A TESCO Express is set to go ahead in the exclusive area of Sandbanks in Poole.

The supermarket giant has acquired the lease and does not need planning permission.

So it would seem all systems go.

But there’s a number of people – 450 and counting – who are objecting to the idea of siting it at the closed Sandacres pub.

There are various reasons why they don’t approve. ‘Not suitable’, ‘will kill off small businesses’, ‘a blot on the landscape’.

There are even threats to boycott it.

Tesco have countered this by saying ‘it will be convenient’, ‘it will regenerate a building no longer in use’ and ‘people support it’.

Only time will tell if this move is successful or if the objectors get their way. But the use of online petitions to get support or object to an idea is a growing one and we will definitely see more of them in the future.