Dereliction of duty?

Our friend Marcus Leroux wrote a big story in The Times today alleging that Tesco bought a town centre in Scotland from a company it effectively controlled anyway, and then left it derelict to help strengthen the case for its planned redevelopment of the site.

I’m pretty sure there’s nothing illegal about what it’s done up there, and there’s no doubt that getting a regeneration scheme off the ground isn’t easy, even in run-down neighbourhoods like the one in question, which is called Linwood.

But not for the first time what this episode does is allows Tesco to look a little bit crafty when it comes to securing development sites. When it comes to building a development pipeline, Tesco is second to none, and its ability to secure sites has been a key plans of its success in becoming the UK’s dominant supermarket.

That very dominance, however, puts pressure on Tesco to be seen to be doing the right thing. From the look of the photographs of Linwood, and also George’s knowledge of it, redevelopment is desperately needed and the jobs which regeneration of the town would bring would be very much welcomed.

But using tactics which, when they come out in the wash as they have in Linwood today, make Tesco look less than whiter than white, will work against it, and reinforce the inaccurate perception which some people have of it as a bit of a bully. When its planned redevelopment gets built, Tesco is bound to be good news for Linwood - that should be the story, rather than the tactics used to get it built.