Surrey Today online edition
Thursday, December 24, 2009, 17:00
A supermarket giant’s plan to build a second store in Ashtead has been slammed by the village’s MP.
Tory MP Chris Grayling has sent a letter of objection to council planners about Tesco’s bid to build on the former Esso garage in The Street.
He said: “I am concerned about the fact there is still going to be an entrance at the back of the store.
“If the store faces away from The Street, people will come into Ashtead, park in the car park, shop in Tesco and not go to the other shops in the village.
“There are also clear issues of the road and car park being able to cope and I think there are valid concerns about raising the car park level…
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Epsom Guardian
By Helen Crane 4:20pm Tuesday 22nd December 2009
Mole Valley District Council has been inundated with objections to the proposed new Tesco supermarket in The Street, Ashtead.
People determined to defeat the second planning application from the supermarket have swamped the council with letters and emails and now Ashtead Residents Association has called a special meeting for its members to debate the scheme.
It has invited a representative from Tesco to talk about its proposal…
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This is Surrey online
Friday, December 18, 2009, 06:00
Blanche Douglass, Gillian Russell and Quentin Armitage from SAVE collected signatures from villagers outside Palmer's Deli
Thousands of people have signed a petition to stop a supermarket giant building a “huge” store in Ashtead.
Save Ashtead’s Village Environment (SAVE) launched a campaign opposing Tesco’s new plan to build a store in The Street last month and it has already collected 3, 348 signatures.
Gillian Russell, spokesperson for SAVE, said: “The response to our petition has been overwhelming.
“The number of people signing our petition against the plan is increasing daily.”
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Financial Mail Women’s Forum
Posted by Hilary Riva on Friday, December 11th, 2009 at 6:13 pm.
So I know how my local Tesco store is looking to improve its lfl. Management has reconfigured the entrance to squeeze in a Timpsons. Now I am a great admirer of Timpsons as a brand and agree that their kiosks in stations both overground and underground provide a fantastic service to a huge market. But where does it befit Tesco to sublet space in a tiny market to undercut Trev the cobbler, John the locksmith and Lyn the dry cleaner? All these aforementioned businesses are within 75 yards of the entrance of Tesco because it occupies prime space in the town centre. Tesco of course has a large and free carpark, Trev et al are in the pedestrian, (no parking, no waiting), wet and blustery main street.
So Tesco is providing a hugely convenient alternative to its customers who will no longer need to use shoe leather to carry that bulky dry cleaning to the quaint little shops of the town. And when they are gone and Tesco moves to a more cost effective location for its enlarged business we won’t even be Tescotown any more, we will be a ghost town. Just like all those dismal little towns you find in the USA…
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Local Guardian online
7:40am Sunday 13th December 2009
Campaigners against the new Tesco store in Ashtead claim the supermarket sent out misleading information about the size of the store.
Representatives from Save – Save Ashtead’s Village Environment – said they may send copies of a Tesco leaflet to the Advertising Standards Authority, complaining that it is inaccurate.
Tesco admitted information in its leaflet was wrong but claimed it was a genuine error rather than a deliberate attempt to mislead the public…
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Surrey Today online edition
Thursday, December 10, 2009, 10:00
A campaign group has slammed a supermarket giant for “misleading” villagers.
SAVE (Save Ashtead’s Village Environment) is furious that Tesco has claimed the size of its proposed store in The Street was 32 per cent smaller than its previous application.
The supermarket’s previous plan was refused in March by Mole Valley District Council because of a number of concerns which included it being too large.
Quentin Armitage, from the campaign group, said: “I have measured the plans that have been submitted by Tesco and I found the reduction of the store is not 32 per cent but more like…
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Surrey Today online edition
Sunday, December 06, 2009, 06:00
Leaflets have been circulated to villagers by a campaign group slamming a supermarket giant’s fresh plan to build a store in Ashtead.
SAVE (Save Ashtead’s Village Environment) has distributed 10,000 leaflets to increase the number of objections to Tesco’s bid to build a 1,499 square metre store with nine flats above in The Street.
In the leaflet, the group heavily criticised the plan and suggested 11 possible objections to the proposal.
Its main concerns are that the planned store is “far too large and out of character with Ashtead” and a fear of “unacceptable growth” in traffic in Woodfield Lane.
The leaflet states: “Tesco says there will be 1,557 two-way trips a day into the car park and out onto Woodfield Lane on a weekday…
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Your Local Guardian Online
7:00am Sunday 6th December 2009
Tesco has a two-handed fight on its hands as opponents gear up to beat off the supermarket’s plans for stores in the Upper High Street, Epsom, and The Street, Ashtead. Residents who are organising vigorous campaigns say the schemes are too big, will damage the locality and cause traffic danger.
They also say public car parks, which are key to both developments, should remain in council control.
Ashtead campaigners under the banner Save (Save Ashtead’s Village Environment) have placed petition forms in more than 30 shops and businesses in Ashtead and set up a website for people to support them – saveashtead.co.uk.
This is the second time Tesco has submitted plans for an Ashtead supermarket to Mole Valley. The first was turned down but Tesco lodged an appeal against the decision, which is on hold.
The new scheme is 30 per cent smaller than the previous one but Save says the scheme is still too big.
Gillian Russell of Save said: “What everyone in Ashtead wants is a wonderful, thriving retail environment. Whoever can provide a store appropriate to the village will be welcome. Unfortunately, Tesco’s current proposal still does not meet that need.”
Both groups of campaigners have the support of MP Chris Grayling who said the proposed stores were too big for the sites…
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Mail Online
By MATTHEW ENGEL
Since 1996, Tesco, the most implacable force in British business, has been trying to open a supermarket in this little seaside resort (population: 7,000). It is still trying. And Reg and Eroica are still barring the door. This is no ordinary story: it would make a cracking film. But it would have to be made by Ealing Studios, purveyor of comedies about battling Britons in the black-and-white years after the war.
The cast of characters is perfect: there is Eroica, a former model-turned-novelist who sweeps through Sheringham’s streets like a vengeful tigress; there is Reg, the mild-mannered old buffer, marching as to war; and they have been joined by Clive, the local landowner, who might just see them through.
Even the names sound fictional. Eroica indeed! There is also a butcher called Icarus Hinds, and the bookseller trades under the name of Bertram A. Watts. Sheringham certainly feels stuck in the Ealing era. As well as the bookshop, it has three greengrocers, not one butcher but two, plus two fishmongers, two bakers and a toy shop…
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