Dismay at Asda price

Newark town councillors are objecting to the Asda supermarket planned for Potterdyke carpark in Newark, and the scheme to move the town’s bus station to The Wharf.

Although the council is elected by townspeople, it is simply consulted on developments.

The power to give planning permission rests with Newark and Sherwood District Council, which also owns the carpark.

Consultants hired by the district council identified the need for another supermarket in town.

However, fears have emerged about the viability of the Lincolnshire Cooperative Society store in Victoria Street if Asda opens.

This week, the town council planning committee first voted unanimously against The Wharf becoming the new bus station, fearing increased traffic congestion and lamenting the loss of carpark spaces.

It also had concerns about flooding.

The chairman, Mr Peter Foster, said there should be room for the bus station on Potterdyke, but the Asda-led consortium was trying to cram so much on to the site.

The committee then voted 4-3 against demolition of the Robin Hood Hotel, which is needed to create a promenade of new shops, because it involved changes to buildings listed for protection.

Finally members voted 5-2 against the entire £50m Asda scheme, which also includes a parade of shops, a health centre and housing, because of loss of parking and increased traffic congestion.

Mr Foster believed there had been a hard sell by the consortium.

Mr John Clark believed the average shopper in Newark did not want Asda.

He said he was told by Lincolnshire Cooperative Society that if Asda opened, the Victoria Street store would be in grave danger of closing, and the site would be sold.

A Coop spokesman later told the Advertiser: “We don’t think it is a foregone conclusion that we would have to close, but we do anticipate a downturn in business.”

The Town Clerk, Mr Jim Hanrahan, said the problems of competition could not be a factor when councillors reached their conclusion.

Helen Gent said: “I am no fan of Asda but it is not just about Asda.

“Yes, there might be a few traffic queues but Asda aside, there will be some fantastic new shops and it might just be that the shoppers coming into the town could rejuvenate the whole of the town centre.”

The committee was adamant it wanted an alternative to The Wharf as a bus station.

Mrs Irene Brown said that buses entering and leaving would create more congestion around The Wharf and buses would run late when the barriers at Castle Station came down.

Mr Molyneux wondered if Nottinghamshire County Council had carried out traffic surveys on The Wharf and at Potterdyke, and if so at what times of the day, as he believed congestion would worsen.

A spokesman for the Asda consortium said later he was disappointed but not surprised by the committee’s view.

He said: “The planning applications will continue their course. If one or the other application is refused we will review the situation. The bus facility location was out of our hands.”