And now some boring news from the Andover Advertiser who has nothing better to report on.

'Tesco town' warehouse plan

By Steve Dancey

 

A MAMMOTH Tesco warehouse and distribution centre proposed on the western edge of Andover could bring as many as 1,200 extra jobs to the town - but would totally transform the nature of the surrounding area.

 

The proposal, outlined by developers Rosemound, is in its early stages. But if it goes ahead it would see one of Europe's largest buildings erected on a large part of the former Andover Airfield - an area already scheduled for industrial development in the local plan.

 

The new building, around a third of a mile long (1,900ft) and large enough to house five football pitches, would dwarf the nearby DLO buildings and resemble a similar 750,000 sq ft development built for Tesco at Drift, near Daventry in Northamptonshire.

 

Local MP Sir George Young attended a public meeting in Abbotts Ann when the company revealed its proposals.

 

"My view is that this proposal has come from nowhere and has caught people on the hop," said the MP.

 

"The planning application is about to be submitted and Test Valley Borough Council will need to respond in a few weeks.

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"The Achilles' heel of the proposal could be the transport links to the site.

 

"Roads to the south through Monxton are already congested and not built to cope with more traffic. David Comment: Why would the lorries go south of Monxton anyway, if it is build they would go East to join the A303 at the "100 hectare roundabout"

 

"I will be asking the Highways Agency, which is responsible for the A303, whether it is satisfied with what is proposed and county councillors Pat West and David Kirk want to know what has been said on their behalf by the county council," said Sir George.

 

Concerned villagers who formed an Airport Group some time ago have been shocked at news of the proposal.

 

Monxton councillor Mrs Katrina Saville, said: "We knew there were plans for light warehousing and a hotel in this area but we didn't expect anything so huge.

 

"It seems mad to build on what is green fields when there are hundred of thousands of square feet of industrial space available on industrial estates on the other side of town much closer to where the town's new houses will be built."

 

A Test Valley Borough Council spokeswoman said: "We have been involved in some pre-submission discussions with Tesco, but until a planning application is submitted we will not be in a position to make any comment." Aka, if Tesco gives them a lot of money, they will rubber stamp the application

 

Rosemound Developments expect that the Andover Airfield site, which will have a hotel and other users as well as Tesco, could accommodate in excess of 2,000 new jobs.

 

"Rosemound Developments Ltd are working closely with the Highways Agency, Hampshire County Council and Test Valley Borough Council to ensure the access to the site from the A303 is improved in an appropriate manner," the company said in a statement. "The company is also developing detailed traffic management proposals to ensure HGV movements would not affect the residents of Monxton and the other nearby villages."

 

Meanwhile, villagers from Weyhill, Monxton, Abbotts Ann and Amport are determined to present a united opposition to the Tesco warehouse plan. We don't care :P

 

On Tuesday around 100 people gathered in Red Post Lane Whom I almost crashed into, adjacent to the site, to give the scheme a giant thumbs down. "It shows how strong feeling is running in the area," said Mrs Saville, who organised the protest.

 

http://www.thisisandover.co.uk/display.var.1210868.0.tesco_town_warehouse_plan.php

1200 new jobs is good news I guess. Tesco will be trading on Mars before the end of the century

It's funny- we don't have Tesco here- I used to think it was a gas station after I heard it mentioned in a Franz Ferdinand song :confused:

that'd be texaco :) too many similar sounding words out there! but now that Tesco have petrol stations too, maybe there was a master plan at work

Tesco is the U.K.'s version of Walmart if that gives you some idea on the scale.

 

It also is very corrupt, employing low paid migrant workers, using a lot of tax loopholes (which the governement won't close because they get a lot of donations from large companies like Tesco), and that is just on the surface.

Tesco is the U.K.'s version of Walmart if that gives you some idea on the scale.

 

that'd be texaco :) too many similar sounding words out there! but now that Tesco have petrol stations too, maybe there was a master plan at work

 

I knew it wasn't Texaco... it was just something about the way it was described the first time I heard about it, it sounded more like 7-eleven than Walmart. But I had it explained to me eventually.

 

Funny I never saw one when I was in Belfast, though... or at least never noticed it.

And it has come back into light, being the lead feature on tonight's South Today.

Public unaware of warehouse plan

By Steve Dancey

 

OPPONENTS of plans to build a huge warehouse on Andover airfield were out in force at the weekend highlighting their campaign.

 

The protesters believe the huge building planned at Andover Airfield will have a detrimental effect on the environment, economy and social fabric of the town.

