No Sainsbury's in Cheddar

Sainsbury's want to build a 3,773 square metre store at Steart Farm off Wedmore Road in Cheddar. The store will also host a cafe and will be open from 7am until 10pm.

Cheddar is a rural village with numerous supermarkets already available just a short drive away. The open, beautiful, landscape in this part of Cheddar will not be enhanced by the erection of an ugly new supermarket, service yard and car park. Sainsbury's will rely on visits by cars as bus services past the store are infrequent. There will be significant negative impact on traffic congestion and road safety. The paths near the proposed store are narrow or nonexistent and the scheme does not propose any improvements, in fact there is nothing in this scheme to benefit Cheddar or its residents.

Village centre shops, as well as those in surrounding villages will suffer from trade leakage and some may close. Cheddar residents already leave the village for their bulk shopping so that they can use a wider range of facilities in nearby towns, not just the supermarket, and for many residents those trips will continue even if a supermarket is built here.