It has been concluded that an Asda store in Blandford would increase traffic and create land loss plus affect issues relating to Blandfords town centre, which at the moment have not been sufficiently resolved.
However (hypocritically) NDDC have given Tesco permission to expand despite the fact that the future enlargement will negatively impact on businesses situated close to the new anticipated car park extension. Furthermore the Tesco application has been approved subject to "enhancements designed to mitigate the potential impact on the town centre by a much larger store" (in TBB's opinion corporate bribery), as well as Tesco's putting a pedestrian crossing on Bournemouth Road.
The Blandford Buzz says - regardless of whether Tesco expands it's store to double capacity or alternatively if Asda builds a supermarket in Blandford, the fact still remains that either or both of these options will have a detrimental affect on Blandford town centre, which no amount of "enhancements" (or what in the opinion of TBB amounts to a type of corporate bribery) will remedy.
The detrimental impact that Safeways closing had on trade
in Blandfords town centre mustn't be forgotten
Now dear reader, Tesco (or Asda for that matter) know full well that price is the only weapon that can counter big corporate supermarket giants and proposed "enhancements" will at a deeper, more robust, all encompassing, non superficial level, do nothing of the sort...
Schemes such as speed humps - which if along the Blandford town centre route, may put people off from driving through Blandford town centre, to stop off and do some shopping and new shop front grants - that shoppers will only probably notice because someone's on a ladder outside a small shop giving it a lick of paint etc - on the balance of probabilities wont entice a shopper to make a purchase, the only words that a consumer will take into account are "Can I buy it cheaper anywhere else?" . The Tesco versus Asda Blandford Store wars is akin to choosing between two muddy earth soil pies with garden worms breaking through to the surface - with one such pie having a cherry on the top and the other a strawberry...