supermarket giant Tesco will be expected to contribute £180,000 towards maintaining the vitality of Ammanford town centre if it receives planning permission to replace its existing supermarket in the town, county council officials have revealed.

The retail titan has submitted an application to build a new 5,797sqft foodstore alongside its current base in Park Street, Ammanford, and to build a new car park on the site of the present building.

A report to tomorrow’s (Thursday) council planning meeting says that Tesco would be expected to sign a Section 106 legal agreement, which binds developers to fund community projects as part of any development.

The report says: “The applicant shall agree to provide a contribution of £180,000 to ensure that the vitality and viability of the town centre is maintained.

“The expenditure of the monies shall be restricted to within the Ammanford Town Council area, to be used within a maximum of five years from the date of the receipt of the contribution.

“Up to £2,000 of the overall contribution shall be utilised for works to mitigate against this short-fall in the future parking provision that shall occur during the short period that the new store becomes operational and the existing store being demolished and laid out for parking.

“In particular, this element of the overall contribution will be used to help improve facilities such as markings, signage, CCTV, lighting and pavement facilities at Carregaman car park and improve the current parking stock within Ammanford.”

But campaigner Phil Broadhurst is urging councillors to reject the scheme, saying the planning recommendation contravenes the authority’s own guidelines which state planners should reject large-scale foodstores which adversely effect the town centre.

“The planning report claims that the closure of the only other supermarket in town would not unduly affect the viability of the town centre,” said Mr Broadhurst.

“In reality the whole of the College Street end of the town would be massively affected.”

He also accused council officers of failing to make the most out of Section 106 provisions.

“I don’t approve of Section 106 anyway, as it’s just a form of open bribery,” he said, “but council officers have been completely walked over by Tesco in this case.

“Tesco is offering money for local projects, but these include free buses to Tesco and improvements in Carregaman car park which Tesco will need for their customers while their new car park is being built.”