REGARDING the proposed Tesco store in Great Harwood (LT, January 10), I am worried about how this has been passed.

I am a long-term Tesco customer and have used the Hill Street store in Blackburn since it opened and I am also a Great Harwood resident of 35-plus years.

We elect our councillors to look after our interests in our areas which is fine and they do a pretty good job as a rule.

In the case of this proposed store many people in Great Harwood signed petitions and wrote to the council. The North West Regional Assembly lodged an objection on the grounds there is enough retail provision in the town.

Hyndburn Council leader Peter Britcliffe, is a member of the North West Regional Assembly that lodged the objection so who is behind and more importantly why, allowing this store with all this "weight" against it.

So after all this and according to the LT article of January 10, something like 1,000 against and only 22 people wrote in to support it, how on earth did it get passed?

There is obviously a majority against the store for whatever reason so what happened to democracy? If the folks of the town say no then no it should be.

As for 150 jobs, that is ridiculous. It is also very likely that Metflex, who are selling the area to be built on, will leave Great Harwood. If they have an injection of cash from the sale I would expect them to move out of town so probably losing some jobs in the town.

It would be nice to have a Tesco at the bottom of town, but is it worth the price that the town will have to pay? When I go shopping locally there are enough places already for that.

If Tesco really want to take over in Great Harwood then they should just buy the building the Co-op are in and move in, save all the trouble of building a new one and we wouldn't have all the construction traffic/noise/mess etc that we had last time. Everybody wins.

ROB LOCHIER, via email