AN ASHTEAD councillor has spoken of a "ray of hope" for residents over plans to build a Tesco in the village centre.

Although the plans to build a supermarket on the former Esso site in The Street were approved by planning inspector Nicholas Hammans, he insisted that the car parking situation was sorted out before building commenced.

In his report Mr Hammans said: "No development hereby permitted shall commence until the district council has confirmed in writing that it has made arrangements for the relocation of the existing 74 long-stay parking spaces in the Peace Memorial Hall Car Park and that all 181 proposed parking spaces shall be short-stay spaces to be retained thereafter."

Chris Hunt, a Conservative councillor for Ashtead Village, thinks this may be the chance for the council to force Tesco to come back with a smaller store.

He said: "The consent is not quite what Tesco needed. The fact that the long-term parking spaces have to be reallocated before any development can start could be the sting in the tail for Tesco and the ray of hope for residents and visitors to the Ashtead Peace Memorial Hall car park.

"Unless of course perhaps people are willing to have their gardens and homes knocked down or Tesco are going to buy up one of the local pubs, I cannot think of a site capable of handling such numbers in the village centre where they are so clearly needed.

"If the inspector had not felt Ashtead needed those spaces he clearly would not have included such a preemptive condition – and set the number of spaces so high.

"He has played a very clever hand, and on balance this decision letter now allows the council to play a clever hand back."

Linda Butler, of Pound Court, was one of those who spoke at the public inquiry. She is hoping that Mole Valley District Council will use the opportunity.

"In reaching its decision on car parking in the village, MVDC can and should be taking into account wider community issues, not least the overwhelming view of Ashtead residents that existing parking arrangements should remain unchanged," she said.

"Parking is already difficult for residents close to The Street and yet nobody (including the inspector) has come up with an answer as to where the 50 plus cars per day from current office developments behind The Street and from Tesco staff will park if there is no long-stay parking available in the village.

"Current parking arrangements work very well for villagers, visitors, workers, shops and shoppers alike."

A spokesman for Tesco has said it is currently in talks with planning officers at the council and is "hoping to agree with them on all aspects that need to be addressed".

Councillor Clare Curran, MVDC's portfolio holder for planning, said: "We shall consider the implications of the inspector's announcement very carefully and weigh up what is in the best interests of the district before deciding what to do next.

"This includes the issues surrounding the use of the council's car park at the Peace Memorial Hall."

See letters, pages 20 & 21.