Sir – So Sainsbury s has unveiled its new store development plan… Whoopee. Am I being naive, or do I see a massive Battle of the Titans looming up? If Sainsbury s is given planning permission to carry out its proposals, just what is Tesco going to do abo

Sir - So Sainsbury's has unveiled its new store development plan... Whoopee.

Am I being naive, or do I see a massive Battle of the Titans looming up? If Sainsbury's is given planning permission to carry out its proposals, just what is Tesco going to do about it? I suspect the supermarket giant will not be very happy about this at all! As money usually speaks louder than words, it seems to me that an enormous amount of pressure will be applied to the council, to enable Tesco to retaliate on the land it now owns in Broadwater Road.

Regardless of the town plan, I suspect a mega Tesco will not be too long in arriving in WGC.

But back to the Sainsbury development. Do they honestly care if the residents approve or not? I do not think so!

I look forward to viewing the model of the proposed new store, if only to see how it has affected the independent shops in Wigmores South.

In my opinion, it is these stalwarts of the town centre that are going to suffer and they find it hard enough already. Sadly the much-needed specialist shops I would love to see gracing the streets of the town, don't have a chance of succeeding, due to sky-high rents and business rates, inflicted on them by the council.

The giants of the retail world, like Sainsbury's etc, can afford these charges and therefore, slowly but surely, they will monopolise our town!

Why does Sainsbury's have to have a store four times as big as the present one? I admit it is not that large, but on a great many occasions it still manages to run out of this, or that, leaving half-empty shelves, so will the proposed superstore be the same, I wonder?

The car parking is another issue that could be addressed. At present we have a council-owned car park, so shoppers with cars have to pay to use Sainsbury's. I guarantee the new 450-space parking facilities, this time owned by Sainsbury's, will be the same as before, unlike Tesco who have free parking.

I will watch with great interest, the almost certain battle that will arise and hope we will not see any occurrence of the alleged behaviour that happened when the the Howard Centre was built.

I know certain things have to change, sometimes for the better, sometimes not. I only hope that our planning department has the strength to stand its ground with these conglomerates and the end result will be for the good of the town!

Richard Bailey, Elm Gardens, WGC.