Upset at new bid for store (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Upset at new bid for store

7:00am Friday 13th April 2012 in Readers polls By Tanya O'Rourke

Supermarket giant Tesco has submitted new plans for a convenience store in Idle – after a proposal rejected in January provoked fierce opposition.

It was refused permission to build a Tesco Express store in Leeds Road on a site currently occupied by The George pub car park.

A number of reasons were cited for the refusal including its appearance, an increase in pedestrians expected to cross busy roads, and inadequate car parking provision.

A petition against those plans set up by Thakor and Manjula Patel, who run T&V Off Licence and News in nearby Fourlands Road, was signed by 360 people.

The supermarket says it has made “significant improvements” in its new planning application but Mrs Patel said she still has concerns.

She said: “The traffic issue regarding the car park entrance is still the same. There’s still inadequate parking. It’s very narrow and the roads won’t be able to cope with it. Even without all this the traffic at peak time is really bad.”

Mrs Patel also said she had not received notification of the new plans from Bradford Council’s planning office, despite having raised a petition against the previously proposed store in November last year. She has now started a petition against the new plans.

But a spokesman for Tesco said: “We have made significant improvements, including moving the building further from residential neighbours, enhancing the architecture of the building and proposing a signal-controlled pedestrian crossing.”

A spokesman for Bradford Council’s planning service said: “It is part of our usual practice to inform previous objectors to a planning application if the applicant re-submits another application.

“In this case it appears the owners of this shop have been overlooked. However, there is still plenty of time before the deadline for representations to be submitted to our planning service.

“We will send a letter to make sure this oversight is rectified and our planning service can be contacted if any more information is required.”