on the patronage of the supermarkets, and the consequent effect on local pubs, restaurants and cafes, many of whom pride themselves on using local produce.

·         In short I fear that the increasing dominance of supermarkets, to which this expansion will contribute, will have a disruptive effect on the local food chain which, once accepted, will be hard to reverse.

·         I object to the effect on local transport logistics which the transportation of food and 'comparison products' into and out of the expanded Tesco site will have, particularly as the site becomes a hub for the movement of food and non-food goods in and out.

·         I object to the linking of retail profit with education and sport and find it highly regrettable that this appears to be the only way that sports facilities can be improved at the Petersfield School at a time when lavish sums are being invested in preparations for the London Olympics.


Yours sincerely
.