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Summer Wine town fights Tesco
Shop keepers and residents in the Yorkshire town made famous by TV's Last of the Summer Wine are concerned a new superstore could spoil the charm of the Holme Valley.
Tesco wants to build a new store near Holmfirth, which it says will create around 360 jobs and give shoppers more choice but residents and shop keepers are concerned it will take business from the town centre.
Local people are also concerned about an English Heritage report published earlier this month, which reported that locations in the town were on its at-risk register, and have now formed the group Keep Holmfirth Special.
The group has already received over 1,000 messages of support and a meeting is being held tonight in the parish church, in Towngate, at 7.30pm.
Andrew Bray, who runs Andrew's Greengrocers in Huddersfield Road, Holmfirth, was concerned it would affect life in the Holme Valley as small shops may find it harder to survive.
He said: "Holmfirth is situated in the centre of a big rural area with a lot of rural villages and all the villages have virtually kept one shop going and we are really concerned for rural life. It's a lovely place to live, is the Holme Valley."
For decades Nora Batty's wrinkled stockings and landmarks including Sid's Cafe helped to put Holmfirth on the tourist trail.
Characters like Compo and Clegg have become household names and visitors arrived in droves to sample the locations and scenery that helped to make BBC TV's Last of the Summer Wine a TV hit.
Mr Bray added that this summer Holmfirth attracted tourists from Canada and the United States and local people are concerned a new supermarket would generate extra traffic in an already busy area, which could put tourists off visiting.
Yesterday local resident Margaret Dale said: "Keep Holmfirth Special believes that the Tesco's out-of-town centre superstore will have the same impact on Holmfirth as that seen in numerous other areas: closed shops, reduced choice, lost jobs and congested junctions.
"They also fear that the activities, such as the Art Week, Folk Festival and popular markets will suffer as local businesses would not be able to support and fund them."
She added members of Keep Holmfirth Special also wanted to "work with the council and other groups to save the little town that people all over the world believe is special."
Tesco has submitted a full planning application to Kirklees Council to build an out-of-town superstore off New Mill Road on the site of a disused garage. It will be considered by councillors at a later date. A spokesman for Tesco said its research showed there was a need for a supermarket in the area.
Tesco claimed many people currently travel out of Holmfirth to do their food shopping. It had held discussions with residents, businesses and the local authority in which many people indicated they were in favour of the new store.
The spokesman said the company believed that the store would bring more shoppers to the town and help to bolster the local economy as people would both shop at Tesco and the town centre, instead of leaving the local area to carry out their shopping.
The company says around 360 jobs will be created.
But a spokesperson for Keep Holmfirth Special disagreed saying: "The development will draw people away from Holmfirth centre to shop and will not provide any additional footfall in the town centre.
"The superstore will sell goods in addition to food so the viability of many more Holmfirth stores from the bookshops, electrical goods suppliers, shoe repairers, pharmacies and petrol stations will all be threatened."
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Weather for Yorkshire
Saturday 11 February 2012
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