Agent slams Tesco plan

PLANS to move Uckfield up the High Street have been dismissed as ridiculous by a key property figure in the town.

The managing agent of Bell Walk said that proposals to demolish buildings in the flood plain and relocate them further up the hill were pointless .

Robert Stiles, who is chairman of Stiles Harold Williams, the company that owns the complex, said efforts should instead focus on widening the nearby river and bridge.

His comments come in the week the town s chamber of commerce chief described the ambitious plans as jumping on the bandwagon of flood dangers .

Mr Stiles and chamber of commerce president Adrian Corbin were talking about a post flood strategy which features plans for a brand new relief road in the town and a super-sized Tesco superstore built into the side of Luxford Field.

The proposals also pointed towards the possible relocation of businesses out of the flood plain an idea that was last week tentatively supported by members of Uckfield Town Council.

However, Mr Stiles said: Just saying let s move all those businesses and pull it all down to turn it into a flood plain is quite frankly ridiculous.

It would cost millions of pounds and would be pointless. It would be better to spend the money on improving the flow down the river. It seems to me the most sensible option would be to widen the river, widen the bridge and spend the money like that.

I only wish the Environment Agency would get on and do that.

Mr Corbin said that Tesco s radical plans to change the face of Uckfield as part of a deal to build a new and bigger store would be detrimental to existing traders.

He said: We are in favour of anything that is of benefit to the town, but things that are of benefit to Tesco are not necesarily the same for everybody else. Whilst we are in favour of regeneration of the town centre, the expansion of Tesco s is not the panacea it might seem. The idea behind the expansion of Tesco s is not so they can sell more bananas it s so they can start selling other things that other people sell.

We need to be very careful. People are jumping on the bandwagon of flood dangers. Whilst people want to protect the town from future flood danger, we need to do something that would benefit Uckfield as a whole.

When a supermarket expands to that sort of size, other traders disappear. One mustn t under-estimate what supermarkets are trying to do it s in their interests to try and put other people out of business.

More about the town centre plan: Page 5