Published: Wednesday, 10th March, 2010 2:17pm

New supermarket bid?

By Ewan McInnes

A GLOBAL supermarket chain has been selected as the 'preferred bidder' to develop a new supermarket in Barrhead.

After a lengthy process to find a suitable company East Renfrewshire councillors have agreed on a supermarket, believed to be Tesco, with whom the council will begin negotiations.

Tesco, which already has a supermarket in the Westbourne Shopping Centre, has confirmed to the Barrhead News that it has submitted a bid to the council as part of a tendering process for a site in Barrhead.

For some time council bosses have been looking for a satisfactory company to develop a brand new 7,000 sq m supermarket next to the town's sports centre and the council has revealed there is now only one company it will hold discussions with.

Regeneration convener, councillor Tony Buchanan said he could not reveal if Tesco had been selected by the council. He said: "Although the preferred bidder can't be named at this stage for commercial confidentiality reasons, we've instructed our director of environment and his staff to enter into detailed negotiations.

"These negotiations will aim to get us the best deal for the town that will help to deliver on the regeneration plans we've been working on."

Tommy Reilly revealed that Barrhead Community Council (BCC) are undecided on whether a new Tesco in the town is a good idea and would like to know who the rival supermarket bidders are.

The chair of BCC said: "I don't know who the other bidders are but they possibly could've created more competition and better prices for people in the town.

"The council need the money from the supermarket to carry out the regeneration in the town.

"But is it therefore going to cause a bit of dereliction at Tesco's current site?

"I am not entirely decided on this one way or the other.

"Will we just end up naming Barrhead 'Tesco Town'?

"That sounds negative, but it might end up being a perfectly good thing.

"Some members of the public have approached me to say a separate supermarket would have resulted in extra jobs and competition.

"But if a new Tesco is built it might have a negative impact on the shops in Main Street.

"Barrhead Community Council do have some concerns through dialogue we have had with the public."

Doug Wilson, Tesco corporate affairs manager, said: "We recently submitted a bid as part of a tender process for a council-owned site in Barrhead.

"We have not received official confirmation of the outcome of the bid process and we are therefore unable to comment further at this stage."

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