Latest news

3rd March 2008

it’s unanimous – Tesco will have to think again

Today the Macclesfield Borough Council have unanimously rejected Tesco’s application for a supermarket in Poynton during their planning meeting.

That means Tesco have three options: give up the idea of building a store in Poynton, second, appeal within the six months, or lastly, submit a new or modified scheme.

We’ll have to see what they decide, but in the meantime, thank you to everyone that has supported our campaign over the last few months. It’s greatly appreciated.

9th February 2008

Going to the pictures?

Tesco’s plans for a store in Poynton have had another setback, as they will now need to deal with an issue brought about by the Borough Council’s policy on important local buildings. The old 1930s cinema currently on the site is on a list where ‘every effort will be made to conserve those buildings’.

Even if Tesco get permission to demolish one of the few pre-war modern buildings in Poynton, they will need to make sure their plans for the store ‘make a similar rich and distinctive contribution to the London Road South frontage’.

If you look at the pictures of the proposed store on Tesco’s site, you’ll see an aerial view and a three quarter view of the store – you won’t see a view of what you’d see across the road from the store, or driving into Poynton from Macclesfield, which from some angles is just a boring blank wall, right up against the pavement – not exactly what most people would think of as a rich and distinctive contribution to the village.

Read the full story on the Macclesfield Express website.

30th January 2008

Parish votes against Tesco plan

You might have been there, but if you weren’t, the good news is that after a public meeting, the Planning and Environment Committee of the Parish Council decided to recommend Tesco’s application be refused. This isn’t the end of the road for Tesco though, but it’s definitely good news. Read more about what happened on our report page, or read the Macclesfield Express story on the meeting.

11th January 2008

An invitation to the Public Meeting on 23rd January

A meeting has been organised at 7.30pm on Wednesday 23rd January 2008 in the Civic Hall in Poynton, for the Planning and Environment Committee of the Parish Council to consider the Tesco application. This is the proposed agenda:

Tesco will have a 10 minute slot to make a presentation/comments about the planning application
‘Poynton Against Tesco’ will then make a similar presentation
There will then be 30–40 minutes for the public to make comments and ask questions.

The public consultation will then formally close and the Council will consider and make a recommendation on the planning application.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Happy New Year – what will 2008 bring?

We hope you all had a good Christmas and New Year – it’s going to be a busy January. As the Macclesfield Express has reported, more than 600 people have already written to the council expressing their views.

The council has also put published details of the Tesco application on their website, including plans and other supporting documentation.

13th December 2007

Application Latest - Found Invalid!

After all the toings and froings over the planning application, Macclesfield Borough Council discovered this week that it could not validate Tesco’s submission because it lacked important information. These include details of the car parking illumination and a floor plan!

Good news or not? The quick answer is, we don’t know yet… Poynton Against Tesco have been told by the Council that the many letters sent in prior to validation would be kept and would ‘tie-in’ with the application. However, letters written after the application is validated and available to the public will have more weight because people can make their objections more relevant to specific details of the plan.

The Council also comments that Tesco may even argue against pre-validation letters because they cannot address the full details of the actual application. As we have pointed out to the Council, however, Tesco presented a visualisation with considerable detail to the public at the start, and many if not all the objections made prior to validation would remain the same for this or any other large supermarket of a similar scheme.

Tesco’s application to Macclesfield Borough Council is currently invalid, then. The open meetings planned for 17 and 20 December will go ahead, but the Parish Council meeting scheduled for 2 January 2008 to discuss the application is likely to be put back.

We will tell you as soon as we know if and when the application has been accepted and validated for public viewing. That will be the day to start of the next phase of the campaign - and even more letter-writing!

10th December 2007

Can you help us deliver leaflets (and a petition)?

We urgently need some volunteers who can help us deliver leaflets around Poynton. If you can help, please contact us at PAT4Poynton@hotmail.co.uk. Thank you!

Also, we will be delivering our petition, with thousands of your signatures, to the Town Hall soon – we’ll let you know closer to the day, if you’d like to come along.

6th December 2007

The official timeline for the Tesco Planning Application

Is now on-line on its own dedicated page. Please have a look at the process and keep the relevant dates in your diary.

