THOSE members of the public who attended the recent Tenbury Wells Town Council meeting where the Tesco development was being discussed will have come away feeling totally confused.
It just didn’t seem possible that only two weeks previously the council had voted to reject the Tesco proposal yet on this occasion members voted overwhelmingly in favour.
There was something almost sinister about the way one councillor after another put forward favourable motions and the only criticisms raised concerned the layout of the store’s proposed parking area. A reminder of the impact that hundreds of extra vehicles would have on Teme Bridge and the town’s traffic flow fell on deaf ears and the matter was never mentioned as each councillor kept to their own agenda. The Tesco representative reeled off all the usual sales patter but apart from a couple of polite questions she was let off scot free.
When the vote was finally taken it was hard to comprehend that while 400 towns like ours are fighting to keep Tesco out of their high streets our local council, knowing only too well that our wonky bridge is our main point of entry, had voted to welcome Tesco in.
No doubt in a year or so when our town has become a traffic-ridden bottle-neck those councillors will remember the meeting of October 2011.
How sad for all of us that by then it will be too late.
NORMAN WANSTALL,
Burford, Tenbury Wells
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