HUDDERSFIELD’S MP has accused Tesco of being “terribly dodgy”.
Barry Sheerman criticised the retailer after receiving a letter outlining the benefits of a new supermarket in Huddersfield – and offering to fund a charity which he set up.
The Labour MP said: “I think it’s terribly dodgy to send a letter like this.”
Mr Sheerman has been a vocal critic of Tesco’s plan to demolish Huddersfield Sports Centre and the Ibbotson and Lonsbrough flats to make way for a new store on Southgate.
Tesco would knock down its existing store on Viaduct Street and build housing, offices, shops and a hotel. The plans would also see a new sports centre on the site of the Spring Grove car park.
Mr Sheerman opposes the proposal, believing it would take shoppers away from the town centre.
Tesco’s regional corporate affairs manager Jennifer Duncan wrote to Mr Sheerman inviting him to visit the company’s new store in Skipton to see what a new store in Huddersfield might be like.
Ms Duncan goes on to explain that Tesco’s plan for Huddersfield would generate 300 jobs for the town. She wrote: “We believe that this investment poses a great opportunity for your constituents.”
However, the letter goes on to mention a meeting Mr Sheerman had with Tesco corporate affairs manager Michael Kissman. It is believed the meeting was about Greenstreams – Mr Sheerman’s charity to clean up Huddersfield’s waterways.
She wrote: “With regards to the important work you are doing with Greenstreams, I believe Michael explained that the Tesco Charitable Trust Community Scheme provides support of between £1,000 and £4,000 to charitable causes.”
The letter, which is dated February 8, then provides contact details for the charity.
Mr Sheerman told the Examiner last year that he had asked all the major supermarket companies to support Greenstreams.
But he said yesterday morning that it was wrong for Ms Duncan to talk about the charity and the development in the same letter.
He said: “If it’s not corrupt, it’s embarrassingly indelicate. It’s in really bad taste.
“A lot of local businesses have contributed to Greenstreams, but not in this crass way.”
Yesterday afternoon Mr Sheerman contacted the Examiner to say that Tesco had apologised. He said: "What they did was inappropriate and I’m glad they apologised."
A Tesco spokesman said: "We met with Barry Sheerman after he wrote to us looking for funding for the Greenstreams project. Such requests are not unusual and we direct them to the Tesco Charity Trust which is run by a board of independent trustees and has been supporting communities for over 20 years. All we have done is respond to Mr. Sheerman's letter, and our subsequent meeting looking for funding, by directing him to this Charity Trust.
"We have not apologised to Mr Sheerman, nor do we have anything to apologise for. Our actions were entirely appropriate at all times and to suggest otherwise is a serious allegation which we completely refute."
