TESCO has announced that it wants to build a supermarket, an eight-pump petrol station, new offices and car parking, on the edge of Thame.
Tesco today confirmed that it would like to redevelop the Howland Road site it has owned since 1996, which is currently leased to DAF Trucks and also occupied by Kubota, R E Foster, Lucy Electric, M40 Cars and GMQ. The supermarket giant claims that such a development would boost the local economy by providing around 200 jobs for local people.
Jack Pearson, Tesco’s Corporate Affairs Manager, said: “We have been keen to open a supermarket in Thame for many years and think that a store would be popular.”
A public Consultation will be carried out before a formal planning application is submitted, beginning with an exhibition at the Barns Centre, Thame, on Novemer 28 and 29.
Back in 1994 and then again in 1999, Tesco failed attempts to gain planning permission for an out-of-town store on the same site, and then turned its interest to the Cattlemarket site where it was equally unsuccessful in 2004/5.
As before, Tesco’s main claim is that their supermarket will prevent money being drained away to supermarkets in other towns. In 1994, the then Thame Chamber of Commerce joined the ‘Save the Heart of Thame’ campaign to fight the proposals, its Chairman claiming that there were already five major supermarkets within 15 miles of the town, and that the chamber did not want to spoil the character of Thame.
He said the local authority’s independent consultants, at the time, Hillier Parker, has estimated that a Tesco would take £10m out of the centre of Thame.
Whether or not it will be fourth time lucky for Tesco, will depend largely on a proven need in an expanding town, and the provisions made for retail supermarkets in the Thame Neighbourhood Plan.
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