Wolverhampton Tesco pull-out would be 'devastating blow'

This week the Express & Star revealed the proposed Tesco store at the former Royal Hospital site in All Saints is now under consideration, just two months after bosses confirmed their commitment to building the new store.

The struggling supermarket giant is looking to sell off unused sites to raise hundreds of millions of pounds following a series of damaging profit warnings.

Ettingshall Councillor Bishan Dass said the news had been met with a mixture of anger and frustration by his constituents, many of whom see the store as a step towards regenerating the area to the south of the city.

He said: "People have been waiting for longer than 10 years for this project to get off the ground. People saw it as a great relief when Tesco announced work would be starting next year, but now this may not happen.

"All Saints is one of the most deprived areas of the city with one of the highest unemployment rates. The store and the resulting jobs created are considered vital in terms of providing a boost to the area. To lose that would be a devastating blow for the city.

"The council has done everything in its power to make the development as attractive as possible for Tesco. The situation is in their hands."

Councillor John Rowley, who represents Blakenhall ward, said the council needs to consider other options for redeveloping the All Saints area should Tesco's plans fall through.

"When the New Summer Row project went belly up the city council rightly changed its focus to the encouragement of small businesses," said Cllr Rowley, who chairs the council's Business and Enterprise Scrutiny panel.

"This is now starting to bear fruit with selective demolition combined with the reoccupation and renovation of small shops to provide incubator units for new businesses.

"If this can work in the Southside area of the city, I see no reason why it cannot succeed in All Saints. Big is not always the most beautiful."

Tesco has been forced to consider its options for a number of unused sites around the country in a bid to counter dwindling profits and a share price slump.

Profits for the year to the end of February are predicted to be £1.4bn, far below the £2bn expected by analysts and the £3.3bn reported last year.

The retailer issued its fourth profits warning in five months following on from revelations that it artificially boosted profits by more than £260m.