Tesco: Give us our superstore or town revamp will falter

Published on Friday 3 September 2010 18:11

TESCO warned community leaders that lengthy delays to the redevelopment of a town centre could have been avoided if it had been allowed to build its preferred option of a single giant superstore on the land, rather than the mix of community and retail units favoured by local residents, documents obtained by The Scotsman have revealed.

Almost a decade has passed since Tesco bought the Linwood shopping precinct using an independent Scottish property firm as a cover, but regeneration work has still not begun.

When Balmore Properties, which it emerged earlier this week operated as a front for the supermarket giant, bought Linwood town centre in a 1.7 million deal in 2001, it announced plans to redevelop the land.

But Balmore's preference to bulldoze existing buildings to make way for an 85,000sq ft superstore was repeatedly refused by Renfrewshire Council.

In a letter to Renfrewshire MSP Wendy Alexander, Tesco wrote: "It is our intention to be as clear as possible on timescales, however given the number of parties involved, things will not move forward as quickly as they would if we were constructing a stand alone Tesco."

The correspondence, dated March 2009, is part of a dossier of papers obtained by The Scotsman relating to Balmore's ownership of Linwood and its subsequent formal takeover by Tesco.

Ms Alexander said she believed Tesco offered to build a new health centre, library, community hall and smaller shops as well as a smaller supermarket, as a sweetener to local residents - but had hoped for permission for a large single store.

She said: "I don't think they saw the possibility of a compulsory purchase order coming and were afraid they would lose control of their asset."

Linwood councillor Anne Hall agreed: "I think they were pushing for a single supermarket."

When Tesco formally stepped in, its proposal was welcomed by a community which had suffered years of under-investment by Balmore, run by Edinburgh-based developer Dallas Rhodes. The documents detail numerous attempts by Ms Alexander to meet Mr Rhodes and Balmore's replies refusing to meet, or agreeing and later cancelling.

Ms Alexander added: "The community's anger has been heightened by the fact there has been no commitment to getting this under way."

The dossier has also revealed details of Balmore's attempt to clear the centre of tenants before Tesco bought it in 2007.According to the documents, Lloyds TSB was told it could not renew its lease in March 2002 while in the following September, Linwood Community Council documents reveal that a bakery "received notice" to quit.

"Mr Rhodes tells me he is not actively encouraging businesses to move away, but his actions appear to be in direct conflict to his words," a community council memo dated 12 September 2002 states.

A spokesman for Tesco said: "It has always been in Tesco's and the community's interests to develop the site as quickly as possible."

The redevelopment, given planning permission in 2008, hit delays in January this year when a Victorian crypt was found.