TESCO FEE SCANDAL "We pay, and they profit. It's got to stop."

Glen Burrows "Double insult!"

Sedgemoor District Council remain unrepentant over their decision to collude with Somerset County Council to pay £20,200 of public money towards Tesco's planning application bill, just because Tesco argued about the amount! A Corporate Scrutiny Committee meeting tried to hold Chief Executive Kerry Rickards to account on Monday, but he insisted he was merely carrying out council policy.

So, the double insult is that not only do we have to watch Sedgemoor councillors - supposedly elected to represent the people, not giant supermarkets - selling off our open space and destroying our town centre, but we give Tesco a hand-out as well!

The moral of this story is that we pay, and they profit. It's got to stop

The question is: what are we all going to do about it?

The residents who live around the Brewery Field have submitted an application to retain the field as a Town Green and this application is currently about to be assessed.

Oddly, Sedgemoors monitoring officer has ruled that "it is entirely appropriate for the Tesco planning application to proceed to the Development Committee, irrespective of the Town Green application. "

Bridgwater Forward member, Glen Burrows has written to Melanie Wellman the Monitoring Officer at Sedgemoor as follows;

Dear Ms Wellman

 

You are,I am sure, aware that there remains an application for the Brewery Field to achieve Town Green status, on which a decision has yet to be made.

It seems irregular, unethical and undemocratic to many people that the application from Tesco Ltd to build on this site is to be heard in advance of a decision being made about Town Green status.

I am sure you will reply that, in spite of ethics, democracy and any other considerations based on humanity's need, rather than corporate greed, there is nothing in law to prevent this.

However,please can you assure me that, if Tesco's planning application is approved, and the Town Green application is subsequently also approved, the planning decision will be rescinded and no building allowed on the site.

I look forward to your reply.

Ms Glen Burrows