Nichola Harrison

Following an earlier refusal of planning permission to extend the building, Tesco has now been refused permission for air conditioning and refridgeration units at the old Wilco building in Mill Road, Romsey. As with the previous application, local residents and the No Mill Road Tesco Campaign led a strong and influential campaign against the proposals.

Nichola submitted this to the Committee:

“I believe this application should be refused, or at least deferrred to a later date, on two grounds:

1. Independent legal advice should be obtained as to whether it is permissible to take into consideration the broader traffic management, road safety and amenity impacts arising from the applicant’s proposed occupation of this property. As I understand it, the granting of this application would enable the applicant to open for business, and would thus trigger the very impacts that caused the Committee to refuse the previous application. I find it hard to accept that the planning system is intended to operate in such a perverse way and I believe it would be appropriate in the public interest to seek a legal opinion on the matter.

2. The analysis by by the No Mill Road Tesco Campaign of the applicant’s acoustic report casts doubt over the report’s accuracy and reliability. Further investigation is needed to establish what the noise impact of the proposed equipment would be and whether it would be acceptable.

I am grateful to the Committee for receving this statement.”