Sheringham awaits its fate. As North Norfolk District Council decides whether to permit a new Tesco supermarket in the heart of this largely unspoiled seaside town, or to approve a rival proposal for a new form of an environmentally friendly food store set on the edge of the town centre and championed by Clive Hay-Smith, a local farmer.

Surely anyone with an ounce of sentiment for Sheringham would choose the latter? In any case, Hay-Smith’s planning application, which will ultimately have cost him £2m, is a happily radical departure from the model of town-wrecking supermarkets that, dimly, has guided the planning officers and planning committees of councils throughout Britain over the last decade.

If Hay-Smith’s altruistic and elegant offering of a supermarket, supplying locally sourced food and combined with a food academy (to celebrate local food and to encourage local people keen to cook imaginatively and well) and free allotments is given the thumbs down, what hope is there for similar proposals anywhere else?

Read the rest of Jonathan Glancey’s article THE TESCO CUMPS OF NORFOLK from The Guardian on Tuesday 2nd March

Find out the result here !!!

We’re watching this application in Nofork closely as there are applications here in East Devon for more supermarkets. We’re having an East Devon Greens meeting on Wed 31st March in Ottery St Mary where we’re hoping to have a speaker from the group who are fighting the supermarket proposal over there.