Streatham Hub Public Meeting #1 - so what did we learn?

It’s entirely possible, and appears very probable, that Tesco is playing a long game in which they allow planning permission to expire forcing the council to re-negotiate better terms with them under the threat of Tescos land-banking the site and allowing the ice rink to decay and close. The leisure centre is the council’s responsibility but the council a) has no money, b) won’t have any in the new austerity economy following this recession, and c) won’t wish to build a new leisure centre as this may be seen by Tesco as not negotiating in good faith by constructing a long-term/permanent building on the site of what is supposed to be the land-swap site. The sharp-eyed would have noticed the extortion, implicit in this strategy, towards the local community.

It’s also possible Tesco had hoped Boris would have been more amenable to the development profile they wanted to move to. It appears this hasn’t happened. They may wait to see if David Cameron will be more friendly, or if a hung Parliament might be persuaded to relax planning requirements. Improbable as this may be, Tesco takes on no risk allowing this to unfold in any way it may. Finally Tesco may land bank the site for decades expecting a future council, weary of Streatham resident’s demands, to approve Tescos application to do what they want (i.e. build a store, and, well, that’s it! Nothing else).

As it stands now the council is between a rock and a hard place.