By Luke Cross
lukecross@trinitysouth.co.uk
TESCO has launched an offensive to win over the Gerrards Cross community, sending out thousands of letters with details of its next move and an assurance that infill material used on site is safe.
About 2,000 residents were due to receive hand-delivered letters from the supermarket giant this week with an "update of developments."
Tesco has also written its own column entitled Tesco Talks, exclusively in this week's Buckinghamshire Advertiser.
While a decision on the future of the project is yet to be made – almost two years after the tunnel structure set to hold the new store collapsed onto the Chiltern Railway line in June 2005, narrowly missing two passenger trains – Tesco is reapplying to transport material to and from the site.
The supermarket is also trying to reassure residents after the BBC's Inside Out programme made daming allegations that the Incinerator Bottom Ash Aggregate (IBAA) used on the site is toxic and harmful to people's health.
Michael Kissman, spokesman for Tesco, said: "The relevant regulatory bodies are aware of its use and storage, including the local council environmental health teams, the Health and Safety Executive and ther Environment Agency.
"None has raised any concerns about health risks to local residents or environmental harm."
An independent environmental consultant has also been hired.
The supermarket giant is also seeking an extension on haul road consent so it can move material onto the site from the other side of Packhorse Road, avoiding lorries coming in and out of Gerrards Cross.
Mr Kissman stressed that it is not a consent to work on the site and is seperate to the main planning permissiion for the store.
"We are making good progress in reviewing detailed plans and optio