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Supermarket sweet for Pompey?
Pompey are looking to strike a deal with Tesco over a new supermarket next to Fratton Park to fund the ground's redevelopment, The News can reveal.
Sources say the supermarket giant hopes to build a store of a similar size to the one at North Harbour.
With 70 per cent of the 22m cost of redeveloping Fratton set to be provided by the new supermarket, it is the most crucial part of Pompey's plan.
But senior council figures have urged caution, insisting a decision on any supermarket – to be built on the club's car park, near to the Etap Hotel – could be taken out of their hands by government inspectors.
City council leader Gerald Vernon-Jackson said: 'It's too big a store for us to decide on alone.
'The government will look at it and they must take into account local and national planning regulations, which include rules against building new out-of-town superstores if they will damage city centre and high street shops.
'In this case we would expect them to look at whether this store would damage stores close to Commercial Road and Asda at Fratton.
'When Tesco built its North Harbour store, it made a deal by promising to keep its Cosham store open.
'If it can make guarantees that high street and town centre shops won't lose out and shut down, it may succeed, but regulations point to a potentially difficult time.'
If Pompey go through with their new plans for Fratton Park it will increase the capacity of the ground by a third.
The club has said it hopes to have planning permission in place by the end of the summer, with work beginning in November.
Pompey said it still intends to move to Horsea Island – but this will not now be until 2018 at the earliest.
Mike Hancock, MP for Portsmouth South, told The News that Pompey were running out of chances to get their stadium plans right.
Mr Hancock said: 'The club are going to have to prove to the planning committee and public they can justify putting a supermarket there.
'They will have to go through tests to see if there is a need for it. The council may have an emotional tie to the club but a government planning inspector will not.'
Mr Hancock said that the presence of Asda and Morrisons supermarkets nearby could put Pompey's plans in jeopardy.
He added: 'Morrisons and Asda may have a say on this. The club will not get this on a wing and a prayer. The law demands this is done properly.'
Nobody from Tesco or Pompey was available to comment.
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Weather for Portsmouth
Sunday 12 February 2012
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