Public Meeting

Last night (28th September) around 90 local people attended a public meeting to begin a new campaign to oppose plans to build a 140,000 square foot Tesco on Chester Road in Gorse Hill.

The majority of people at the meeting were local residents from Gorse Hill, Stretford, and Old Trafford with a handful of people coming from Chorlton and further afield. The meeting started with visitors from Kirby who told the meeting about their fight to stop a similar scheme in their area. Kirby residents campaigned for 18 months against plans for a large Tesco superstore linked to a new stadium for Everton football club, providing the meeting with a taste of what we may have to deal with ourselves. In our circumstance there is also a linked development, with a new cricket ground being tied to a Mega Tesco.

The meeting went on to air the concerns of local traders, both in the immediate vicinity of the proposed site and from other shopping areas, such as Ayers Road and Chorlton, both of which are easily within the catchment area - i.e. anyone living or working within a 10 minute drive of the site. Local traders are already considering selling up, such is their concern about the impact such a massive store would have on their trade.

The overwhelming feeling at the meeting was that the needs of local residents are not being considered; if they were then a store would have been built meeting planning consent obtained in 2004. Many local people want to see a supermarket built on the site, which has become an eyesore since the land was purchased by Tesco. What is also clear is that the scale of this new proposal is wrong and would have a negative impact on the area, threatening other shopping centres and drastically increasing traffic congestion with a supermarket of this size located between two international sporting venues. Residents fear a scenario where 'every day will be a match day'.

There was much discussion about the change in Trafford Council's position on the store - as they had opposed Tesco's application to expand the size of the store, a decision that was then upheld by the Planning Inspectorate at a public inquiry. People were not happy that despite the most recent ambitions to build an even bigger store the Council appear to have changed their position and support the development of a mega Tesco. All the local and national planning tests that were not met in 2006 (when the appeal for a larger 88,098 square foot was refused) still apply, yet now the Council appear to be in favour of it.

The link between the re-development of the Cricket Club and the supermarket was discussed at length, with people suggesting that other sources of finance should be investigated; other cricket grounds have been re-developed without requiring a mega Tesco as part of the deal.

Local councillors informed the meeting that a planning application for the store is expected next week. Once this is submitted there is a limited time frame for local people to object, and the group scheduled another meeting on 5th October to discuss what to do next.

Details of next meeting: Gorse Hill United Church, Wesley Street, Off Chester Road M32 0GL, 5th October at 7.30 pm