Tesco faces rival bid for new store on Fishguard school site (From Western Telegraph)

Tesco faces rival bid for new store on Fishguard school site

5:10pm Saturday 17th July 2010 in

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A rival supermarket has made an eleventh hour bid for the site of Ysgol Glannau Gwaun, Fishguard, where Tesco plans to build a store.

The Co-operative Group has confirmed it has tendered for the contract to build a store on the primary school site, and has written to Pembrokeshire County Council with an offer.

A spokesman for The Co-operative Group said: “We believe our existing Somerfield store, acquired when we bought the Somerfield chain last year, is too small to meet the food shopping needs of the local community.”

The company says buying the school site, would allow it to build a larger store, offering a wider range of goods, to both satisfy local needs and to attract more people into Fishguard town centre.

The spokesman added: “Our offer also includes provision for The Co-operative Group to fund the construction of part of the proposed Chimneys Link Road, to ease traffic congestion, where the road lies within our existing Somerfield site.

“The Co-operative Group has a strong desire to invest in Fishguard and to provide the local community with a high quality development that will offer the very best in food retailing.”

Two years ago, Chelverton was announced as the site’s developer, with supermarket giant Tesco operating a new superstore at this location.

A spokesman for Pembrokeshire County Council said: “Matters are progressing on the junior school site in Fishguard with Chelverton as the preferred developer and Tesco on board as the operator.

“Due to commercial confidentiality, we are unable to comment on any other offers that may have been received by the authority.”