Tesco's New Arguments - Our Views

We've had the chance to look at Tesco's consultation materials today. One of the big claims on the website and leaflet is that Tesco has 'listened' and changed its plans. We look at those claims below - material in blue is taken from www.tescostalbans.co.uk, we respond in red!

1) 'You wanted to keep the locally listed buildings on Alma Road'. The latest scheme retains these properties and provides new parking spaces for the residents. In fact, we've gone further. We're also keeping and renovating the traditional houses on London Road too.

We don't give a lot of credit to Tesco for this. Tesco suggested the unnecessary demolitions in the first place and the fact is that St Albans Council made it clear in discussions that it would not allow the Alma Road houses to be demolished. The council has also told Tesco to repair the houses on London Road that Tesco has allowed to become derelict. Finally, the Tesco leaflet also makes it clear that 'traditional houses' on Inkerman Road will be demolished.

2) You thought the store should be smaller. Now that the Alma Road properties are being retained, the store size has reduced by 18%. This also means that the height of the store would be lower.

We predicted months ago that Tesco would make token cuts to its proposals to claim it had 'listened'. An 18% cut might sound good but the store is still far too big - it will still be one of the biggest supermarkets in St Albans in an area that has too much traffic and pollution already.

3) You were worried about traffic congestion. The smaller store will also mean less traffic. As before, we're proposing several measures to maintain traffic flow on London Road, including a dedicated right hard turning lane and new signalling.

This was a major issue, but effectively Tesco is admitting that it has done nothing new in terms of traffic management. The roads around the site are already clogged up, especially on Saturday mornings, where queues of 600m are common. Tesco's plans will not begin to solve the problem and we're frankly disappointed that it didn't even try to come up with new ideas.

4) You would prefer town houses to apartments. We are keeping the town houses along London Road, rather than build new apartments.

See point 1 for our views on this!

5) 'You were concerned that the store would be too visible from London Road. Even more than before, the new store and car park would be shielded from view at street level by the houses that surround the site and through the design of the retail units and store entrance'.

Tesco's new design still shows a massive building with a huge concrete parking area that is not at all in tune with the local area.

6) 'That independent retailing is important in St Albans. We've increased the number of independent retail units on the site from four to seven.'

We don't understand Tesco's logic here. Building more retail units in London Road is not going to help the market traders and central St Albans stores. Existing businesses in London Road and Victoria Street will also face further increased competition. The best way to help independent businesses in the local area is to build more houses to increase the number of customers.

7) 'That parking can be very difficult in St Albans. We have already promised to offer up to three hours free parking'.

Firstly, we're a bit worried by the phrase 'up to three hours' - does Tesco plan to vary this? Secondly, Tesco still seems to think that people will walk from the site into the City centre. It takes a long time and there is a big hill in the way! All the new car park will do is to draw people away from the centre of the City.

There were other objections - why has Tesco not addressed the feedback that local people would prefer a community use for the site - and that pollution levels are already too high?