About Us

Tesco propose to build a massive new superstore on the old Spooner site on Railway Road in Ilkley. IRATE (Ilkley Residents Against Tesco Expansion) is a group of residents opposed to this development.

View of the proposed store from Railway Road

IRATE set up a petiton agains the store in 2007 and obtained over 5,000 signatures from residents objecting to the development of the new store.

A poll conducted by the Ilkley Gazette in August 2007 found that “MORE than 80 per cent of Ilkley people are against Tesco building a new supermarket on Railway Road”.

Tesco put their original plans in to the council in December 2007 which they then later withdrew after protests from many groups in Ilkley including IRATE. They have now re-submitted new plans.

Tesco have recently delivered a leaflet to most of the houses in Ilkley and the surrounding area. The leaflet makes all kinds of claims about “consultation” that has occurred with the community. IRATE is not aware of any such consultation being carried out.

IRATE will once again be opposing this development for the following reasons:

• The existing Tesco store is excellent and is more than big enough to serve a town the size of Ilkey.
• The proposed superstore would create a huge amount of extra traffic along already congested roads like Valley Drive and Railway Road.
• As well as food a superstore of this size will sell household goods and clothes. This will drive many local shops out of business – especially given the tough times for shops in general at the moment. The knock-on effects to the character and prosperity of the town will be enormous and irreversible.