Tesco puts in a bid at Marlborough (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Tesco puts in a bid at Marlborough

2:06pm Thursday 31st December 2009

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Tesco has submitted its planning application for a supermarket on Marlborough Business Park that, if approved, could be open within a year.

The submission of the detailed plans for the site at the entrance to the business park in Salisbury Road was welcomed this week by the campaigning mum Lisa Farrell who set up the Marlborough Matters group to press for a second supermarket in the town.

Mrs Farrell said: “I just hope and pray that Wiltshire Council sees that we need this Tesco.”

Not so happy are some members of the Chamber of Commerce who are concerned that the proposed supermarket could be a foot in the door for an out of town retail centre.

But chamber president Peter Davison said: “After meetings with management from Tesco who assured us it would be a food store only the minds of most of our members were put at ease.

“The application is for a far smaller store than was feared at the beginning of 2009 and I would say that most traders are content to see it come to Marlborough.”

Marlborough Business Park Ltd has said there is little room for further retail development on the site because most units are already spoken for.

Wiltshire Council was unable to give any indication of when Tesco’s plans will go before its eastern planning committee, although it has a meeting on January 14.

One of Marlborough’s two Wiltshire councillors, former mayor Peggy Dow, said on Tuesday that she would be supporting the Tesco application because she felt the town needed a second supermarket and she had been given a mandate by her east ward electors to back the Tesco plan.

Coun Dow said: “I would have loved to have another supermarket in the High Street but it is not possible so the business park is the next best thing.

“Tesco has said the former Woolworths shop would not be big enough and if you look at the businesses we already have in our beautiful High Street there is nothing there that Tesco will threaten.”

Mrs Farrell asked a number of supermarkets to come to Marlborough to fill the gap left by the closure of Somerfield four years ago and the M&S Simply Food hall, which took over the shop for just two years before closing.

Mrs Farrell, who works as a catering manager, said: “We are left with one supermarket so there is no choice for families on low incomes. We have to consider the OAPs and people with young families.

“Many people go out of town to shop at cheaper supermarkets anyway. ”

Tesco has said the store will be similar in size to the one at Hungerford and will be largely a food store credating about 140 jobs.

The plans go before Marlborough Town Council planners on January 11, at 7pm at the town hall.

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