5:52pm Tuesday 16th February 2010
By Thais Portilho-Shrimpton
Giant retailer Tesco is to appeal Mole Valley Council’s decision to refuse its planning application to build a store in Ashtead, it has emerged today.
Tesco was refused permission to build the store by a nail-biting one vote, after campaigners collected thousands of signatures against it.
The retail giant’s planning application was turned down by eight votes to seven at Mole Valley Council’s development control committee meeting on February 3 – even though council officers had recommended it for approval.
Tesco’s original plan to build a 1,115 sq m store provoked fury among residents and shopkeepers and was rejected by council planners.
Tesco then put forward a smaller scheme for the village, and temporarily suspended its appeal against Mole Valley’s decision to throw out its first plans.
Eoin Dardis, spokesman for Tesco, said: “We are considering all our options on this site of which an appeal is one avenue open to us.
“We intend to appeal for a number of reasons, not least because we believe that our application was a robust one and will stand up well to an inspector’s scrutiny…
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Spokespersons for SAVE, Gillian Russell and Quentin Armitage
Standing outside the proposed Tesco site, on The Street, in Ashtead. SAVE supporters celebrate their victory and hold aloft a banner with the words “Tesco, will you listen to us now?”
Gillian Russell holding a bottle of victory Champagne, is surrounded by a huge crowd of supporters of the successful winning campaign against Tesco.
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This is Surrey
Wednesday, February 03, 2010, 23:45
Councillors have sensationally turned down Tesco’s bid to build a second store in Ashtead.
In a tight vote, members sitting on the district’s development control committee voted against the supermarket giant’s plans to develop the former petrol station site, in The Street, tonight (Wednesday).
Last year, the council rejected Tesco’s previous application to build a store in the village and, despite the chain reducing the size of the proposed store, councillors did not approve of the new plan and felt the planned store was “too bulky” and out of keeping with the village centre…
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Get Surrey
By Guy Martin
February 04, 2010
TESCO’S plans for a store in Ashtead were rejected on Wednesday night by the narrowest of margins.
A single vote at a heated and nail-biting council meeting determined the fate of the application for a supermarket in The Street.
The decision went against the recommendations of Mole Valley District Council (MVDC) planning officers. Proposals for an extended car park behind the site were also refused.
It followed months of campaigning by objectors – who put forward a petition with almost 6,400 signatures and wrote 1,200 letters to the council – but also pleas from traders to allow the store to be built and give businesses in The Street a much-needed lift.
Speakers, councillors and officers spent almost three-and-a-half hours discussing the pros and cons of the proposals for a supermarket with a 750sq-m sales floor, amounting to 815sq-m including the checkouts area.
Then came the vote, which saw eight members opposing the plans and seven support them.
Allegations of faulty research by Tesco…
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Mole Valley District Council Online News
Thursday 4th February 2010
Following a long and at times heated debate the Development Control Committee for Mole Valley District Council declined an application by Tesco Stores Ltd to establish a supermarket on the former ESSO Service Station on The Street, Ashtead.
The proposal also involved an extension to the car park at the rear of the site, which was declined.
The application had aroused considerable public interest and thousands of notices of objection to the proposal. However, there had been some who were in favour of the scheme. The application was declined having considered a wide range of factors…
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