 

Despite all the publicity protesters said plenty of people on the street were unaware of the proposals and consequences for the town.

 

Organiser Rhonda Smith said: "There were hundreds of people involved in the protest and the main message back has been that many people were una-ware of what was planned or they thought it was a plan for a new Tesco superstore."

 

She added: "It was not until we explained what it was all about that people became more interested."

Shoppers asked to back Megashed

By Steve Dancey

 

ANDOVER shoppers at Tesco's River Way store were being asked to sign up to a petition in support of the controversial Andover Airfield plan following a publicity blitz by the supermarket giant and Goodmans, the applicants.

 

As well as a full-page advertisement in this newspaper thousands of leaflets outlining the purported benefits of the scheme have been distributed around the town.

 

The petition drew shoppers' attention to the jobs the development would provide, the level of investment involved and the reduction in carbon footprint that would ensue as a result of a successful application. Many of those who stopped signed up but others were less keen.

 

"I was totally staggered to find myself being asked to sign this petition and am seriously thinking of doing my shopping elsewhere," said Iris Spurgeon of Andover Down.

 

Staunch objectors to the application are also unimpressed by the latest changes which still don't address the problems they say will be caused by such a large injection of traffic onto the A303.

 

Former transport minister Lord Howell, who lives in the Pentons, says the latest publicity is: "An absurd attempt to disguise the whole monstrosity.

 

"However this plan is modified it is utterly inappropriate for it to be located in the middle of a business park adjacent to an A' trunk road," said Lord Howell.

 

"It needs its own massive site alongside a full motorway.

 

"Such sites do exist to the east of London in the Thames Estuary area.

 

"No other country in Europe would contemplate such a location for a building of these dimensions, nor would it be allowed in Japan, from which I have just returned and where I have made a study of urban and rural developments.

 

"Our environmental concerns should match theirs."

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More Info: http://www.stopmegasheds.co.uk/Tesco_docs/AndoverAirfieldInformationleaflet-October2007.pdf

 

I'm in support of the Megashed

A303 bridge work starts

By Dick Bellringer

 

THE Highways Agency is due to start work on constructing a bridge over the A303 as part of plans to improve the Hundred Acre interchange in Andover.

 

But a spokesman for Goodman, developers for the proposed Tesco megashed' complex on the Andover Airfield site, said this week that the work did not pre-empt the current planning application.

 

The spokesman said: "The Highways Agency notice relates to the proposed improvement of the Hundred Acre interchange."

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He said the work was intended to address existing deficiencies with the interchange and to provide access to the Andover Airfield site, allocated for development in the Test Valley Local Plan.

 

It would, he said, be undertaken entirely within land owned by the Highways Agency or Hampshire County Council and did not require planning permission.

 

"The works are being funded by Goodman and are a prerequisite for any type of development on the airfield site," he added.

 

"The works do not in any way represent a pre-determination of Goodman's current planning application for the airfield, which has not yet been considered by Test Valley Borough Council in its role as local planning authority."

 

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Right, so Goodman's is spending quite a bit of money onto putting an extra bridge over the A303, even though the plans haven't been rubber-stamped...

 

...the plans have been rubber-stamped in secret, with some sums of money past from Tesco into the pockets of the local council. But to put the plans into scale,

 

(The new Terminal 5, Heathrow), the warehouse will be on a similar size to what will be the largest building in England.

It's hit the guardian.

 

Lovely article on the matter on page 3 of today's guardian, with some lovely pictures of the plans.

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/feb/23/tesco.supermarkets

In the first council meeting, the plan to put some life back into Andover (which is slowly turning into a ghost town unless you like coffee shops, cafes, card shops, mobile phone shops or banks), was rejected :(

 

There is some risk that Solstice Park will try and get Tesco to build their warehouse there, which would mean pretty much the same traffic levels but with no improvements to the hundred acre interchange (which is running at 110% of designed capacity at peak times) :(

 

The protesters want a 'mixed-use business park', which is alright until you drive around the other business/industrial parks in the area to find buildings empty with either companies going bust or moving away from Andover, a business park is a good plan in theory, but it's finding the businesses to move into the new business park, as if they don't want Walworth or Portway, why the Airfield?

 

Hopefully the council will see sense and in the 2nd meeting green light the tesco warehouse, but if they reject it again, Andover will soon be dead, shops are closing every week or so, there have been some shop units which have been empty for over 18 months with TVBC unable to find companies to fill those shops.