Suddenly the room seemed warmer. A strange dark presence breathed and whispered into the room. And there they were. Two members of Tesco's senior management team in the flesh, blinking eerily into the light....
Yes this was the public meeting of the Tesco's "We've Already Got Planning Permission So Don't Try And Stop Us Store" proposals for Streatham: to build a new Tesco's shop and redevelop the leisure centre, ice rink and swimming pool, and build affordable housing to boot. Too good to be true? Actually yes. The plan itself has been on the cards for almost seven years and although Tesco's were given permission to build years ago, um, they haven't quite got round to it yet.
Not that we're particuarly fond of Tesco's but we are stuck in a no win situation.Tesco's already own the land. Years of zero investment have left the leisure centre and ice rink are on their knees. So this was the night where reps from Lambeth Green Party and about 50 other concerned residents and interested parties gathered in Streatham Business Centre to find out where the plans were at and what was going on. In short, not much. Not for the next 8 weeks anyway when we were promised faithfully by Lambeth Council and Tesco's that a new proposal was being 'looked at'.
Despite many questions from people about whether Tesco's were going to keep the ice rink open, and actually when is this all going to happen, to cut 2 hours and 15 minutes short a newmeeting is promised for just before Christmas.
Think Tesco's and the Council will sell us out? Mmm our jury is out too. In 8 weeks we'll see.
