Schoolchildren join battle against new Tesco

5:57pm Saturday 8th March 2008

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PEOPLE power was in action this morning, as a band of concerned schoolchildren and parents urged people to fight to keep a new supermarket away.

Tesco has applied for a third time to redevelop the old police house and set up an Express shop in The Parade, Bourne End.

But today leaflets were handed out and posters put up in the village centre to remind people they still have time to oppose the application, due for review on March 14.

Around 25 parents and children attended the last-minute protest, organised in the last two days.

Karen Wildgoose, mother of Maisie, 9 and Agatha, 6, who attend Juniper Hill School in Flackwell Heath, said: "We have got one week left to raise public awareness to the fact that this is their third application."

Her husband, John, said he was worried that a shop like Tesco would wreck the community feel of Bourne End.

He feared that it would the village's independent shops, which in turn support growers of local produce, and cause traffic to increase in the village.

Mr Wildgoose, who lives in Wharf Lane, said: "Tesco has enough business. I don't think they need to move in and maximise their shareholders dividends at the expense of the local community.

"I think it would be a disaster to lose that, and if we don't look after it it's going to disappear. These shops keep the local community alive."

Schoolchildren at St Paul's C Of E Combined School in Wooburn Green have looked at the development as part of a class project, and some have written letters to Wycombe District Council, opposing the supermarket giant's move.

Mr Wildgoose said: "They were told to do some homework and look at what would happen if a shop like Tesco opened up, from an environmental standpoint."

The supermarket's previous applications, for a Tesco Express and eight flats, and then for a store and six flats, were rejected by WDC in January.

Juliette Bishop, spokesman for Tesco, said: "We have reviewed our plans following the comments made during the previous planning decision, and we feel that we've addressed the issues identified.

"Most importantly we have taken on board the concerns about the scale and density of the proposed building and reduced the number of residential units planned."