TESCO TO RESUBMIT TENBURY STORE APPLICATION THIS WEEK

Press Release

Tesco has reiterated its commitment to the former cattle market site in Tenbury Wells and intends to resubmit its application to develop a store on the site this week.

Following ongoing consultation between Tesco and planning officials, local residents and key stakeholders, a number of design and landscaping changes have been made to the original scheme. The application, which was withdrawn in July, is expected to be resubmitted to Malvern Hills District Council on September 30^th.

The new scheme includes additional landscaping along the River Teme side of the site to alleviate flood risk and changes have also been made to the store approach, store design and site levels to improve the view from Teme Street. Plans to renovate the former fire station building remain in place.

The new store design proposes a circular entrance lobby to reflect the architectural character of the market building in Market Square and to enhance views of the store from the site entrance from Teme Street, a smaller service yard and improved landscaping at the rear of the site.

The delivery area at the back of Spar and the pedestrian link to Teme Street will also see improvements under the new proposals to improve the visual appearance of the proposed development.

Tesco is now inviting local people to view the new plans at an Information Day to be held at the Pump Rooms in Tenbury Wells from 11am to 6.30pm on Friday October 8^th.

Sophie Akokhia, Corporate Affairs Manager for Tesco, said: “Since we withdrew our original application, we have continued the discussions that we were already under way and we have revised the scheme in line with feedback we have received.

“We have listened to local people and groups including the Chamber of Trade and Civic Society, and we’ve incorporated feedback to our plans where possible. We have also continued ongoing discussions with key organisations involved in this complex scheme, including the council, Environment Agency and Highways Agency. “As a result we feel we now have the best possible scheme for local people.

The proposed store is about two thirds of the size of our store in Ludlow and has been designed to be sympathetic to the local environment. It will offer choice and value, create new jobs for local people and keep trade within the town by eradicating the need for Tenbury residents to travel outside of the town to do their weekly grocery shop.

“We have already had some positive support from local shoppers and traders in the town but we would encourage people to come and see our new proposals and talk with members of the project team at the Pump Rooms on October 8^th.”

Worcester Evening News

Shropshire Star

Tenbury Advertiser have printed an article in the 30th September 2010 edition under an "exclusive" banner. (Deluded!)

Online version not yet available.

Is the six year wait nearly over?

After more than sixt years of campaigning by Cllr Margaret Austin, it looks like Worcester County Council are finally fixing the fault in Kyrewood Road.

River View - What River?

The burgage in Tenbury Wells is looking better than it has done for some time. There is a new childen's play area, better seating and more attention has been paid to the garden areas.

The only thing I would ask is could some attention be paid to the river walk. New seating has been installed so you can sit and enjoy the view but this is what you can see from the four benches. Perhaps, pruning can be arranged to co-inside with the bonfire, to cut down on the disposal costs?

Tesco still on target in Tenbury

Tesco and their developers are still on target to resubmit their planning application for the Old Cattle Market in Tenbury by the end of the month.

The new plan will be on much the same footprint as the original. There will be alterations to site levels as prescribed by the Environment Agency, to allow the car park to be used for flood water storage when the river is in spate. The store will be protected behind a wall which will link up to the proposed bund in the Burgage. Also included will be an enhanced entrance pavilion, to add architectural interest when viewed from Teme Street.

The store will be moved back slightly to allow for a number of disabled parking spaces between the store and the Spar loading area.

The plan will still involve the demolition of the old infirmary building, the extension to the old fire station and the buildings directly behind the old fire station. The development will include renovating the old fire station and ideas are invited to find a new use for the building.

Work is underway to try to find solutions to alleviate the lack of parking provision, which may involve running a shoppers bus service, which could also be used by staff. Parking is likely to be limited to two or three hours, but it may be possible for longer term parking to be allowed in the evening to allow parking for the users of the Regal Cinema.

Tesco's say that the store will be serviced by just 9 large lorries a week, plus a number of deliveries by local suppliers, bakery & crisp suppliers.

Currently 2/3rds of all local grocery purchases are made out of town and Tesco hope that they can reduce this to 1/3. If the plan is approved, Tesco will hold a number of customer seminars to discuss which of their ranges should be stocked.

Curious way to Promote Tenbury

It seems curious that the Government funded http://www.visitworcestershire.org are running a Google Ads campaign to promote Tenbury.

When you click on the advert you are taken to a page which gives a brief outline of Tenbury and offers links to accommodation, which if you select Hotel Accommodation it then tells you

Sorry, we do not have any establishments in this category.

Try changing the search criteria you have entered, and searching again.

The other categories do list something, but nothing local.

In otherwords, don't stay here try somewhere else instead!

It also lists attractions, but fails to mention any local attraction, such as the Pump Rooms, the Museum, the Art Trail, the Blue Plaque Trail etc, but instead takes you to Great Witley.

If you dig a little deeper it does tell you there is a Tourist Information Office in Tenbury, but links you to a general page on the MHDC website.

The local website might be woefully out of date, but does at least list local accommodation.

Air Ambulance Lands In Tenbury

The Air Ambulance landed in the field next to Teme Bridge just after lunchtime today. I'm not sure where the medical emergency was but hopefully the prognosis is good as the ambulance left without a patient on board.

Can anyone tell me why the Helicopter that landed today was the wrong colour?

No Sitting on the Fence

The first thing I did in January when the new playground plans were shown for the first time was to write to the Town Council.

I closed my letter with the following sentence.

I realise that you are being guided by experts, but would hate it if I didn't raise this matter now and you were retrospectively forced to install fencing

And so they were, and the 'experts' concluded that their should be no fence.

Since the playground was opened, opinions have been exchanged back and forth about the merits of a fence or otherwise.

In April the Town Council discussed the fence and it was proposed. by Cllrs Austin/Corfield that a fence should be erected around the play area, the sand pit emptied and litter bins installed, 7 for the motion and 2 abstentions.

It has then been discussed at nearly every meeting since. Tonight after much further discussion (and several votes) it was again resolved that a fence be installed. (Although there is nothing in the budget to pay for it)

It still doesn't look as if anyone will be sitting on the fence anytime soon.

Splashpoint Downgraded

Tenbury Town Cllr Margaret Austin has campaigned for over 6 years to get the notorious splash point (in Kyrewood Road) problem resolved.

At the Town Council meeting in October 2008 Mr J Wallace – WCC Highways Liaison Engineer, promised to get the problem fixed, and the work was scheduled to be completed in April this year.

The Town Council have now been told that it has once again been downgraded and described by the new WCC roads man as "Not a risk to Motorists" and therefore not a significant problem.

There are currently no plans to carry out the work. Shame we can't glue him to the spot next time it rains!

Original Blogs

21st January 2009

3rd October 2008

Tenbury Regal - Smallest audience ever.

Since the Regal volunteer group took over the running of the films at the Regal they have shown in excess of 120 films to over 16,500 people.

The most popular film was Mamma Mia which was seen by over 1700 people, beating Slum Dog Millionaire which only attracted 639.

The audiences, which averages at 137 people a week hit an all time low on the recent Bank Holiday Monday where the audience was zero.

Hopefully this will remain an isolated record as the films booked for the next couple of months are exceptional and well worth seeing.

For full details and trailers visit www.regaltenbury.co.uk

If you have any spare time and would be willing to become a volunteer, to man the box office or sell sweets the group would love to hear from you. Please contact them via the feedback section of the website.