Angry gran submits plans to bulldoze Tesco chief's home
A grandmother from Merseyside in the UK has submitted a planning application to bulldoze the luxury home of Tesco boss Terry Leahy because his firm wants to flatten her house for a new supermarket.
Angry Dot Reid, 58, paid £265 (€330) to submit the plans to knock down Mr Leahy’s £1.6m (€1.9m) mansion in leafy Cuffley, Hertfordshire, south of London.
Her own £80,000 (€99,700) housing association end-terrace home will be flattened by his firm who plan to build a huge new shop and a new stadium for Everton FC, in Kirkby, on the outskirts of Liverpool.
But Dot and around 500 people, supporters of Kirkby Residents Action Group, are against the massive new development, which will demolish a school and 72 other properties.
The grandmother-of-three has now put in plans to pull down Mr Leahy’s home and turn the land into a community garden, with water features and a kiosk for pensioners.
She has been helped by architects to prepare blueprints.
Tesco and Everton want to build a new stadium and retail complex in the centre of Kirkby, a new town built for Liverpool’s overspill population during 60s slum clearances.
Liverpool-born Terry Leahy, an Everton fan, was himself brought up in a council house before rising to become one of Britain’s top bosses and a multi-millionaire.
Dot, a former laundry woman and grandmother-of-three, is a huge Liverpool fan.
She helped set up St Patrick’s Housing Co-operative to get Government money to build the houses marked for demolition, which were only finished in 1992.
Mrs Reid said: “My property is being threatened to be knocked down. It is not a slum clearance, it is only 15 years old. Here comes Tesco’s again trying to take over the world.
“We want our voices to be heard. How would he like it if his house was flattened?”
Mrs Reid said she did not know of the details of Mr Leahy’s house – but looked it up on Google Earth.
She added: “It’s massive – you would be able to put Everton’s new stadium on his land.”
A Tesco spokesman said today: “This move is clearly a publicity stunt and has no chance of ever being implemented, the only outcome will be to waste the time, effort and tax payers’ money of Welwyn Hatfield Council.
“In contrast to this application, the Destination Kirkby team have consulted widely in Kirkby over the £400m (€499m) investment we are planning. The plans have been welcomed by the vast majority of local people who recognise this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity will create over 2,000 jobs.”
Everton pushed ahead with plans to move to Kirkby after a ballot of fans showed a clear majority in favour of leaving their Goodison Park home.
Mrs Reid’s application is now with Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council’s planning officers.
