Go-ahead expected for Tesco expansion plan

This is despite objections on traffic grounds from the Highways Agency and from Hastings council which fears the town will lose trade to Bexhill.

The supermarket giant wants to increase its floor space by more than a third adding clothing and healthcare lines plus a new enclosed unloading bay.

Tesco says it also needs a "modest" increase in floorspace for the food hall to allow an increase in the product range, wider aisles and better counter service areas.

The Highways Agency says the 1,578 square metre proposal represents a 34 per cent increase in floor area.

It believes both the A259 trunk road and the approach road to Ravenside will reach over-capacity between 2007 and 2017 and that already Glyne Gap roundabout cannot accommodate traffic demand at peak times.

It says a traffic assessment takes no account of other developments under consideration including the Worsham Farm housing scheme, Bexhill College and Nazareth House and assumed now-rejected Bexhill-Hastings bypasses and associated Bexhill Northern Approach Road would go ahead.

It describes a traffic impact assessment submitted with the application as "unacceptable" for these reasons.

But it suggests the application could be granted "subject to planning conditions that would secure improvements to the Glyne Gap junction."

Hastings council says Tesco's retail study fails to consider the impact on key shopping areas in Hastings and fears more than 12 per cent of custom would be lost to St Leonards.

But Rother chief planning officer Les Robinson was yesterday recommending approval. "Taking into account the recent decision on the Brett Drive retail unit, I do not consider the retail impact sufficient to justify a refusal of planning permission."

He says on the basis of proposed improvements to Glyne Gap roundabout and a staff travel plan, the Highways Agency is likely to withdraw its objection.