Surprise surprise here comes...... Tesco

I can't think of anything to add to the above title. This morning I have learnt that the Tesco planning application has been approved 14-10 by a meeting of the Town Council. This was hardly a suprise as in this neck of the woods a certain number of councillors never fail to cow tow to the intests of big business while disregarding the concerns of a significant proportion of their constituents even the concerns of the majority of local business community Barnstaple Chamber of Commerce ignored, dismissed. I'm sure theirs's was not a knee jerk expression of concern as sure a Tesco store closer to the town centre  rather than out on the periphery would create a certain amount of trickle down trade however, this would be outweighed by competition concerns and due to tescos machiavellian tactics as far as pricing and promotions   goes it's main competitors find it hard to compete let alone shops on the scale of Butcher's Row, Boutport Street and smaller concerns in the High Street which potentially could be anihillated by a Tesco loss making meat or produce promotion. Barnstaple's Town Centre has a wealth of small, local tradesman who have withstood any number of recessions and consumer trends however I believe and not without precedents set in other parts of the country that this could prove to be severely damaging to our historic municipality.
I have to add that I don't believe that Tesco bad all others good and I don't need to dispute that something should be done to improve the hinterland of Seven Bretheren Bank without doubt Brian Fords and it's cousin Beejays Value House look like a complete ramshackle collection of rather tired run down sheds a complete eyesore. However seeing that Tesco bought the lease secretly again in 2003 this is probably deliberately by design rather than anything else.
Ultimately, what really bleddy winds me up the most and makes my blood boil is the completely underhand tactics that Tesco resorted to in order to secure this site and the fact that none off this held much sway with the councillors when they voted on the application. I think that this raises some concerns about the nature of local democracy who are these people, why do they time and time again go against  considered and significant local concerns. I believe that there should have been a greater deal of public consultation and that decisions of this nature should not be left solely in the hands of local politicians. After all who are these people? I think they should lay themselves open to greater scrutiny and also when it comes to local elections people should think twice about who they are voting for not just the local professional, landowner or the bloke down the road as they have potentially a lot of power vested in their hands and it should not be held by a bunch of hawkish boosters or well meaning incompetents.