So another week, another Supermarket planning application, this time a Sainsbury’s Local at Adams Garage, next to Broughton Ave on the Oakfield Road, just a few meters from the Tring Road Air Quality Management Area, an area of already poor air quality caused by traffic congestion.

 

There is the issue of the new Sainsbury’s adversely damaging  the Coop in Parton Road, this is an anchor store, it attracts customers to the local butchers and bakers and all the other independent shops and services  available in Parton road, the Coop also has the benefit of having far better parking than the proposed new Oakfield Sainsbury’s will have.

 

The documents currently with AVDC planners make a great play about the distance between the store and the air quality management area, but surely if it attracts more traffic to the area it can only have a detrimental effect on an already congested and polluted part of town.

 

Then we have the road layout and the Russian roulette that pedestrians have to face in order to get to school in Broughton Ave, the road is a nightmare to cross and the plans make no mention of improving that situation.

 

The frustrating thing for me is that we really are a Tesco town, the article in the Bucks Herald about 60% of Christmas trade in the town going to Tesco shows this, but NONE of the other supermarkets seem willing to step up to the plate and compete with them, particularly in the fuel department, this is the reason why our prices are around 4p/litre more expensive than towns with competition.

So what do you think, a local Sainsbury’s would bring some mostly part time jobs but at what cost?

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