A RYEDALE campaigner who played a key role in the fight to prevent a supermarket being built in Malton has written a book about the battle.

Emma Brooksbank decided to write the book A Supermarket Too Far to provide a background to the six-year campaign to prevent Ryedale District Council (RDC) selling Wentworth Street car park to a developer.

She said: “I was closely involved in the Malton community’s battle to stop the superstore.

“It convinced me that it was very important to make a detailed record of the facts, which I have done as completely as I can.

“Local people have given me a lot of information. I have searched through the vast array of evidence in the public domain and obtained further material from RDC through requests under the Freedom of Information Act.

“The book has taken me three years to write and at times it as been very tough going. I have sometimes asked myself: ‘Why not just move on? Look forward rather than back’.

“But in order to look forward positively, we have to know what has gone wrong in the past and for that to be possible, the facts must be on the record.”

Wentworth Street car park was first earmarked as a site for a supermarket 10 years ago. In 2007 the Fitzwilliam Malton Estate (FME) unveiled plans plans for a supermarket, six retail outlets, 51 flats and four houses on the town’s livestock market With two major proposals on the table, battle lines were drawn with arguments raging over which development provided the best option to stem the flow of shoppers’ spending outside Ryedale.

What followed was nine years of legal battles and court hearings which resulted in the High Court overruling the planning permission granted by RDC for Wentworth Street car park.

Plans to redevelop the site were officially abandoned in January 2016 when members of RDC unanimously voted to terminate its contract with developer GMI Holbeck.

Emma added: “A Superstore Too Far is not a dry account of a planning dispute: there are chapters on Malton and Norton’s history, the background to the UK planning system and many wide-ranging references.

“It is about bad decisions, highlighting the difficulty of making those responsible fully accountable to the community that elects them.

“It is a warning of what can happen when political power is abused at any level of governance and it is about fighting for what you believe in, challenging politicians and being prepared to persevere against the odds.

“This book is a tribute to everyone in Malton’s ‘Little Platoon’ who fought so hard for their beloved town and have given it the best chance of thriving into the future.”

Copies of A Superstore Too Far will be available from Malton Christmas market this weekend or be contacting the publisher at ypdbooks.com