READING the Okehampton Times last Thursday I was over the moon to see the proposals for Tesco coming to the town.

I think it is the best thing that could happen. I don't shop in the town because I get fed up with all the traffic due to three supermarkets all together.

It seems to me that its all right to keep building houses but when it comes to improving the town and creating jobs, people don't want to know.

A lot of people do Tesco online shopping. Wouldn't it be better if those people could actually have the store in town? Just think — jobs!

Sandra Paisey

via email

I AM totally for a Tesco being built in Okehamton. I live on that side of town and sometimes it's a complete nightmare driving into town to the supermarkets.

I always drive to Tesco in Launceston for my shopping, as do many other people I know. All three supermarkets we have in town do not provide all the services provided by Tesco.  

On the rare occasion I do frequent the town for shopping I have to visit all three supermarkets to get exactly everything I need and a trip to the high street for any clothing  or chemist. Tesco provide it all under one roof. And what with Peacocks closing down I do think having a Tesco will benefit Okehampton in the long run with much needed jobs and services.

Most major towns in this part of the country all have decent supermarkets. We have been left in the dark ages long enough. People will come to Okehampton from smaller villages because we have a decent supermarket. The majority of people in Okehampton travel out of town at the moment because the supermarkets we currently have are not adequate.

Claire Bell

via email

THERE are a number of reasons why Tesco coming to Okehampton will be a good thing.

First, Okehampton has suffered for years from high fuel prices. The only service station that has ever made any real effort to be competitive being the Shell station at Sourton. Tesco will drive petrol prices down.

Secondly, the present access to the three town supermarkets is often gridlocked with long waits to get in or out and very limited free parking. Rural customers will not put up with this. They will shop in other towns that have supermarkets with ample free parking and cheap fuel.

Easing this congestion will enable customers to come in to town and use the local shops. I think there are good grounds for believing this will result in an increase in turnover for those businesses.

Thirdly, Okehampton suffers from high unemployment and low wages which is bad for the local economy. Anything to increase job opportunities must be good in view of all the recent factory closures.

Finally, Okehampton and its surrounding area has a growing population. The business is there to be done. Marks and Spencer, W H Smith, British Home Stores, Debenhams, Currys, B&Q, bring it on!

Richard and Avril Leonard

Menfreya

Thorndon Cross

READING last week's Okehampton Times I was very interested in seeing on the front page that Tesco want to come to Okehampton — about time too!

My only concern is that it will be rejected due to the possibility of the smaller businesses being affected in the town, which would be utter nonsense in my opinion.

If anything, I believe it would encourage more people to shop locally, as I know that a lot of people travel further away to shop at the bigger supermarkets as the ones in Okehampton at the moment are just not big enough or offer enough variety for people living in or around the town.

More to the point, looking at the employment in and around Okehampton, why discourage a huge employer, who could have an affect on the current job situation in the town?

More and more houses are being built in Okehampton, surely the buyers of these need employment?

Good luck, Tesco's!

Sharon Mew

North Tawton

I AM in favour of Tesco coming to Okehampton, the other supermarkets have not affected the local shops so why should this one? Plus, it will provide more jobs for Okehampton.

Michael Isaac

via email

MY family are all for Tesco coming here. It's great news and will bring many much needed jobs. My family shop in Exeter as it is far easier than fighting your way through Okehampton on a Saturday; it's a nightmare. Ian Bailey, the chamber of trade chairman, is so wrong to oppose this —it is what the people of Okehampton want.

Lawrence Harris

via email

OKEHAMPTON centre has three of the major supermarket chains, covering all the demographics. We have a lovely little Victorian Arcade of independent retailers, Red Lion Yard with its cafés and small shops, and the main street through the town with a mixture of chain stores and independents.

It is these areas that give the town its character and make it the special place it is to those of us who live here, work here and love it. Yet if we don't use our retailers we stand to lose them. A few retail premises are empty, some for a long time — and we have the dismal facade of a once thriving pub right in the centre of town.

Yes, the town is growing and will grow even bigger. The outlying areas need convenience stores but we must persuade people to come into town for their major weekly shop.

Shop locally, shop in the independents. . . or lose the town centre as we know and love it.

Another large supermarket on the edge of town will be another nail in the coffin; it certainly won't help the town centre . . . has it helped Crediton? or Launceston? People drive to the supermarket, do their shopping . . . and drive home again.

Jan Goffey

via email

A TESCO store in Okehampton will undoubtedly attract much customer support, but its siting out of town, and its very attractive free car park, will encourage one-stop shopping.  

Its potential to sell a wide range of products will have a knock-on effect not only on the existing supermarkets but on almost every small shop or business in the town, such as butchers, bakers, vegetable shops, stationers, newsagents, photographers, drapers, DIY, adult and children's clothing, electrical goods, cafés, dispensing chemists, dry cleaners and the post office.  

But let's look on the bright side! There'll be room then for more estate agents, banks, building societies, hairdressers, antiques and charity shops, and tourists will have plenty of space to park.  There may even be space for a coach park on a redundant in-town supermarket site.

Nicky Craig

via email

AS we already have three supermarkets in Okehampton, I don't feel that the addition of another one, whether it be Tesco, Morrisons or Sainsbury's, would benefit our small town. 

A new store, while creating new jobs, would undoubtedly take away some custom from existing stores and shops, who might then have to reduce their own staffing levels, or even close altogether. There is after all a Tesco in Crediton, Exeter and Launceston, all within easy reach of Okehampton.

Another concern is the extra traffic it will create, which will be in addition to that created by the new housing development, on our inadequate north/south route through the town.

Chris and June Edmonds

Okehampton

MY heart sank when I saw the headline in the Okehampton Times concerning Tesco setting its sights on Okehampton.

How can the small town possibly need anymore supermarkets? It will just share the same money being spent between more 'greedy supermarkets'. Why punish the stores that already serve us well? And until the traffic situation in the centre of Okehampton with its never-ending queues between traffic lights is sorted out nothing else should be considered and definitely not Tesco.

Why not you may ask? Because they will put all the small shops out of business as they try to sell everything as well as food. Anyone who wants to shop with them can go to Launceston. Every small town does not need every supermarket represented.

Does nobody have any thoughts about trying to live a non-invasive lifestyle, buying and growing locally and sustainably? I despair now for my grandchildren and the future, everything is about greed and more and more money for the corporate few.

Over the last thirty years Okehampton has dragged itself up from a very run-down situation to a fairly presentable small country town and it doesn't need squashing by Tesco who just want to get in on the act after other people's hard work.

D Barker

via email

YOU asked for your readers' views on Tesco opening up in Okehampton and my husband and I think that it would be wholly inappropriate.   

There are three supermarkets in the town already and several good shops in the main street and elsewhere. Tesco would undermine the local shops and probably undersell items such as clothing and kitchenware etc, to their detriment.  

What would be gained in some employment opportunities locally would be lost in the loss of local businesses and therefore the diversity of the town.

Mrs R G Townsend Green

Sampford Courtenay