CALLINGTON residents are being urged to attend a public consultation by supermarket chain Tesco next week, to put forward their views on the new store planned for the outskirts of the town.

Tesco recently announced its intention to open a store in Tavistock Road and is holding an exhibition and consultation event on September 10 and 11 in Callington Town Hall.

At Callington Town Council's meeting last week there were mixed reactions from councillors about Tesco's plans because, as yet, it was unclear what products, as well as food, the store would be selling.

Cllr Roger Ellard said he thought the supermarket would have a negative effect on the town centre.

'As much as people would like to see a larger supermarket which will provide work in the area — and we must bear in mind a lot of that will be low paid work — I do not believe at the end of the day that Tesco will try to preserve some of the traders in the town,' he said.

'It can only succeed in taking business away.'

But Cllr Chris Thomas said there was evidence that in towns like Callington, which were struggling anyway, supermarkets moving in did the other shops 'a world of good'.

'I think it will revitalise this town,' he said.

Councillors were informed that the plans were for a 25,000 sq ft store, which was about the same size as Tesco's Launceston store, and it would provide 200 jobs.

An application for planning permission is likely to be submitted by the end of the year and if approved by Caradon District Council, the store could be up and running by August 2009.

Cllr Andrew Long said it was very early days and there were lots of questions unanswered.

'We need to be prudent at this time,' he said.

'There has been no recommendation from this town council and there will be quite a few issues that need to be raised both at town and district level.

'At the public consultation everybody will have a chance to look at the plans and raise their concerns and I would urge people to attend that.

'They can also write to the town council when the application is submitted if they have further concerns.'

A spokeswoman from Tesco told the Times last week that the supermarket was unlikely to store a wide range of other goods and would concentrate on stocking all the food lines people would expect to get during their weekly shop.

She said. 'We are quite restricted because of the size of the site but hopefully Tesco will be a catalyst for other retail stores to set up in the town.'

The company will be holding its exhibition and consultation on September 11 from 12.30pm until 8pm and on Friday, September 12 from 10am to 5pm.