2:07pm Friday 3rd July 2009
By Neil Skinner
Tesco has withdrawn an appeal against a council decision to refuse it planning permission to build in Mill End.
The company, which wants to build on the site of the derelict Happy Man pub, in Berry Lane, has withdrawn a controversial plan for eight flats and an Express store – rejected by Three Rivers District Council in November.
No announcement, however, has been made about ongoing secondary plans to build the store and seven flats at the site – a scheme rejected last month.
Members of the council’s development control committee – to the relief of local traders who claim the application would destroy their businesses – agreed on both occasions that the development would simply be too big for the site.
More than 2,000 residents have signed a petition by the Tudor Parade Traders’ Association (TPTA) against the scheme.
TPTA member Paresh Patel welcomed the news but said the association would continue to fight the remaining application.”
He said: “This is good news but they really had no choice. They realised they had no chance of winning this appeal and did not have a leg to stand on.”
The future of the site has been keenly debated ever since it was first gutted by fire in 2005.
Two applications to refurbish and reopen the now derelict pub were refused by the council in 2006.
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