Surprise twist in Wimborne supermarket saga (From Bournemouth Echo)

Surprise twist in Wimborne supermarket saga

7:00pm Monday 8th February 2010

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SUPERMARKET bosses have vowed to continue building a new store on a Wimborne cricket pitch – despite an application to have the site protected as a town green.

Waitrose chiefs have told the Daily Echo they were only formally notified last week that the application had been submitted – despite it being registered with Dorset County Council on September 23.

And managers say they learned about the application from the man who made it – Philip Atlay, chairman of Keep Wimborne Town Green – and not from the council.

“We are aware that a town green application can take several years to resolve.

“It is not in the best interests of the business community and residents of Wimborne for the site to remain in a partially developed state for that long,” a spokesman said.

Posters inviting public comment on the application to give the former Hanham cricket ground protected status went up around the building site on Friday. Objections can be registered until March 19.

Dorset County Council is “commons registry authority” and its Roads and Rights of Way committee will make the final ruling.

Mr Atlay said his group was hugely disappointed it had taken the council so long to process his application.

The district council granted planning permission for the store last February. But building work didn’t start until October – weeks after the application was submitted. “Had the county council progressed the application there would have been a real opportunity for it to be properly considered without any construction having ruined the site and expense on the part of the developer,” said Mr Atlay.

Many people in the town had been amazed by the size of the structure and now wished they had spoken out against it, he added.

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