Dormouse scuppers Morrisons plan for Wadebridge

Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. This is the important principle which looks as if it's going to become a crucial factor in the "battle of the supermarkets" currently raging in Wadebridge, where Sainsbury's and Morrisons are racing to develop new sites to the north of the town and Tesco is seeking expansion to the south.

Morrisons wants to build on the existing Wadebridge Football Club ground. Part of the deal is a new football site outside and to the west of the town at Bodieve. The proposed new football site is due to come before planners on Thursday and is a "make-or-break" element of the supermarket project: no new football club, no Morrisons.

The 10.5-acre site at Bodieve is currently agricultural and - possibly - home to a handful of dormice. Dormice are now so rare that they are on the list of European Protected Species and it is against the law to disturb their habitat. No-one has seen any dormice on the site but that doesn't matter - they have been seen just over a mile away and so there is a risk that they might take offence at the construction of six football pitches, floodlighting, changing facilities and 70 car parking spaces.

And so, notwithstanding what planning officer Gavin Smith sees as the community benefit of a new sporting facility, which is supported by both Sport England and the Football Association, he is recommending a refusal of permission:

"In the absence of the opportunity for the planning authority to consider the impact on a protected species as a material consideration, I am of the opinion that permission
cannot be granted to this application."

Supporters of the proposed new football site are now desperately hoping that a dormouse survey, due to be completed by November, will prove that no dormouse will be harmed by the project.

Meanwhile planners are soon to consider the Sainsbury's application, just yards from the existing Wadebridge Football Club (where Morrisons wants to go), at Higher Trenant. The proposed Sainsbury's site is on land owned by Cornwall Council.

Those councillors who are keen to sell to Sainsbury's, and cash in on a surplus asset in order to benefit Cornwall's council taxpayers, might now discover a new interest in nature conservation in general and the protection of dormice in particular.