Tescopoly: Do Not Pass Go. Do Not Collect £21 million
Article published: Saturday, February 20th 2010
Trafford Council are considering granting planning permission for a 166,847 sq ft ‘mega Tesco’ in Stretford, a move which has been met with fierce opposition. The Council say the £21 million raised by the sale of the site could be used to regenerate Lancashire County Cricket Club. The No Mega Tesco campaign claims this amounts to subsidising a private company.
“Our concern is that council taxpayers in Trafford are effectively subsidising this private organisation to the tune of £100 for each and every resident of the Borough,” explained Sanjai Patel, a resident of Gorse Hill.
While No Mega Tesco and locals emphasise they support more funding for the cricket ground, they argue the Council is effectively playing a game of “community blackmail”, whereby Trafford would be forced to accept an unwanted development in order to ‘rejuvinate’ another part of the borough. Many critics have also pointed out that money for the cricket ground could come from Lottery funding or other non-corporate sources in order to avoid this particular deal.
Advantages Questioned
There are also doubts over the benefits of the regeneration. “The main beneficiary seems to be Lancashire County Cricket Club in the form of improved member facilities at the ground,” said Patel.
Pete Abel of No Mega Tesco told MULE that the plans were “wholly unacceptable”, as they would destroy local businesses in Chorlton, Stretford, Hulme and Gorse Hill. The group has submitted reports to both Trafford and Manchester Councils, highlighting the impacts on local shops and district centres.
Chorlton grocery store owner Debbie Clarke said, “Tesco makes great play of the jobs that will be created at the store. It does not say that this could be outweighed by the loss of jobs at local stores.”
There is also the matter of traffic and congestion in an area which already houses a large commuter population as well as Old Trafford football stadium, one of the largest in the country. If built, the branch would become one of the largest in the UK, aside from the planned 700-space car park catering to the massive increase in traffic.
Bigger Development
Tesco have engaged in a lengthly battle with Trafford Council to increase the size of the site, having had their application for an 88,000 sq ft store rejected in 2006. Manchester City Council supported this on the grounds it would threaten small businesses in the surrounding area. At the time of writing they are yet to give their verdict on the new, larger proposal although questions have been raised over Tesco’s recent hiring of Ask Developments, Drivers Jonas and SAV media, three companies linked to or employed by Manchester City Council. The deadline for any official Council objection was 12 February.
Despite the majority Conservative Trafford City Council launching a “support your local businesses” campaign in 2009, their support for the new giant store is a prime example of local Tory council’s rejecting the anti-supermarket stand proposed by David Cameron. Tesco had their initial application for a 40,000 sq ft store rejected in 2003 as it would stock only food, yet the new store would threaten even more small businesses by selling a wider range of items. According to Abel, the Stretford site appears to conform to a worrying new “model” of superstore that Tesco are attempting to roll out in locations all over the UK.
Ruth Michaelson
More: Features, Local economy
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