Link Road Morrisons gets the go ahead

Cornwall Council's strategic planning committee today gave the go ahead for the new Morrisons supermarket on Launceston's Link Road. The committee also gave outline consent for a hotel, fast food restaurant, pub and 275 homes.

The vote was 20 in favour and just one against.

Both I and colleague Jade Farrington spoke to the committee. We both broadly supported the plans but had concerns about the loss of up to seven of the Millennium Avenue of oak trees. We both argued that an alternative entrance would have been better and we regretted that the developers had not been able to find one in order to preserve the oaks.

However, it is clear that the majority of people in Launceston support the scheme. The developers found 80% support and Jade found just over 70% support in her survey. At the same time, we found broad opposition to the idea of a supermarket on Race Hill car park with around two thirds opposed.

So the supermarket will go ahead and bring over two hundred new jobs to the town. It will also bring competition to Tesco and there will be mitigation measures in place to offset any damage to the town centre.

The rest of the scheme - the hotel, pub, housing etc - will need to come back for detailed planning permission. When it does I will be looking to see that the housing has not encroached onto employment space, that the much needed southern loop road is properly formed and that there are works to the South Petherwin Road to widen this and make it suitable for the extra traffic it will be asked to carry. 

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Cornwall Council set to sell off Launceston car parks

Cornwall Council has put the Cattle Market car parks in Launceston up for sale.

The authority is trying to sell the site to a supermarket and claims that this site is 'sequentially preferable' to any others around the town. They don't say so directly, but it is clear that they mean the Link Road site which is the subject of a Morrisons application.

I have a number of problems with this proposal:

1. The council has not bothered to consult with local residents, the town council, the chamber of commerce or formally with local councillors. I had an informal chat with one officer over the phone and I told him I thought this was a joke. I know that Sasha Gillard-Loft, the councillor for the area including these car parks has also said she thinks it is a bad idea. Yet again this seems like a few people sitting in the top floor bunker of County Hall dictating what they think is best for the whole of Cornwall. It is Stalinist central planning at its worst.
2. I don't see how a supermarket on the site would work. The council admits that access via Race Hill is very difficult and suggests that an alternative would need to be provided. The only option appears to be via a direct exit into the middle of Prouts Corner - which seems bonkers.
3. Any scheme would be likely to lose car parking spaces in the town. Although the marketing document suggests that the re-provision of parking spaces would be needed, there is no requirement for these and no suggestion of how many might be required. The scoring scheme on which the bids will be judged says that only 10% of the marks will be given to design issues (presumably including parking spaces). There might be a few empty spaces in these car parks at the moment but there is no way that the town could afford to lose them altogether. And what would happen during the construction phase when they would be lost entirely?

I accept that there might be different views on this issue. That is why I have asked the council to put this whole idea on hold until they have formally consulted with local residents and organisations and held a public meeting in the town.

You can read the council's marketing brochure below:

   Race Hill Car Parks marketing brochure by  

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