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PRESS RELEASE 7 JULY 2008 Tesco release details of Eco-Town on the day Government consultation endsOn the day that members of the Stop Hanley Grange Campaign were visiting Westminster to mark the end of the twelve week public consultation period for eco-town proposals by handing in a petition with over 10,000 names and meeting the Housing Minister, Caroline Flint, the developers, Jarrow Investments, aka Tesco, were already publishing further details of their plans for the greenfield site at Hinxton, south of Cambridge. Julie Redfern, Chair of the Stop Hanley Grange Joint Action Group, said "This is yet another example of the contempt with which Tesco treat our local community; as far as Government is concerned, this just goes to show that the whole process they have set up is being led by the developers and the consultation is a sham. Our group has met with Caroline Flint twice within the past two weeks and she assured us that the voices of local people would be heard and taken into account. Clearly that's nonsense when she, and her department, go along with Tesco putting out information on the day the consultation period ends. How can they have possibly taken the views of the public into account? Large numbers of people in this area wrote to the Government about these proposals before the end of the consultation period on 30 June, but now they are denied the opportunity to comment on these details. This is surely a deliberate move by Tesco to circumvent the consultation process and Caroline Flint is going along with it. This whole process is fundamentally flawed and undemocratic and the Government should scrap it now." Brian McCarthy, also of the Joint Action Group, said "This document sets out more details of Tesco's proposals for Hanley Grange but they don't stand up to scrutiny any more than their earlier ideas. They're just saying whatever they think the Government wants to hear to get this through. Two weeks ago the "Eco-Towns Challenge Panel" set up by the Government told the promoters they needed to address transport issues and they should aim to deliver a Bus Rapid Transport System or better. This new document says there will be 'access to the Cambridge Guided Bus: a dedicated, high frequency, high quality express service linking Hanley Grange to the Cambridge Guided Busway scheme at Trumpington via Great Shelford' - but there's still nothing to back this up. A bus would get caught up in the peak time traffic in and out of Cambridge along with the rest of us. It is completely disingenuous of the developers to talk about 'respect for the rural settings of Hinxton and Pampisford in order to prevent coalescence of the settlements' - Tesco know that this is precisely what will happen if Hanley Grange were to go ahead." ENDS |
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