First victory for Holmfirth anti-Tesco campaigners as parish council opposes plan

Aug 28 2009 Huddersfield Daily Examiner

First victory for Holmfirth anti-Tesco campaigners as parish council opposes plan

TESCO representatives were booed and heckled at a public meeting in Holmfirth.

More than 100 angry residents took the fight against the supermarket giant at a special open meeting of the Holme Valley Parish Council’s planning committee last Wednesday.

The packed meeting at Holmfirth Methodist Church saw dozens of local people speak out against the plan to build a large store on the outskirts of the town.

Under fire Tesco representative, Jennifer Duncan, was booed and an audience member shouted: “Tell the truth, no more lies.”

The angry scenes came after a report in the Daily Mail revealed Tesco had been found guilty of using bogus statistics to convince a town in Essex it needed a store.

The company is also under investigation over allegations of forged letters of support for a new store in south Leeds.

The 90-minute session saw 26 people make passionate three-minute speeches, all of which were with met with loud approval and rapturous applause.

But the three residents who spoke in favour of the plan were loudly heckled and hissed at.

Opening speaker, Dominic Stankiewicz, who said he had worked in planning for more than 10 years, said 43% of grocery trade in Holmfirth would be lost and the Co-op would close.

He said: “Kirklees Council’s retail capacity assessment identified a need for 118sq m of new grocery space in Holmfirth by 2013.

“Tesco are proposing 2,342sq m.

“Tesco claim they will only reduce trade by 11% in Holmfirth.

“They say 92% of Valley residents who now shop in Huddersfield will stop shopping at Sainsbury’s, Morrisons etc...and shop at this store.

“The fact that 1,300 letters of objection have been lodged with Kirklees and less than 50 in favour shows that Tesco seriously over estimate their popularity in the Valley.”

Several traders said a drop of just 10% in trade could finish them off and resident Anne Lord said a Department for the Environment report showed large supermarkets in small market towns caused a negative impact to small shops up to 15km away.