Tesco development at Tolworth - To the Editor

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Letters to the Editor Letters To the Editor Tesco development at Tolworth

09/11/2007 13:01

	Catherine
1 posts

Tesco development at Tolworth

I have attended the working party sessions regarding the former MOD site in Tolworth which took place in May and again in October. These have been reasonably well attended and provided useful discussion about the future of the site. There was also a site visit which brought home the limitations of the site.

We were told that we were supposedly ‘going back to the drawing board’ and ‘working off a clean slate’, but it has been made clear that a Tesco store remains part of the final equation.

The initial sessions set out a broad ‘Vision’ for Tolworth which would ensure any new development reverses the current decline of the area and improves the connectivity of what is a very isolated site, to the surrounding area. At no point in the subsequent document that was produced following the May consultations was a Tesco superstore highlighted as being part of the ‘Vision’ for Tolworth.

However, any comment recorded such as ‘No Tesco at all’ is picked up as – 1 person’s view – interestingly, other comments about housing, transport and retail issues don’t have a record of the number of people having those views.

The Tolworth Working Party Consultation is funded by Tesco and the assumption is being made that a Tesco store remains key to the whole development. This could be construed is manipulating what is supposedly a free and fair discussion about the long-term development of the site and could result in it being taken for granted that the people of Tolworth are happy to have a Tesco superstore in their midst.

At the October Working Party Consultation, a number of people dared to say that they didn’t want a Tesco store as part of the development, so it will be interesting to find out in the follow-up document, how many are recorded.

Maybe at the next Working Party Consultation, scheduled for December, we should ask for a ‘show of hands’ to fully demonstrate and put on record the number of attendees who are opposed to any future development planned for the site including a Tesco superstore.

Tolworth residents will have another opportunity to visit the drop in sessions at the former Your Move Shop 142 Broadway on Wednesday 14th November 11am-1pm and Wednesday 28th November 6-8pm. Another consultation is planned for 12th December but has yet to be confirmed. A revised application is scheduled for December 07/January 08 with further statutory consultations in the spring and summer of 2008.