Plans to create a large Tesco supermarket on part of the B&Q site in York have attracted opposition.
As we revealed last month, plans are in to alter, subdivide, and extend the B&Q store off Hull Road to make room for the supermarket.
According to that application, the development will bring a major food store close to thousands of residents, and create 150 new jobs.
One of those to oppose the plans is Graham Kennedy, managing director of Inner Space Stations on Hull Road.
In a letter objecting to the development, he writes: “We are extremely concerned about the potential consequences of introducing a major supermarket at this location, not only for our own business but also for neighbouring residents, other independent retailers and the wider local community.”
His principal concern is the extra traffic generated by the supermarket. “We believe that the increase in traffic will create another gridlocked exit out of the city.
“It will further diminish the city centre for shoppers resulting in empty shops and job losses.”
Mr Kennedy also says the number of allocated parking spaces would be inadequate, and the proposed toucan crossing “will have a significant negative impact on traffic in the area”.
A neighbour living next to the site has also objected: “I strongly object to Tesco’s opening as a 24-hour supermarket,” she writes. “Many people adjacent to the site have children and they should not be subjected to this noise pollution.”
She also has concerns about the traffic: “Does the council really want to make Hull Road into the same commuter nightmare that exists on Fulford Road? The council must carefully consider whether the surrounding roads and junctions can safely accommodate the additional traffic generated by this development.”
But the planned new Tesco has received support too. One resident writes: “I think having a Tesco on the B&Q site would bring so much convenience to living in the area.
“At the moment, we have to drive to Monks Cross or Clifton Moor, both at least ten minutes away, which isn’t ideal if you just want to pop out for a few bits.”
Another writes: “A Tesco store will be of benefit to all the area. Even with a bit more traffic it will be easier than attempting to access Monks Cross or Clifton Moor, especially with the new
development at Monks Cross.”
You can read and comment on the planning application here.
It’s not the sort of thing you expect to see on an early trip to Monks Cross in York.
Camelia Andrei and her daughter were driving to the shopping centre at 6.40am this morning when they saw three balls of fire in the sky.
Passenger Camelia filmed them as they drove between their Osbaldwick home and Monks Cross
Video
Camelia told YorkMix: “They were so intense. I said that’s not an aeroplane.
“I started making the video because the the light was very incandescent and they had also this trail of smoke behind them.”
She shared the video online today and some people suggested they might be military flares, perhaps from an exercise at the Strensall Army barracks.
Camelia wondered if they could have been meteors burning up as they entered our atmosphere.
She said: “Regardless of what these objects actually were – military flares, asteroids or some other atmospheric phenomenon – the experience was quite frightening.
“And perhaps the wider context makes it even more unsettling. With everything happening in Europe, the war in Ukraine and conflicts around the world, seeing something that looks like burning objects falling from the sky is not necessarily a pleasant experience.
“For a moment, you genuinely wonder what you are witnessing. For me it was fascinating, certainly, but also quite unsettling.”
