by Sean O'Hare
A MEETING between Tesco and the people of Gerrards Cross turned into a raucous affair last night (July 4).
The tensions rose as the supermarket's apologies and plans for the future were met with derisive cheers and hoots of laughter by the 200 or so protesters that turned out.
For the first time since the Tesco tunnel collapsed above the station in 2005, senior directors from Tesco and its contractors came face to face with villagers to offer an explanation for the collapse and what their plans were for the future.
In the face of such strong opposition, Tesco maintained that its presence would be of benefit to the community by saving villagers the trouble of driving out of the area for their shopping, while easing parking problems with the creation of 382 new spaces.
Malcolm Brummer, Tesco's Property Governance Director, said: "In the view of our expert, the tunnel units were not of the correct size and did not fit together as intended, the fill surrounding and above the tunnel was not used in accordance with the specified process and was aggravated by a failure to take into account the soil conditions in that area.
"Looking to the future we have asked Costain to review the expert's report and have their full assurance they will take all this into account."
"All being well we will commence work on the site next February. If we can start sooner we will."
The estimated completion date was given as March 2010.
The meeting then opened up to allow members of the public the chance to ask questions about the project.
For full details of the meeting see next week's Advertiser.
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