13 June 5-6 pm: No Tesco Tea Party

bristol | protests | press release Tuesday June 07, 2011 12:22 by Elisabeth eejaydoubleu at yahoo dot co dot uk

No Tesco Tea Party

Mon 13 June 5 - 6 pm outside Tesco, Cheltenham Road Bristol

Peaceful protest for planning justice

No Tesco in Stokes Croft campaigners have won the right to appeal against the decision to deny them a judicial review into the granting of planning permission for Tesco, Cheltenham Road - to be heard in Cardiff on June 15.

The No Tesco Tea Party on June 13 will show support for the democratic process with tea, cakes, music and the campaign’s trade-mark family-friendly carnival atmosphere.

The Appeal’s focus includes the failure to consider a traffic impact assessment  [3-6] in the year-long planning process that led - despite huge public opposition - to Tesco opening in Cheltenham Road on 16 April.

No Tesco in Stokes Croft campaigners also wants to know why an expensive and democratic action plan to protect local shops from food multiples was deemed immaterial by planners. [7]

“We are saddened that the Council can’t yet understand that our actions in championing local plans are actually a way of supporting local authorities in their current struggle with national planning laws,” says a campaign spokesperson.

The store was closed for a month after its windows were broken and signs dismantled in the early hours of Good Friday, 22 May. No Tesco in Stokes Croft campaigner and local councillor, Gus Hoyt, is calling for an inquiry into why violence broke out that night. [13]

“This is a golden opportunity for everyone to work together to bring peace to Stokes Croft and show that the democratic process is worth pursuing,” says a spokesperson for the campaign. 

End

Notes to editors
[1] Tesco was granted planning permission to open on Cheltenham Road, in Stokes Croft, on 8 December 2010. Councillors voted 4:3 in favour of permission.

[2] Ahead of the vote, the Chair of the Committee, Cllr Alex Woodman voiced concern over the financial impact of refusing a Tesco store: “I am genuinely torn … at the back of my mind always is the fact that if we were to lose an appeal against a refusal then it's the council tax payers of Bristol who end up potentially paying a considerable amount of money...”

 [3] The Cambridge refusal shows Bristol City Council need not have feared the cost of an appeal. An almost identical case in Mill Road, Cambridge saw Cambridge City Council and the Government's Planning Inspectorate, the final authority on this matter, refuse external works planning permission to Tesco on the grounds of increased deliveries to the store. 

[4] Tesco Metro stores need over 40 deliveries a week. In Stokes Croft this would mean delivery lorries obstructing a main route into the city and a cycle path and bus stop for up to 28 hours each week, and be a risk to highway and public safety, as has happened in Clifton, Bristol due Tesco Metro’s deliveries.

[5] Residents of Clifton recently campaigned to ban deliveries to and from Tesco Metro during the busy hours in a two-lane feeder road to the city.

[6] No Tesco in Stokes Croft appeal for a Judicial Review focuses on potential flaws in the planning process, related to the lack of a traffic impact assessment being considered - until the last minute - a legal argument. Despite numerous calls from the No Tesco in Stokes Croft campaigners for an impact assessment, Bristol City Council planning officers insisted it is illegal to consider deliveries. It was not until towards the close of the Council meeting on 8 December  that the Council's lawyer admitted the planners had got it wrong saying, “I would say to you clearly that servicing can be a material consideration.”  

[7] SPD10 contains a Diirective on page 13 that ‘Development proposals are expected to address … the Stokes Croft Study’. Planning officers dismissed the relevance of SPD10 and the Stokes Croft Plan on the basis that SPD10′s boundaries fall metres short of the proposed site. However the page 13 Directive features a map that includes the proposed Tesco site.  The Stokes Croft Plan makes it clear that sufficient care must be taken to ensure small shops are not supplanted by “food multiples.” It is unacceptable to dismiss this.

[8] Appeal arguments also include: objections to planning officers ignoring inaccuracies in Tesco's noise report; and the Council's failure to consult residents sharing rear access to the property.

[9] The campaigners lodged a request for a Judicial Review on the 8 March 2011. The rejection - dated 20 April - was received on Thursday 28 April.

[10] In 2010, Bristol City Council received over 2, 500 petition cards saying No to Tesco in Stokes Croft asking the Council to conduct a meaningful consultation over the proposed site for another Tesco store. 96% of 500 local people surveyed said they did not want Tesco in Stokes Croft.
http://notesco.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/bristol-city-council-can-still-say-no-to-tesco-in-stokes-ce280a6.pdf
[11] Forty local traders asked Bristol City Council not to give planning permission for Tesco http://notesco.wordpress.com/takeaction/open-letter-to-bristol-city-council/

[12] According to Tesco’s store locator, there are 41 Tesco stores with a Bristol postcode. http://www.tesco.com/storelocator/access/towns.asp?Type=town&letter=B

[13] Gus Hoyt, Ashley councillor and No Tesco in Stokes Croft campaigner, is calling for an inquiry into disturbances at Tesco, Cheltenham Road http://www.bristol247.com/2011/05/20/gus-hoyt-they-say-a-week-is-a-long-time-in-politics-its-so-true/

[14] Bristol City Council asked the government for retail classification A1 to be changed. Currently the same classification applies to both a supermarket chain and a one-off local shops. But sadly government refused. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13431552