NDDC gives green light to Blandford Tesco Expansion

BLANDFORD FORUM - Yesterday (14.02.12) North Dorset Distric Council granted planning permission  to TESCO for its proposed extension to the existing store at Stour Park, Blandford St. Mary.

The decision concluded an application process which has taken several years to complete. Most recently, the tabling of an application by rival supermarket ASDA for a new supermarket in Blandford, delayed the decision making process.

Why expand TESCO?

The reasons for expansion given by TESCO in its original application were as follows: In-store congestion, queues at tills, difficulties with storage and stock replenishment at peak times and during the summer holidays.

What's going to be built?

The major changes to the store include an increase in the size of the sales floor from 3473 square metres to 5757 square metres. This will be accomplished by building an extension to the exisiting building, situated on the west side of the store where the loading bay currently is. The new store will effectively expand to fill the space between the existing store and the road.

The area directly to the north of Tesco, currently scrub, is going to form an extension to the car park, creating an extra 110 car parking spaces and a new loading bay.

The extension will also house a mezzanine floor, which will house a cafe, and the main entrance to the store will also be moved to this new part of the building.

TESCO estimates put the job creation figures at 37 full time and 88 part time.

What does this mean for Blandford?

For TESCO customers, it means a bigger store with more food lines and more non-food products being sold - similar to stores located in Poole. It also means the return of the cafe.

For Blandford Town this represents something of an unknown. Some say that having items like clothes and electronics available at the supermarket will be bad news for high street shops which cannot compete with TESCO's prices. TESCO says that 84% of comparison goods and 50% of convenience goods are bought outside Blandford town centre anyway and that a bigger supermarket will stop people travelling out of town to do their shopping and pull in people from the surrounding area who may have previously headed to Poole or Shaftesbury, providing a boost to the town.

Regardless, the decision has been made and we can expect the store to begin alterations very shortly.