SEDGEMOOR District Councillors today voted not to overturn their decision to give Tesco the go ahead to develop the Northgate site.

A motion had been put forward by Labour councillors, calling for the decision taken in January to accept Tesco's offer for the 12.4-acre site to be rescinded "on the grounds that this decision was made in undue haste without all relevant information being provided to members".

But 26 councillors voted against the motion, with only 11 for it, and one abstained.

Cllr David Preece spoke out against the motion, saying the town needed capital funding and that there had not been other offers for the Northgate site.

He said: “Bridgwater must continue to evolve or it will suffer like other towns of our size.”

Cllr Kathy Pearce, who put forward the motion, said the original decision to allow the £11 million sale on January 28 had been made with ‘undue haste’ and without adequate consultation.

But council leader Duncan McGinty rebuked the claims and said discussions had started in 2004.

Today’s outcome follows a public meeting on Monday where campaign group Bridgwater Forward and residents overwhelmingly voted to object to the sale of the site to Tesco.

And residents spoke out again during the public speaking part of today’s meeting. Ian Tucker said: “The decision to sell Northgate, a prime site in the centre of town, to yet another large supermarket chain, is nothing short of a crime against the people of Bridgwater.”

He shouted out derogatory remarks about the council when the motion was voted against.