Residents will fight hypermarket plans

4:16pm Thursday 4th September 2008

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JUST when are Councillor Jeremy Kite and Chris Borwoski going to accept the fact they will never be allowed to turn our historic Dartford into Tesco town?

Under Plan A for the regeneration of our town centre four years ago, 20,000 Dartfordians rejected a Tesco superstore taking over our town centre along with the controversial road through Central Park and over 450 sky-high flats in Lowfield Street.

Now under pressure from St James Investments and Tesco, there comes new proposals which, should they ever be approved, would result in a monstrous Tesco hypermarket - the biggest in Britain. It would be seven-storeys high and larger than a football pitch, which would swamp over a third of our town centre.

On top of this, Cllr Kite and Mr Borwoski are also scheming for more than 900 sky-high flats to be built in Lowfield Street, double the number under plan A.

Our one-way traffic system is already snarled up without putting an extra 900 cars on the streets.

This proposed hypermarket would be 100 yards from Sainsbury's.

Threatened by Tesco, just how long would it be before Sainsbury's shut up shop and moved out, followed by Waitrose and Iceland?

If members of the Dartford development control board do not boot this outrageous plan into touch there are 20,000 Dartfordians waiting and watching who will be forced to take action once again.

JEFFREY CHEYNE, Powdermill Lane, Wilmington