Uttlesford Conservatives agree to Sainsbury's land swap proposal

10.37.59pm GMT Thu 29th Oct 2009

Liberal Democrat Councillor Mike Hibbs and Parliamentary Candidate Peter Wilcock at one of the two empty major shopfronts in Saffron Walden town centre. The health of the town centre could be undermined by Sainsbury’s plan for an out-of-town-centre supermarket.

In a named vote at the Council meeting on 20th October, 18 Conservative members of Uttlesford District Council forced through a conditional deal with Sainsbury's to swap two parcels of land on Thaxted Road in Saffron Walden. No Liberal Democrat member of the Council voted for the land swap. The supermarket giant wants to build an out of town superstore on land presently allocated for the Council's Heritage Quest Centre.

Liberal Democrats members of the Council proposed a resolution calling on the Council to get on with the building of the Museum Heritage Quest Centre on the land that it owns, and not be drawn into negotiating a land swap with Sainsbury's at a time when the council has not yet even received a planning application.

Deputy Group Leader Cllr David Morson said "This decision is wrong on two scores. Uncertainty and inevitable delay involved in the land swap will put the Heritage Quest Centre in jeopardy. Financial grants could be lost. We are also concerned that the impartiality of the Council may be called into question when it has to deal with a planning application on whether there should be a Sainsbury's store on this site. Applications for out-of-town supermarkets are always controversial."

Cllr Peter Wilcock, Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group on the Council and Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Saffron Walden Constituency said, "The Conservative councillors who voted for this deal have jeopardised the future of Saffron Walden town centre, which already has two large empty shop fronts."