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11
Oct 2021
Last Updated: 11/10/2021
Harrogate cycle group accuses Tesco of greenwash
Tesco argues that the proposed Skipton Road supermarket would help reduce car journeys across Harrogate. But Harrogate District Cycle Action says this is 'greenwash'.
Harrogate District Cycle Action has accused Tesco of greenwash over claims that its proposed new supermarket will reduce car journeys and CO2 emissions.
A Tesco online consultation about its plans to open a supermarket on Skipton Road closed yesterday.
The consultation website claims the new supermarket would reduce car journeys across Harrogate because residents in all the new homes on Skipton Road and Killinghall would have less distance to travel for shopping.
It adds:
"This new supermarket will help create more sustainable shopping patterns in Harrogate and reduce the number of long car journeys across the town.
"We anticipate a reduction in CO2 emissions from the shorter trips customers will be making."
But HDCA, which campaigns for better cycling provision in the district, said on its website:
"That is greenwash, and based on nothing more than a far-fetched hope, or the desire to say something about sustainability without doing anything about sustainability.
"While some people might make shorter trips to Tesco, it is equally likely that other people will drive to Tesco from the other side of town, going further than before.
"The plans put forward by Tesco are totally car-centric. Doing the same as before will get the same result as before: ever more traffic."
Read more:
- Tesco Skipton Road supermarket ‘could put us out of business’
- Tesco to revive controversial Skipton Road supermarket plans
Better cycling access
Plans for the new store include a petrol station, 200 parking spaces, 24 cycle spaces and a new roundabout on Skipton Road. Tesco says 100 new jobs would be created.
HDCA said segregated, protected cycle tracks on either side of Skipton Road, linking up to the new housing estates, would improve cycle access to the supermarket. It would also like to see the number of car parking spaces reduced.
The Stray Ferret asked Tesco to respond but we did not receive a response by the time of publication.
Tesco previously said:
"Our new proposals will deliver a much-needed new food store for the north of the town. This will reduce the number of long car journeys across Harrogate and we anticipate a reduction in CO2 emissions from the shorter trips customers will be making."
Consultation ended
A public consultation on the new Tesco ended yesterday. A full planning application is expected to be submitted before the end of the year.
Despite opposing Tesco's bid to build a new supermarket on the site in the 2010s, Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce told the Stray Ferret the housing landscape in the area has now changed and the supermarket could reduce traffic across town.
The Stray Ferret also spoke to Claire Lewis, who has run Number One Shop on Electric Avenue, near the proposed new supermarket, for the last seven years with her husband. She opposes the plan and fears the new supermarket, which would be built behind her small shop, could destroy trade.
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