Thursday, 19 July 2007

Take Part in Council Consultation

While waiting for Tesco to actually make a planning application, St Albans District Council has been busy planning for the future of the City. Part of its new 'Core Strategy Issues and Options Consultation', available online here, asks local people to comment on the future retail development of the City.

The document is a bit confusing, but from paragraph 10.110 on, the document considers a possible location for a possible 'out-of-centre' new food superstore. The document does question whether one would be suitable for the city, but suggest three options for where one could be built. Option FS1 considers the Eversheds site in London Road, site of the current Tesco proposals. It says,

"Accessibility is good, both in terms of proximity to the road network and frequent bus services into and out of the City Centre. However, development of this type could raise traffic issues, in an area that is already heavily congested.

"At present, there are already three supermarkets located to the south or east of the City of St Albans. Consequently, a new store in this location would provide further convenience goods (food) floorspace in an area which is already well served by existing stores, rather than plugging the acknowledged gap in food provision for residents living in the northern part of the City."


The report seems to favour two possible sites to the North of the City. Please visit the website and leave your concerns about the proposals. You might want to point out the traffic and pollution issues, your concerns about smaller local retailers and the markets, and the potential to use the site for community use!

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