Tesco: new report to Council!

10.05.04am BST (GMT +0100) Fri 13th Oct 2006

We have discovered that the Council has been presented with a report from Colliers - retail and planning consultants - which confirms the findings of the Carter Jonas Report from some five years ago, that "there is limited capacity for additional food stores in Darlington".

How long have the Council had this report? Why has its existence not been made public? Why have the results not been made public? Why is a major public consultation exercise being carried out without the public being made aware of all the facts?

First the ASDA interest was kept secret, now the Colliers Report. This Council don't seem to understand what openness, democracy and consultation involves. The public should be trusted with this information to help us make a considered judgement. At the very least, somewhere in the consultative process, the Council should have told the public that a report had been commissioned and that its conclusions were that an additional supermarket was not needed in Darlington.