TEIGNMOUTH town council has again welcomed the interest of quality foodstore Waitrose. But it is still concerned about getting more sports fields if the store is built at Broadmeadow. Mayor Cllr Geoff Bladon said at Tuesday's full council meeting: 'I'm not against Waitrose or any other quality business coming into our town. 'What I do find difficult is that both myself and Cllr Petherick have had stand up arguments with Teignbridge Council about re-instatement and enhancement of the sports fields and we have been assured by Teignbridge of that, but now it turns out that they want to sell it off for industrial units. 'We need to make sure that we get proper cover for sports fields in this town. 'We are not negative about any business but it has to be for the benefit of the town as a whole,' he said. Cllr David Cox said that the addition of a Waitrose, the only one in South Devon, has got to be good for the town. But Cllr Sylvia Russell raised concern about the Broadmeadow site: 'There's still a question mark over the future of Broadmeadow and sports fields. 'Any development there will have an impact on the existing businesses at Broadmeadow. Also, we need to know how they are going to do about access and there's a bit more to this than meets the eye. 'There other areas in Teignmouth where Waitrose could go,' she said. Cllr Vince Fusco added that if sports fields are lost, then they have got to be replaced. Teignbridge Council is continuing negotiations with Waitrose, part of the John Lewis Group. It would need to find alternative sports ground if the scheme went ahead.
