West country retailers are celebrating after Cornwall Council rejected Tesco’s plans to build a new supermarket and petrol station in the small town of Bude.
Forecourt operator Chartman, which owns a 2,000sq ft Spar store in Bude, combined with other retailers to object to the proposals, which according to the council’s own survey would have reduced town centre sales by between 8% and 27%.
Members of the council’s strategic planning committee rejected the application by 13 votes to six on the grounds that it would harm town centre trade.
The developer’s inclusion of seven holiday bungalows for disabled service personnel for the Help for Heroes charity was described as “cynical” by councillor Nigel Pearce.
Clive Sheppard, director of the Chartman Group, said he worked hard behind the scenes to object to the proposals. “We encouraged people to object on the council website but we decided against putting up posters in store as it could’ve got too political,” he added.
“The developers said it would have little impact on the town centre which wasn’t true. It would be devastating.”
The 12,000sq ft supermarket would have added to Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Co-op supermarkets in the town, which has a population of less than 10,000.
“We’ve won the battles rather than the war,” Clive said. “We’ll have to regroup when they appeal.”
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