Councillor launches new campaign for supermarket
And he says, that with the proof he is gathering, that the majority of the community want Tesco in the town, he hopes to make Caradon reverse its decision.
'I have been asked by a number of people to start a campaign to get what the town needs' said Mr Young. 'It would be a wonderful Christmas and New Millennium present for Looe to have something it has been missing. Other towns have made such changes and maybe we should be looking to the future.'
On Monday Mr Young began petitioning by visiting three roads at Barbican. He said only one in seven people said no to a supermarket, which gave a percentage of 85 per cent in favour with only 15 per cent against and what was particularly significant was that many elderly people are for it. He says he has since received offers of help to get the whole town canvassed for its opinion.
Mr Young wants Caradon's Housing and Property Committee to have a site meeting at Polean, which he says is an area in which they have shown very little interest over the years. He says the buildings are all in a state of disrepair, the area itself is run down and the road and pathways are overgrown and need clearing. "Assuming Tesco offered a reasonable amount of money for the land and put in a successful planning application, it would mean a derelict area would be tidied up and people in Looe would not need to shop outside the town any more. There would also be local jobs, more parking spaces, and competitive prices, which is something they do not have at present,' he said. Referring to a comment made last week by Chamber of Trade chairman, Dave Peat, in which he said the faces of towns into which supermarkets had moved, had completely changed, Mr Young said that in Liskeard, the three medium sized stores, all within 100 yards of each other in the town centre, and larger than any shop in Looe, still seemed to be doing a fair amount of trade, even with Safeways.
The Harbour Commis-sioners have also shown an interest in Polean, to be used as extra space for fish packing, and the eventual resurrection of a fish processing unit, but it is believed that some residents in Woodlands View, which overlook the site, have already signed a petition against such a plan because they fear there would be a smell nuisance.