Green Party fear Sainsbury’s Preston Village application is being rushed through

The Green Party candidates in Withdean fear the council are rushing through Sainsbury’s application for a supermarket on the old Caffyns site in Preston Village ahead of May’s local elections.

Last year the supermarket giant, which already has eight stores in the city, had an application for the site rejected following complaints from local residents and shopkeepers.

The new application for two medium sized supermarkets on the site of the former car showroom off London Road/Preston Road is listed as ‘minded to grant’ by Brighton and Hove City Council‘s planning officers ahead of next week’s planning committee meeting when the application will be decided upon.

However, Green candidates are urging the council not to rush the decision and say councillors should visit the site to assess the residents’ safety fears for themselves.

Paul Philo, Green candidate for Withdean said: “Sainsbury’s have submitted their plans to the council – again. However the plan is little changed, other than a travel plan that merely shows ways for shoppers to get to the site. Sainsbury’s plans do not allow enough room for their suppliers’ trucks. Articulated lorries would not have enough room when arriving to unload without endangering road safety by crossing over the centre white line in Cumberland Rd. Recently local residents saw for themselves the dangers of large lorries in crossing the London Road when they observed one attempting to U-turn across the traffic and getting stuck at the end of Cumberland Rd.”

He added: “I fear the application is being rushed through the council’s planning committee ahead of local elections on 5 May, after which membership of the committee may change. Preston Village residents would like a postponement of the planning decision to allow a site visit by councillors to see the traffic dangers. Green candidates are calling on the Tory-controlled committee to agree to this postponement. We are still waiting to hear if they support the residents’ request.”

A local shopkeeper has warned that jobs will be lost if the application is passed and has described the proposal as ‘dangerous’.

Mr R .U. Asekaran, owner of Preston News said: “Sainsbury’s are so big and powerful they will destroy all of the small shops in the village. If this plan goes ahead people, like my employee who has worked here for 40 years, will lose their jobs. This plan is also dangerous to traffic and pedestrians.”

The Green lead candidate for Withdean Sue Shanks concluded: “Local Conservative councillors need to take a stand on the issue of supermarket growth. In my view the site is much better suited to small shops and housing.

“Green candidates oppose the Preston Village supermarket plan both on planning grounds – especially road safety – and also on principle.

“There is a place for supermarkets, but we have enough in Brighton and Hove. Local shops are closing or being replaced with chain-store clones and formula retailers, and just a few supermarkets dominate the market for groceries. Existing local government policies – for example planning rules and business rates – are not protecting local shops or small retailers, and Green candidates want to allow local communities more say.

“We want to involve local people in deciding the future of the site, instead of having this over-development imposed upon them. We would like to see a plan that will not destroy the unique character of the village.”

Residents in Brighton and Hove have opposed a number of supermarket applications in the city in recent years as Tesco and Sainsbury’s continue to dominate the area.

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Posted by on April 22, 2011. Filed under Featured,Green Party,Preston,Withdean. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry