TESCO is suggesting that its move into Okehampton will create 180 jobs in the town. Why doesn't the company state clearly  how many of those will only be part-time jobs?  

There are already three supermarkets in the town providing competitive shopping opportunities and employment potential so how much more competition do our present butchers, bakers, greengrocers, milkmen, printers and newsagents need to be subjected to? 

It is easy for Tesco to suggest now that there will not be any expansion that would create further competition but for how long might those suggestions last?

How long would it be before present day assurances from Tesco give way to planning submissions for further expansion opportunities?

A new store on the outskirts of town may well not increase too heavily on delivery lorries adding to already problematic town centre congestion, but what of the roads from the dual carriageway into the town and the proposed Tesco site?

These roads, if left with only present day problems, that increase with extended house building, could provide relatively easy access to a new store and just as easily provide a route out of town for any attracted only to what Tesco can offer.

A free two hour stay in a Tesco car park can hardly be regarded as an incentive to ensure a pedestrian flow that town centre traders will definitely benefit from. 

Anyone with internet access can easily learn for themselves how other towns have fared when Tesco has moved in, or how many towns that have resisted overtures, to faithfully support local shops.

However, families cannot exist on part-time pay alone.

Those that have a low wage income quite rightly receive benefits but many are already finding those benefits are or may be reduced.

Might I suggest that Okehampton needs more permanent full time jobs, provided by companies that could be attracted to the area?

At present there are many acres of unused green grassland in the area, purchased with taxpayers money that had been handed to the EU that then returned some of it. 

Council rates and business taxes are not raised from idle green grass. 

Could the relevant councils and local chamber of trade consider an extended nil-tax period for companies that would not compete with local businesses but that would provide full time work for local people who would then have regular, reliable employment and earnings that gave them money to spend in local shops?

An advantage might also be the provision of a rail link to Exeter, with a station to the east of the town.

Looking even further afield, with tourist, holiday and commercial attractions in mind, a ferry service between North Devon and Wales might be beneficial.

Roy Radford

Buttercup Cottage

South Zeal