2:00pm Sunday 21st March 2010
By David Hemming
A BUILDING on Bridgwater's prime Northgate site is to be flattened - fuelling speculation a Tesco car park will take its place.
The Mercury has reported that Tesco is the only bidder for the Northgate site, which Sedgemoor District Council and Somerset County Council each own a chunk of.
The county council-owned part of Northgate includes social enterprise Pluss, which we revealed last week would soon be closing and moving to East Quay, and shedding 14 jobs.
Now we can reveal the Pluss building, as well as a restaurant and coffee shop on the same site, will be flattened later this year, believed to be around September.
A Somerset County Council spokesman said: “This is part of the regeneration project currently taking place in Bridgwater. The Pluss workshop will be moving to a more modern and fit for purpose building.”
Bridgwater man Tony Lock, a regular user of the facilities at Pluss, said rumours were circulating the buildings were being knocked down to make way for a Tesco car park.
He said: “I think it's disgusting - there are a lot of disabled people who go there and it is being taken away from them.”
The supermarket chain insisted the demolition was “nothing to do with Tesco”, while the county council would only say it was “in negotiations with the proposed purchasers”.
Sedgemoor District Council said Tesco would be asked to provide a tender to develop Northgate by April 30.
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