Tesco pledges to help long-term jobless in revised plan for store

Sheffield Council’s planning committee unanimously rejected the retailers ideas for a site off Oxclose Way, Halfway, on the outskirts of the city, in March this year after hearing objections.

A campaign group, Action in Mosborough Stop Tesco, was formed and a petition containing almost 800 signatures was presented, but Tesco said immediately after the rejection that it would appeal. According to the company, it will still look to overturn the original ruling in parallel with submitting the new application, but said if its fresh plans were accepted, the appeal would be abandoned.

At March’s meeting, protest group spokesman Elaine Hinman said Tesco should move into existing shopping centres Crystal Peaks or Drakehouse and added: “The Tesco site is in entirely the wrong place.

“I believe that if Tesco wants to trade in the south-east of Sheffield it should go for sites attached to Crystal Peaks or Drakehouse.

“If these plans were to go ahead it would have an adverse effect on trade at Crystal Peaks. Tesco sells everything from Sellotape to dishwashers, while Crystal Peaks has 60 empty units.”

Other objections had been made on the grounds of the potential increase in traffic, noise and air pollution.

Council planning officers say the site should be earmarked for housing, not retail.

Tesco claimed its new proposals for the store, which it predicts would create up to 450 new jobs, include a “series of improvements” on the planning application put forward to the council last year.

Company spokesman Deborah Hayeems said: “This new application has given us the chance to incorporate the feedback we have received in our consultation with the public and improve our plans.

“We feel that this is the right development for the area and are still very much committed to bringing a wider choice of shopping to Halfway.”

Changes to the original planning application, include repositioning the store and service yard to move them further away from neighbouring housing and removing the unpopular bus link to the site.

Tesco said it is also in detailed discussions with a local bus operator to provide a service to areas including the nearby Westfield housing estate and the village of Mosborough that “currently have limited public transport access to grocery shopping”.

The retailer said residents in the surrounding area will be receiving information brochures on the new proposals in the coming days.

That literature will include information on Tesco’s regeneration partnership scheme, which it says will ensure that up to half of the jobs created go to long-term unemployed local residents.

The scheme offers a six-week training course to help people who have been without a job for more than six months get back to work.

Ms Hayeems said: “We have been in talks with local politicians about the proposals, who suggested the idea that we bring our regeneration partnership scheme to Halfway.

“The scheme is about providing opportunities for people who are struggling to find work, such as residents who have been made redundant, single parents, older people, those with disabilities and people who have never worked before.

“It has been successful all over the country and we are currently carrying out the recruitment for our first Sheffield-based regeneration partnership at our new store in Spital Hill.”

Tesco said its proposals still protect more than six acres of land, which are currently allocated for housing development. The firm has said that if it’s proposal is accepted, this site will be retained as green space.