The planning sub-committee of Merton Council has just approved this application by Safeway to build a new superstore on the former site of Wimbledon football club at Plough Lane in Wimbledon.

I urge you to use your powers to call this planning application in for review, and ultimately reverse this decision.

The Merton Cycling Campaign objects to this development because it will generate new motor traffic which will make the roads more dangerous for cyclists and put people off cycling. This runs directly counter to the central targets of the DoT's recently published National Cycling Strategy - namely to double the number of cycling trips by 2002, and double it again by 2012.

We also feel there are good grounds for rejecting this application on the grounds set out by your department's planning guidance notices PPG 6 and 13:

* There is no need for a new superstore - this borough (and this part of the borough) is well provided with superstores already;

* This is an out-of-town centre site with very poor public transport access;

* The hourly free bus service that Safeway has offered is a sop, with no guarantees that it will be maintained indefinitely.

* thousands of additional cars and heavy delivery lorries on roads that are struggling with current traffic volumes;

* increased pollution in an area where air quality already falls frequently below EU standards;

* many local traders likely to be put out of business;

* deflection of shoppers from Safeway's Wimbledon town centre branch to the new site, possibly resulting in the future closure of the town centre branch and associated town centre decay that this process always brings.

We are confused about our council's stance on environmental issues. It has recently produced an impressive Local Agenda 21 document - A Vision for a Sustainable Merton - containing a whole chapter on shopping with worthy advice such as: "use local shops, reducing the need to travel, saving time and fuel and benefiting the local economy". The chapter on transport contains the vision: "To increase the use of alternative transport to the car, and hence minimise private car use in the borough". Council leader Tony Colman has been trumpeting Merton's green merits as far afield as summit meetings in Istanbul, and more worryingly now chairs the London Agenda 21 steering group!

Yours sincerely

Richard Evans, Merton Cycling Campaign