Although this is a major blow to the West End of Newcastle, the campaign is not over. The developers still need to submit a detailed application for the Tesco store.

The proposals, which include a giant 24 hour Tesco store, are to be discussed at the planning meeting on Friday 21 January.  Members of the Stop Fenham Tesco campaign are surprised and disappointed by the report’s conclusions and urge the planning committee to reject the proposal at the meeting next week. Given that very similar proposals were rejected two years ago, local residents question why the proposals are recommended for approval this time.  The supermarket is slightly smaller and the petrol station has gone, but otherwise the plans have changed very little.

The full agenda and reports for the meeting can be found on the council’s website:

• Development Control Committee – Friday 21 January 2011

The planning meeting next Friday is open to the public and anyone who is concerned about this development is encouraged to attend.  It will be held at 9.30am on Friday 21 January in one of the committee rooms at the Civic Centre (ask at reception for directions).

The Netto store in Mill Lane (just over the road from the General Hospital) is to become an Asda store, following Netto’s acquisition by Asda.

It also appears that the Somerfield store on Adelaide Terrace in Benwell, will also become an Asda store.  Somerfield was taken over by the Co-op in March 2009, but it appears that they are selling this store to Asda, possibly due to competition concerns.

With these new stores opening is there really a need to build a new supermarket in the area, particularly with the new Morrisons in West Denton?

The meeting will be held at 9.30am at the Civic Centre and is open to the public – we encourage anyone with an interest in the future of the site to attend.  It is possible to apply to speak at the meeting by contacting the council (please get in touch with us if you are planning to do this).

Council Planning Officer, Scott Henderson, has prepared a briefing note for the meeting.  In the briefing he states that there the council have received 147 formal letters of objection (plus 1180 petition signatures) and 28 letters of support (plus 716 petition signatures). He says that the plans may go to a Development Control Meeting in November or December this year.  This is the meeting where councillors will formally approve or reject the application.

The council is still accepting comments on the proposals, so if you haven’t done so already it is not too late to object. You can do so on the council’s website at the following address – click on “Make a comment”:

• Outline planning application

Scott Henderson can be contacted on 0191 211 5631 or scott.henderson@newcastle.gov.uk.

More information about the meeting, including the agenda and briefing note can be found on the council website:

• Wingrove Ward Committee Meeting

Unfortunately, at the time of writing this page wasn’t displaying, so we have uploaded the briefing note here:

• Briefing note – Newcastle General Hospital (PDF 70kB)

Members of Stop Fenham Tesco handed over objection letters and a petition to the planning department of Newcastle City Council today.  The number of people who objected to the proposal shows the strength of feeling among local residents, particularly as these objections were collected in just two weeks.

Local residents and members of the campaign urge the council to reject the planning application.

You can view the objections along with the planning application and associated documents on the council’s website (though it may take a few days for them to upload the documents submitted today):

• Outline planning application

If you haven’t done so already it is not too late to submit an objection.  Follow the link above and click on “Make a comment”.

The deadline for objections is Monday 2 August.

The easiest way to object is to leave a comment on the council website: Outline planning application – click on “Make a comment”.

Alternatively you can submit your comment in writing by post.  For more details and a model objection letter go to: Take action

Objection letters and petition to be handed in tomorrow

Members of Stop Fenham Tesco will be handing in objection letters and a petition to the council planning department on Monday 2 August at 12.30pm. This will get press coverage. Please come along and show the strength of feeling on this issue  The more people who can come the more powerful the message.  Please arrive at noon so that we are ready when the press arrive.

We have arranged a press call for 12.30pm outside the Civic Centre on Monday 2 August, when we will hand over our signed petitions and objection letters. Please come along for half an hour to show the strength of feeling about this issue.  The more people who can come the more powerful the message.  Please arrive at 12 noon so that we are ready when the press arrive.

The deadline for objections is Monday 2 August.

The easiest way to object is to leave a comment on the the council website: Outline planning application – click on “Make a comment”.

Alternatively you can submit your comment in writing by post.  For more details and a model objection letter go to: Take action

If you are concerned about the impact the proposed Tesco store will have on our local area, you need to take action and encourage your friends, family and neighbours to do the same. You can help by writing an objection letter, signing a petition or leaving a comment on Newcastle City Council’s website:

• Leave a comment on the the council website: Outline planning application
  - click on “Make a comment”
• Use our outline objection letter and add your own comments: Simple Objection Letter (Word)
• Get people to sign our petition: Petition (PDF)

If you can’t print out the letter or the petition please email info@stopfenhamtesco.co.uk and we’ll arrange for you to collect some.  Please also email us if you have any completed petitions to hand in.

These are the key points to think about:

• traffic impact - There are double the car parking spaces planned for the whole site than the current hospital site. More people travelling by car to the site. More traffic in a residential area. Danger of increased traffic, both from customers and deliveries on Wingrove Road, Stanhope St, Westgate Road, Nuns Moor Road – all of which are key routes to local school and parks. 
• net loss of local jobs – The site will bring new jobs, but how many will be lost through the closure of local shops.
• closure of local shops – It’s unlikely that our local shops will be able to compete with a supermarket.
• size of the store – It’s twice the size of Morrisons at Cowgate and 60% of the size of Kingston Park Tesco. It is going to be huge. This is a residential area, the size of the store is more suited to an out of town shopping park, not next to people’s homes, local schools and parks.
• comparison goods – Approx half the store is planned to be for comparison goods (this means toasters, microwaves, clothes, etc). Do we not want a healthy, vibrant and diverse city centre with a wide range of shops? This goes against the city councils plans for the city centre.
• 24 hours. There is no need for a 24 hour store in a residential area. It will be noisy, with houses in very close vicinity. It changes the area bringing a night-time economy into an area with little night-time activity. Additional traffic through out the night, both customers and deliveries.
• we have had no consultation from the applicant about what WE want – The public consultation was inadequate, poorly promoted and insufficient for a major development. 
• noise, air pollution – Delivery lorries beep when reversing.
• loss of locally listed buildings - the workhouse buildings on the corner of Brighton Grove. There is no reason for loss of our area’s heritage, there is a flagrant disregard of an opportunity to retain these buildings.
• impact on our community as a whole. This development will change our local area forever.

Thanks for your help and hopefully together we can make sure a better solution can be found for the General Hospital site.