Tesco store plans for Oxford pub site rejected (From Oxford Mail)

Tesco store plans for Oxford pub site rejected

11:00am Friday 13th August 2010 in

• Skip social links
• Print
• Email
• Comments(9)

SUPERMARKET giant Tesco last night admitted it was “disappointed” that its plans to open another Oxford store have been blocked.

Tesco submitted two planning applications to the city council to build a Tesco Express store on the site of the Fox and Hounds pub in Abingdon Road, but both were turned down.

One application was for a two-storey building while a second was for a three-storey design.

Colin Cook, executive member for city development, said councillors on the central, south and west area committee had “called in” the application, but then decided to allow officers to decide the applications instead.

Mr Cook said: “Tesco now has the right to appeal to the Planning Inspectorate or come forward with amended applications.”

The decision will come as a relief to shops along Abingdon Road who feared they would be squeezed out by a Tesco on the Fox and Hounds site and another Tesco Express which opened last week in St Aldate’s.

Tesco spokesman Melanie Chiswell said the company was now considering how to proceed.

She added: “We’re disappointed that we can’t invest in the area by turning a local eyesore into a new store with flats above, create new jobs when they’re most needed, and give local people a choice of convenience shopping they said they wanted when we consulted them.”

Dharamaraj Prasad, who runs the Londis store at the junction of Abingdon Road and Newton Road, said: “This is good news and traders in Abingdon Road will be relieved.

“It was disappointing when Tesco opened in St Aldate’s but if they got permission for the Fox and Hounds as well, it would destroy our livelihoods.

“Of course people go to supermarkets like Tesco to do their weekly shop, but there should be room for smaller shops like mine to sell people a pint of milk or a bottle of wine.

“Something needs to happen to the Fox and Hounds site, because it has been derelict for a long time, but I think houses would be a better option.”

Mohammad Azfal, the owner of Nisa Local, in Abingdon Road, which is close to the Fox and Hounds, added: “Common sense has prevailed.”

A fire caused serious damage to the pub building a year ago and residents called on Tesco to decide what to do with the site.

The council urged Tesco to buy a garage site next to the pub and develop it at the same time but owner Sterling Developments refused to sell the garage land.

Tesco’s two-storey design included a service area and 16 car parking spaces.

Planning officers refused the plan because it failed to provide an efficient use of the land and would prejudice the development of the former filling station site.

The application was also refused because 16 car parking spaces was twice the standard number set out in the Oxford Local Plan and considered “excessive” for a convenience store.

The third reason for refusal was that the application failed to provide any information on the design of the upper floor.

The three-storey application also failed to provide an efficient use of the land and would prejudice the development of the neighbouring site, according to planning officers.

They added that the communal space serving the four flats on the upper floors was inadequate and added that 15 proposed parking spaces was excessive.

Tesco’s website says it already has 22 stores across Oxfordshire.