Tesco – The master of the broken promise

Promises, promises, promises. Tesco love them.

Here in Sheringham, their promises have been coming thick and fast as they attempt to overturn their third planning application rejection.

Tesco’s most recently rejected plans, saw an application for a superstore on Cromer Road, where there currently sits social housing, a community centre and fire station. Naturally therefore Tesco promised to replace them. Fair enough you might say. Sheringham will get a new Tesco, new social housing, a new community centre AND a new fire station. What more could they want? Well try telling that to the people of Streatham in South London, or the people in Bracknell, or Stroud who will be only too aware of what a Tesco ‘promise’ actually amounts to.

You see in Streatham, as reported in Private Eye (issue 1257, page 27), Tesco promised to fund work on a new ice-rink, swimming pool and leisure complex as part of a 2003 planning deal. The deadline for this work to be completed has been and gone with no sign of any progress being made. Lambeth Council say they are still talking to Tesco, but the discussions remain shrouded in confidentiality while the residents have, literally now, nothing to do but wait.

In Stroud a similar thing has happened, only this time Tesco ‘promised’ something much smaller than an ice-rink, swimming pool and leisure facilities. Here Tesco ‘promised’, in fact legally had to, have a replacement bus shelter in place BEFORE they opened their new store. Unsurprisingly the store is open, as is the bus-stop, with no sign of a shelter appearing anytime soon.

In a similar move in Norwich, Tesco were legally obliged not to open until an agreed date. However, given the fine for ignoring this contractual detail was smaller than their profits from a days trading, Tesco renegaded on that promise too and the store was open for business long before it was legally allowed to be so.

In Bracknell, Tesco ‘promised’ that their new stores car park would be available to use, free-of-charge, to anybody who required it, including commuters. A similar ‘promise’ has been made in Sheringham where us residents have been told Tesco will feature a car park allowing visitors 3-hours of free parking, during which time shoppers can wander up and down Sheringham High Street, forsaking Tesco completely if they so wish. In fact this offer, is a key part of Tesco’s assertion that they will not kill the High Street. Fair enough. That is until you look at whether Tesco kept their promise in Bracknell, where the answer is a resounding – no. Once the store was open, Tesco moved to make the car park free for 3-hours, with cars exceeding that point fined £40. The move effectively banned commuters, who had been ‘promised’ they could park there. Understandably the commuters weren’t happy, but with Tesco already in all that was left was for a Tesco spokesperson to state that while Tesco “help where we can our priority has to be our customers”. Hear that Sheringham? Tesco’s car park is for Tesco customers, not High Street moochers. Bye-bye High Street.

Added to all the above, throughout their process in Sheringham, in the face of criticism that Tesco would kill the town’s currently busy High Street, Tesco promised they would not have a cafe on site and would limit their stores sales area to an acceptable level. And yet a cafe, including tables and chairs is clearly visible on their planning drawings. Also while the main store retail size may be slightly smaller, suddenly there are five “independent retail units” on site – increasing the retail size to well over their previously rejected proposals. Also bear in mind that Tesco Pharmacy, Tesco Insurance and the like are all, in legal terms, seperate corporate entities, so could quite easily fill these units with Tesco products, which again undercut the High Street.

Having taken the above into consideration and seen the latest “revised” (another word for ‘smaller’) plans for the community centre and realised that Tesco plans will actually see a net-loss of social housing in an area crying out for more; I cannot be alone in not trusting Tesco to fulfil their promises to my town.

Therefore if Tesco do bully their way in, you will find me stocking up on fire extinguishers.

It seems to me a Tesco promise is the equivalent of a Tesco value meal: it is packaged nicely and at that price who can argue? And yet once you get it home it is an unpalatable mess, devoid of nutritian and leaves a distinctly bitter and sour after-taste which no amount of brushing can get rid of.

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/group.php?gid=331249073573

Tags: Bracknell, bus shelter, car park, commuters, Democracy, Fight, free parking, Greenhouse Community Project, ice-rink, Norfolk, North Norfolk, Norwich, Promise, Sheringham, South London, Streatham, Stroud, Tesco