28th November 2007

Finally, Tesco have submitted their planning application

It was getting a bit slow for news, but all that’s changed now: the Macclesfield Express reported today that Tesco had submitted their planning application. At the moment the application hasn’t yet been formally received by the council, so we can’t be sure when exactly you’ll need to get your objections to the council. But if you’ve left your e-mail address with us, we’ll give you an exact time as soon as we’ve found out.

This is what appears in the Macclesfield Express:

Tesco submits Poynton plans

Supermarket giant Tesco has submitted plans for a store in Poynton, re-igniting the battle between the multinational and campaigners.
The move comes after Poynton Against Tesco (PAT) collected more than 7000 signatures for its petition against the shop, which the company claims will create 150 new jobs in the area.

PAT say if Tesco comes into the village, local traders will be forced out of business, traffic will worsen and community identity will be lost.

MP for Macclesfield Sir Nicolas Winterton has also thrown his weight behind the campaign to stop Tesco, echoing the sentiments of the group.

Macclesfield Borough Council have received detailed building plans for the outlet, which would be built on the site of the Texaco garage on London Road South.

The final decision will be made by the borough planning committee in the new year, after a consultation period.

Keith Lambert of Poynton Against Tesco said, “Our intention now is to write as many letters as possible opposing the submission. The most important thing people can do now as individuals is to write to the borough council planning department and express their views. For instructions on how to go about this, go to the Poynton Against Tesco website at www.poyntonagainstesco.co.uk and following the links.”

A spokesman for Tesco said: “We believe these are exciting proposals for Poynton. They will create 150 jobs, and an added vibrancy to the town. The application has addressed the concerns of local residents as best we can, and now we look forward to working with the local councils to secure the site.”

Tesco also plans to build a car park for 110 vehicles at the store.

13th November 2007

Audio and Video of Poynton Against Tesco

We’ve finally sorted out the technical issues and we now have an excerpt from Victoria Derbyshire’s BBC Radio Five Live show on 31st October 2007, where a caller discusses Tesco’s plans for Poynton:

We also have a video of itv’s local news item about the demonstration at the Poynton Civic Centre against Tesco’s plans, which started this whole campaign:

1st November 2007

Answers to your questions…
A bit more about us

We’ve just put a bit more on our ‘about us’ page, which was looking a bit empty – we tell you a bit more about how we started, where the money is coming from, and who’s been helping. We will be adding some more to this page soon, and stay tuned for some video and audio content as well…

Tesco will lodge their application soon

According to a story that’s not yet on-line on the Macclesfield Express, Tesco have said that they will lodge their official planning application to the borough council some time in the next two weeks.

We will, of course, be updating the site with more information as soon as the planning application has been lodged, and providing some useful tips to help those who have already indicated they’d be willing to help by writing to the council – if you want to help, or know straight away when the application has been lodged, signed up to be notified now.

27th October 2007

Poll news / did Barlow know?

The Macclesfield Express on-line poll on ‘do you want a Tesco in Poynton’ has now closed, and the ‘no’ vote has won by a pretty convincing 30%.

Barlow writes a satirical column in the Macclesfield Express, and we’ve come across a column from August where he reveals a secret dossier about plans for Poynton and the surrounding areas. Can we stop fact following fiction?

Macclesfield Community News report on our opposition to Tesco

If you’re in the local area, you should have spotted the story on page three of this week’s Macclesfield Community News, talking about the formation of Poynton Against Tesco, local people’s and local MPs opposition to the scheme – if you haven’t you can read it online.

25th October 2007

New story on our campaign one of the most read on Macclesfield Express website

Yesterday’s story in the Macclesfield Express,‘3,000 sign petition against new Tesco’ is currently showing (at 1pm) as one of the most read stories on their website.

If you haven’t yet signed the petition, you can sign in many of the shops on Poynton’s Park Lane, or download your own petition form.

20th October 2007

The Macclesfield Express mention the local MP’s objections to the scheme

The Macclesfield Express has run another story on the opposition to building a Tesco in Poynton, including quotes from a letter written by the local MP to protestors – read the story here.

5th October 2007

Local Residents make their feelings known at Tesco’s public exhibition

A large group of local residents demonstrated outside Poynton’s Civic Centre on Saturday, during Tesco’s public exhibition of their plans for the Brookfield Hydro site. Inside the Civic Centre, many people asked questions of Tesco’s representatives and filled in the feedback forms provided.

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Outside, the media covered the protest, and many people signed the petition against the scheme.