"Txx Sxxxx" has succeeded where other find it so difficult - in uniting Melksham in favour of a planning application 

Background - Countrywide will have to close their current store when the new Asda is built, and have applied for permission to knock down the derelict grain silos next door, and build a new store - adjacent, and on land they already own - a brownfield site.   In doing so, they would keep 35 to 40 jobs in Melksham.

Council Officer Txx Sxxxx's report suggests that the new store if approved would seriously harm the businesses in the toen centre of Melksham and they the company should consider going somewhere else ... Chippenham and Trowbridge have been mentioned, as has the old Wollies store.

It's a very different matter selling "pick and mix" to farm gates (that's the sort of thing you get at Countrywide) ... we can rule the Woollies out - and it's not as if trhe company competes with anyone in town.   I've spoken with a lot of folks and truely they seem to be united in favour of approval.  And I'll be attending the planning meeting too.

Please look at http://www.melkshamchamber.org.uk ... there's a "quick vote" on the front page and we would love to get your views