Sainsbury’s plan for Chippenham comes under fire (From Wiltshire Times)

Sainsbury’s plan for Chippenham comes under fire

5:30pm Thursday 19th January 2012 in Chippenham By Alex Winter

John Clark resigned as chair of Chippenham Vision

A controversial decision to allow the Sainsbury’s on Bath Road to expand significantly has come under fire from a national body.

Chris Wade, of Action For Market Towns, took to The Guardian to express his disappointment about the extension to the out-of-town supermarket.

The food giant wants to add a second storey to the building in Bath Road and create space for up to 700 cars in a multi-storey car park.

Long-term plans for the changes were accepted by the Northern Area Planning Committee in December last year, despite vehement opposition.

Their acceptance led to the resignation of John Clark from the Chippenham Vision Board.

Mr Wade said: “A year ago I was championing Chippen-ham Vision and Wiltshire Council as beacons of localism in practice.

“The council was embracing community-led planning, involving residents in master planning a major town centre development that would help bring people into town for shopping and relaxation.

“So how genuinely disillusioning, after a year where we have talked about localism and high streets with high expectations, to find that the approval of an extension to an out-of-town supermarket has knocked those plans off track.” Mr Wade, who is the chief executive of the group, has used the decision to call for housing minister Grant Shapps to prioritise the strengthening of town centres.

“This will help level the playing field between locations and competing supermarket chains – and aid council planning committees in their quest to plan sustainably,” he said.

Mr Wade finished by saying: “So please Mr Shapps, grant our new year wish to strengthen the ‘town centres first’ policy and give councils and communities the confidence that their creativity will not be undermined.”

Chippenham MP Duncan Hames has also raised the resignation of the long-standing chairman of the board to the House of Commons.

Speaking in Parliament, he said: “The expansion of an edge-of-town Sainsbury’s superstore has recently been approved by the council, leading to the resignation in dismay of the chairman of the Chippenham Vision group.

“Earlier this month, I asked the Minister with responsibility for decentralisation what advice he would give to councils that face such developer interest in out-of-town sites.

“He assured me that the ‘town centre first’ policy remains firm, but that development in Chippenham would suggest otherwise, as Wiltshire Council felt free to ignore it.”