Over one hundred supporters of LOTS (Ledbury Opposes out of Town Superstores) came out to lobby Ledbury Town Council under the Market House yesterday evening.
The campaigners are urging the council to fund an independent impact assessment for Tesco's forthcoming planning application for a new hypermarket.
Ledbury mayor, councilor Conway, spoke to the campaigners and then told the Ledbury Community Portal that there had been no meeting, secret or otherwise, with Tesco.
It is thought that an impact assessment would cost the council up to £15,000. Ledbury traders last night offered the council £8,000 to help towards these costs.
However, the Ledbury Council has already made a resolution on this subject which was ratified at Full Council on Thursday 18th August, 2011:
" [1.3] Members considered a letter from Bill Wiggin MP requesting that the Town Council carry out an independent economic impact assessment in respect of the proposed Tesco superstore in Ledbury, copies having been circulated.
"The Clerk reported that initial investigations had revealed that the cost of commissioning such a report would be anything from £5,000 for a basic report up to around £15,000 for a full study. It was generally felt that it would be difficult to justify the expenditure due to the costs involved.
"Councillor E. Harvey advised the meeting that Herefordshire Council had funds available for this purpose, should it be necessary to help assess the application once submitted.
"RESOLVED: That the three ward members be requested to ascertain whether funds could be made available through Herefordshire Council to commission an independent economic impact assessment and that a report be made at the Full Council meeting on 28th July."
The minutes of the 28th July meeting are not available to the public yet, but the Ledbury Community Portal has been informed that this report has not yet been made.
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