Planners say no to Tesco

PLANS to build a controversial Tesco store in Greenfield are in jeopardy after planners threw out a plea by the company to put a five year delay on a condition to build industrial units at the Knoll Mill site.

The deal was for Tesco to build the industrial units before the doors of the proposed supermarket opened.

But the company applied to change the condition, so that it need only complete them within five years.

Nick Wheeler, a planning consultant for Tesco, told councillors last night that the supermarket could be open in six months.

But if they refused to put the deadline for the industrial units back, the building of any supermarket was likely to be delayed.

“I can’t say if Tesco would walk away completely, but it would create further delays,” he said.

Mr Wheeler blamed the credit crunch, saying there was poor demand for industrial units, and Tesco did not have money to spend on projects which were unlikely to be successful.

But councillors feared it was a ploy for Tesco to get out of building the industrial units at all, and use the land instead to extend the store at a later date.

Speaking in his role as a Saddleworth councillor, Richard Knowles warned: “To my mind, it’s coercion saying that the Tesco store will be delayed.”

Planning officers recommended approval of Tesco’s application for a five year delay in building industrial units, but councillors threw it out, insisting the units should be built before any store started trading.




A CONTROVERSIAL ranch-style fence in a Saddleworth hamlet can stay after planning bosses gave it their blessing.



The fence, at a cottage at Heights, on the outskirts of Delph, caused a stir at Saddleworth Planning Committee earlier this week when Councillor Ken Hulme likened it to the OK Corral and called for it to be replaced by dry stone walling.

His sentiments were echoed by Councillor Mike Buckley at last night’s meeting who described the fence as “tatty,” and said dry stone walls should be reinstated to keep the character of the villages.