Return for £10m Tesco plan
Supermarket giant Tesco could be on the verge of resurrecting a £10 million plan to build a new supermarket in Rugeley.
The company has held informal "conversations" with officers at Cannock Chase Council with a view to trying to get a store in the town. The news will be welcomed by local people who got behind the plans in 2002.
They were also supported by the town council at the time.
Following a public inquiry the then Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott threw out the plans because the store was not close enough to the town centre.
Had the plans been given the go-ahead the new store would have created 270 jobs at the site off Leathermill Lane.
Bosses at the supermarket chain could be hoping to use the new Rugeley Bypass as a way forward as the new road will essentially redraw the town's boundary, putting Leathermill Lane inside.
Tesco's renewed interest in Rugeley follows news last week that the district council is working on a major regeneration package for the town which together could mark a new economic boom for the area.
Tesco still owns the land on Leathermill Lane and is now actively looking at whether to try again with its plans.
Tony Fletcher, spokesman for Tesco, confirmed the company was revisiting the idea of a store in Rugeley.
Councillor Ray Jones, chairman of Rugeley Town Council, said the idea of a Tesco in Rugeley was good.
