Often the butt of many jokes, but always regenerating and coming up with new local businesses to support. Yep – Butt Road continues to impress in Sunny Colch. The recently refurbished Ale House comes highly recommended by The Chronic. Butt [aha!] wait! What’s this? Supermarket giant Tesco has ambitions on Butt Road? That would be just a pain in the, um, backside, wouldn’t it?
A planning application is being prepared by the supermarket chain to build a “small supermarket” and car park towards the top of Butt Road on the site of the old Garrison. It is expected that Colchester Borough Council will receive the application by the end of January.
There’s not arguing that the land at the junction of Goojerat Road needs regenerating, but another mini-supermarket on the outskirts of the town may just prove to be too much of a sharp prod up the rectum of the often anal CBC Planning Committee. With Tesco already owning the land, it would seem that it is a matter of not if, but when – and more importantly how – the supermarket is able to realise it ambitions for Butt Road.
Butt [yeah, yeah...] for every surrender of precious of town space to the sway of supermarket developments, there is of course the boost to the local economy. Tesco is optimistically talking about the creation of ninety local jobs, something that would indeed be very welcome in the town.
Speaking to The Gazette, Louise Gosling, Tesco’s Regional Corporate Affairs Manager, said:
“We are in the process of looking at all the comments made on the plans as we move towards finalising them and submitting a detailed planning application to Colchester Council by the end of January. We are excited about the opportunity to serve the growing community in this part of the town.”
No ifs, no butts; one to watch for early 2012.
2 Comments
Let us hope that the planning committee are not swayed by the myth of ’90 extra jobs’ the net loss of local jobs due to a new supermarket. The seminal FOE report in 2005 says this:-
“So the supermarket chains control more than 80% of the grocery market and yet they employ only 50% more staff than small shops. The simple conclusion is that small shops are better for employment than having a superstore. Any council wanting to increase local employment would be better off encouraging new local food businesses than trying to attract a supermarket.”
So lest hope that the planning committee do see sense and ensure that we do not have a 7th Tesco in Colchester.
Permission for a supermarket on this site was granted in outline many years ago so all the planning committee can do is put suitable conditions on it, not stop it.