The USA has Wal*Mart, the UK has Tesco. This supermarket behemoth takes great pleasure in ripping the hearts out of existing town communities in order to install their profit machines: if they manage to close the surrounding shops down, then all the better for Tesco. This time it’s Seaton in Devon, a small English seaside resort and close-knit community that is in danger of losing not only the holiday village (essentially the thing that draws most people into Seaton) but the nursery – infants and young children will have nowhere to go for childcare, but why should Tesco care, they are bringing “attractive shopping facilities” to the town (i.e. a new supermarket that will kill off the local businesses)?

The lead article comes from today’s Independent:

Sandwiched between the red and white cliffs of the Jurassic Coast and surrounded by acres of unspoilt saltmarsh, the Devon resort of Seaton has prided itself on its status as a serene backwater whose last serious skirmish with an unwanted invader was 700 years ago when it supplied Edward I with ships and sailors to fight off the French.

Yesterday, however, the 7,500 inhabitants of the town on the south Devon coast were readying themselves for a new battle after Tesco bought its largest employer, a holiday village, and promptly ordered its closure. The site also houses Seaton’s only nursery, catering for 35 children, and a swimming pool.

The 152 staff at the Lyme Bay Holiday Village have received redundancy letters informing them that the village, which hosts 40,000 people a year, will close next January to make way for a new development including a large supermarket, a visitor centre and tourist accommodation.

Residents have accused the retail giant, which last year made profits of nearly £2bn, of “breathtaking arrogance” by failing to present any firm proposals for the 15-hectare plot or a timetable for its redevelopment, meaning the town faces the prospect of being without a nursery or housing for the 80 holiday village staff who live on the sites.

Campaigners claim the company, which has said it wants to help make Seaton a “sustainable tourism” centre, has failed to respond to requests for a meeting to discuss its plans and only exercised its option to buy the holiday village after Sainsbury’s, expressed interest last month in acquiring land to build a store.

Lizzie Bewsher, head of a community group opposed to the plans, Stand Up 4 Seaton, said: “In one fell swoop, Tesco have bought up and shut down Seaton’s single biggest source of employment and income. A lot of businesses in the town rely on the passing trade that the holiday village brings in. The people who live in the holiday village face being made homeless and working parents will have nowhere to leave their children. The nearest nursery will be 10 miles away. The village also has the only gym and swimming pool in a town with very few facilities.

If you want to support the campaign then go to http://www.standup4seaton.blogspot.com/. Even if you are not in the UK then they could do with your help.

There is also a long-established web site run by battle-worn campaigners called Tescopoly, which is well worth a visit for anyone who wants to know how to fight unwanted development.