Hadleigh supermarket given green light

By Paul Geater

HADLEIGH came closer to getting a new town centre supermarket today - and it looks more likely that Tesco will eventually get the green light.

Members of Babergh district council today gave the go-ahead for land at Brett Works in the town centre to be allocated for retail development in the council's new local plan.

Tesco hopes to build a new supermarket on that site, but it has attracted much opposition within the town and surrounding area.

An alternative proposal that the existing Buyright store should be allocated for a supermarket, was thrown out after being rejected by a local planning inspector. The government had told the council that the Buyright site would not be acceptable under any circumstances, and that a site closer to the town centre - like Brett Works - should be considered instead.

The proposal attracted opposition because of fears that it would generate too much traffic in the centre of the historic Suffolk town, and access problems would still have to be resolved before any full planning application for the supermarket is lodged.

Tesco has already submitted a new planning application for the site, and that is now expected to be debated by the council later in the year.

Today's decision was taken by the narrowest of margins - 20 votes in favour of changing the local plan with 14 against and six abstentions.

The decision has split Hadleigh down the middle, with two of the town's four councillors voting in favour of the Brett Vale site and two opposed to it.

Local polls have shown that a majority of people want a supermarket in the town, but most have been opposed to the Brett Works site.

However there were fears that a site further out of the town centre such as Buyright could damage existing stores in Hadleigh.