A NOTICE in today’s Mercury advertising the sale of Brewery Field in Northgate to Tesco has sparked controversy.

Sedgemoor District Council is advertising the disposal of the public open space for two weeks.

Tesco has bid £11million to build a new ‘Extra’ store on the Northgate site in Bridgwater, and the plans include building over about a third of Brewery Field.

However, Sedgemoor District Council insists this will be offset by the open space expanding into an area which is currently used for car parking and hard landscaped public space which would be increased.

After reading the notice in today’s Mercury Labour councillor Brian Smedley contacted the council asking if the whole of Brewery Field is to be sold to Tesco, and not “just that bit required for building the new store”.

He wrote: “I suspect very few other people realised the extent of the sale and had assumed that your intentions were minimal in constantly stating that only 1/3 of the Brewery Field site would be surrendered and you meant exactly that and not every last blade of grass.”

But a spokeswoman for Sedgemoor District Council told The Mercury that it had always intended to sell the whole Northgate site, including all of Brewery Field, to Tesco.

She also said the proposed new layout of the public open space at Northgate would result in a “managed space that would be a high-quality, landscaped space with facilities for children’s play, a kick-about area and area for sitting”.

The new area would be maintained by Tesco but Sedgemoor District Council has insisted on a covenant to keep the land as public open space and stop the company from redeveloping it in future.

Members of the public are being asked for their comments on the sale and anyone wishing to do so should contact Tim Mander at Sedgemoor District Council in writing by Tuesday, March 22.