Store decision ignoring wishes of the majority (From Gazette & Herald)

Store decision ignoring wishes of the majority

8:50am Wednesday 20th June 2012 in Letters

IF this is a democracy, God help us under a dictatorship.

The council has finally won its victory with the sale of Wentworth Street car park, and the new supermarket will become a reality. This is against the wishes of the majority of the local residents.

One of David Cameron’s aims was to give back power to local residents, involving them in the decision- making of local councils. This, sadly, has not come to pass.

Will this decision to build a new supermarket – expected to be Tesco – now jeopardise the planned redevelopment of the cattle market site put forward by the Fitzwilliam Estate?

This was a sympathetic development involving shops and flats which would have enhanced the rather run-down area of Malton.

However, we must hope the new supermarket, when it opens, does not do too much damage to the traditional shops and infrastructure of our much-loved town. What jobs it creates will sadly be lost in other shops and businesses that are forced to lay off staff.

What is an absolute priority in the towns is to sort out the traffic chaos that exists for most of the day and to make a safe pedestrian crossing at the railway barriers before a fatal accident occurs.

Surely the development of another town centre supermarket will only exacerbate the current traffic congestion.

R MILLER, Amotherby