A MASSIVE £15 million of consumer spending is being leaked from Tavistock each year because of inadequate shopping provision in the town, the Sainsbury's planning inquiry was told this week.

As the inquiry into the refusal of planning permission for an out-of-town Sainsbury's supermarket entered its second week, supporter Malcolm Nettleton said the local trading community of Tavistock paid a heavy price because one in three residents were travelling elsewhere for their regular food shopping —namely to Roborough and Launceston, which had Tesco stores, and Okehampton, which had three supermarkets.

Mr Nettleton referred to an independent consultants' report carried out for the borough council in 2005 which identified a significant need for additional food shopping floor space in Tavistock: 'Another study was done in 2007 which concluded that two new supermarkets, namely Sainsbury's and Lidl, would not be detrimental to the town,' he said.

'At present there is a massive haemorrhaging of consumer spending from Tavistock to other towns which is worth about £15 million per annum.'

The Sainsbury's proposal is for a mixed- use site, a mile from the town centre, off Plymouth Road, which will also include 17 business units, an office block, a petrol station and 350 car parking spaces.

The company has also offered within its section 106 agreement £180,000 over three years to enhance the bus link to the town centre.

West Devon Borough Council refused the application at the end of last year because the land had been designated since 2005 for employment uses other than retail. It also felt the development would have too high an impact on the vitality of the town centre.

An employment expert for Sainsbury's, Peter Barefoot, said there was little likelihood of public funding to develop the 3.8 hectare site at Brook Farm, which would be needed to deliver the borough council's aim.

'The only area of West Devon which has been identified by Devon County Council as a priority for regeneration is Princetown,' he said.

'Much as I would like to see lots of funding from Devon County Council, realistically the chances are very slim.'

He said the small industrial units, which had been designed in line with demand, would provide around 140 jobs in addition to the 120 full-time equivalent jobs created by the supermarket development.

Sainsbury's as an employer was highly respected in the retail world and offered opportunities to step up the career ladder through its training academy, he said: 'The jobs will be well paid and skilled.'

Officers from the borough council explained during the opening days of the inquiry that there was a need for higher paid office and factory jobs which would improve the economy of the town.

Mr Barefoot said the Brook Farm site had been in the public domain as a potential employment site for seven years but no employment use had come forward, even in more buoyant times.

He said: 'The future does not look anything like as rosy as it did in 2002 or 2005.

'Here we have a long standing allocation of land which is going nowhere. It needs help to get it somewhere and there is limited potential to get the help it needs.

'Sainsbury's has a scheme which would help towards what the council desires for that site.'

Earlier in the inquiry experts opposed to the scheme had given their views — see page 3 for more on the inquiry.