Revealed: Tesco hoarding land that could build 15,000 homes
An interesting angle on the challenges facing those trying to free up land for housing development. This article tells us:
Tesco, the UK’s largest supermarket chain, is hoarding land and buildings covering an area big enough to build 15,000 homes – a Guardian analysis has revealed.
The size of the embattled retailer’s land bank, theoretically large enough to replicate the government’s proposed new garden city at Ebbsfleet, is far greater than previously estimated and remains on the grocer’s books despite much of it being bought to build the out-of-town Extra superstores which are no longer financially attractive as shoppers turn their back on the big weekly grocery shop.
The scale of Tesco’s landholdings are revealed as the grocer’s under-pressure boss Philip Clarke steels himself for a barracking from disgruntled shareholders at Friday’s today’s AGM. Clarke has said it could take three years to turn the struggling UK chain around. Its most recent sales figures were the worst in a generation.