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Published:
April 27, 2006
Inquiry
into Burnham Tesco's expansion to begin on May 9th
Controversial
proposals to increase the size of Burnham-On-Sea's Tesco supermarket
are to be debated at a public inquiry over the next fortnight.
Burnham-On-Sea.com
learns the official inquiry into the Love Lane store's plans to
expand will be held in Burnham's Princess Hall between Tuesday
May 9th and Friday May 12th.
 Burnham's
Mayor, Cllr Eric Gill, said this week he would be attending on
behalf of the town council, and that other town and district councillors
are likely to be in attendance.
The
inquiry will be overseen by officials
from the Office of The Deputy Prime Minister and, once complete,
they will then be in a position to decide whether the scheme can
be given the go-ahead.
The
inquiry comes after a long-running saga in which the
supermarket giant bowed to pressure last year and made several
concesssions to win the backing of planners.
"Tesco
made considerable alterations to their original plans and these
were felt sufficient for the proposal to be passed by the district
council," said Cllr Louise Parkin at the time.
Tesco's
proposals include introducing a bigger shop floor area, a larger
servicing area, and a mezzanine floor comprising a café
and staff offices.
There
would also be a substantial 2,368 square extension, resulting
in a new store measuring 4,817 square metres.
Tesco
agreed to accept a condition which would restrict durable goods
such as clothing, electrical goods, toys, CDs, DVDs, videos, sports
goods, kitchenware, household goods, and furniture to 25% of the
total floorspace.
The
decision by district councillors to give a green light to the
store's expansion plans in March 2005 had come after more than
a year's heated debate in which the town was split on whether
the proposal should go ahead.
Some
residents claimed the expanded store would better meet the needs
of local shoppers, while others said the expansion would hit the
trade of shops along Burnham-On-Sea's high street.
A
petition was submitted to Sedgemoor District Council by Tesco
in support of the application, signed by 6,328 customers. It was
one of the largest numbers of signatures they had ever collected
for a store extension in the UK.
RELATED
LINKS:
Seven
month delay for inquiry 'astonishes' Burnham council leader
Tesco's
expansion put on hold as inquiry begins
Tesco gets the go-ahead
to expand Burnham store
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