THE Vicar of Dorking has warned the town could go through "a prolonged period of blight" if the debate over a new supermarket is not resolved.
Sainsbury's wants to build a new store behind St Martin's Walk – but local opinion is deeply divided.
This week the Reverend Derek Tighe, who took over at St Martin's Church in July, wrote to the Advertiser to have his say on the issue.
"It seems that there have been two forums in which this matter has been debated," he wrote.
"Firstly, there has been what might reasonably be described as a passionate and highly polarised 'all or nothing' debate in the columns of this newspaper – quite understandable, but not really the ideal route to a consensus of the wider community (residents, business and others).
"Secondly, there has been the formal Town Area Action Plan process, which I have arrived on the tail end of – a procedure apparently so complex as to be both impenetrable and incomprehensible to almost everyone but a very few hardy individuals and organisations who have tried to follow it.
"It seems that neither forum has really dealt with what I believe to be a central question: what scale and nature of development on this site could genuinely benefit the whole town and be sustainable in terms of its economy, environment and transport network?"
The action plan, which sets Dorking's planning priorities for the next decade, has earmarked the land for a new supermarket.
Sainsbury's has previously outlined plans for a 3,250 sq m store, but the company has not yet submitted a formal application.
Mr Tighe wrote: "Only last week St Martin's Church wrote to the council in the hope that, even at this late stage, more effective and specific criteria for an acceptable development can be set in the action plan.
"St Martin's Church has never argued for the status quo, and it is not doing so now, but we do feel that the ideas that Sainsbury's informally suggested last year are far too big for this location.
"Without clear parameters, we fear a prolonged period of blight while successive planning applications are judged to fail against the currently largely subjective criteria or, alternatively, a damaging application is sanctioned locally or forced through on appeal.
"I would dare to suggest that neither of these is what this community deserves."
