TESCO have said they are not in breach of their planning conditions over parking in their Kingsbridge shop.

Members of the public raised the question when new signs went up in the car park stating ‘parking is for use by Tesco customers only’. They were under the impression that parking in the car park was open to people who wanted to shop in Kingsbridge town centre.

South Hams District Councillor Rufus Gilbert addressed the issue at the Kingsbridge Town Council meeting on Tuesday evening. He said that the current situation ‘conforms to planning approval’.

He said that at the time of the planning application, Tesco voluntarily would allow three hours ‘for anybody and everybody’, Cllr Gilbert said: ‘I lobbied for four, they agreed to three, which ran for a while and then it went down to two’, but that he was being told by his constituents that they couldn’t park at Tesco because the car park was full.

He said Tesco ‘had lost a lot of custom’ and that Tesco had provided the steps up to the Fore Street car park and the new car park on the former SWEB site on Lower Union Road, to encourage people to use the town.

He said the ‘principle’ is that the average customer spends ‘around 40 minutes in a supermarket, so they still have an hour and twenty minutes so they can walk into town and do shopping in town, free of charge’.

They said that Tesco ‘have now decided to exercise their right’.

A spokesperson for South Hams District Council said: ‘We have thoroughly examined the planning agreements for the Tesco store in Kingsbridge and can find nothing which would stop the owners of the store labelling their car park “For customers only” and therefore they are not in breach of their planning conditions.

‘The decision notice, which was granted on the application for a new Tesco store in Kingsbridge in 2007, confirms that the Kingsbridge Car Park Management plan which was submitted as part of the application limits free parking at the store to two hours.

‘The planning decision goes on to state that the 170 spaces provided at the store are for the sole use of people working, visiting and attending the store…“to ensure adequate parking facilities for customers and staff and space for service vehicles are provided”.

‘Therefore Tesco’s customers can park at the store for free for two hours. For shoppers wishing to visit Kingsbridge Town Centre, there are 125 spaces in the council owned car park and we ensured through the planning agreements that an additional 70 spaces was provided on the former SWEB site.’

A spokesman for Tesco said: ‘In line with the planning consent for our Kingsbridge store, car parking spaces are reserved for our customers and colleagues.’