Villagers' fears over Idle Tesco Express plans (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Villagers' fears over Idle Tesco Express plans

8:40pm Friday 25th November 2011 in Bradford By Tanya O'Rourke

A supermarket giant’s plans to build a convenience store in Idle have sparked an “astonishing” response, a ward councillor has said.

Local shopkeepers have set up a petition against the plans for a Tesco Express store in Leeds Road, which they believe could “destroy” their business.

Concerns have also been raised about the potential for increased traffic and parking problems on nearby residential streets.

A planning application is being considered by Bradford Council, which would see the construction of the convenience store on the site of what is now the car park of The George pub.

Councillor Alun Griffiths (Lib Dem, Idle and Thackley) and his colleagues representing the ward sent letters to 600 houses in the area and received more than 100 replies.

He said: “We have had an incredible response, 80 letters and 30 emails, which is an astonishing response.

“About six people have said they are okay with it but the vast majority are concerned.

“Traffic in the area is a concern, and a general feeling there’s quite enough supermarkets in the area anyway. There are worries about the effect it will have on small shops, parking on the surrounding residential streets and so on.

“We would be concerned about the effect on the village, on small stores and the traffic. It’s a residential area, there’s a quiet cul-de-sac next to it and the people that live there are concerned.”

Thakor and Manjula Patel run T&V Off Licence and News in Fourlands Road, opposite the proposed site.

Mrs Patel said: “It’s not needed here, it could destroy our business, we’ll have to shut it down, board it up, how would that look?”

A Tesco spokesman said: “We’re proposing a small convenience store beside the George Pub so there will be plenty of parking in the car park although we do typically find that around two thirds of our customers in our community Express stores are very local and come from within 1km, many of them by foot.

“We plan to bring convenience and good prices for customers and a new store would create around 20 full and part-time jobs.”