A ROW over a council committee's refusal to accept a petition against a new Tesco in Wanstead continues today, with campaigners slamming the decision as an "affront to democracy."

Yesterday the Guardian revealed how the supermarket giant's new branch in Wanstead High Street had been granted a licence by the council to sell alcohol seven days a week between 8am and 11pm.

Campaigners against the licence had argued it would damage other independent businesses in the area, as well as encouraging anti-social behaviour with the chain selling cut-price booze late at night.

And outrage continues to simmer today, both at the decision of the authority's licensing sub-committee and the behaviour of its chairman, Cllr Edward Griffin, who declined to accept a 1,440-strong petition against the licence at Friday's hearing.

He also repeatedly restricted statements by his Conservative colleague Cllr Sue Nolan, who was there representing the Wanstead Society.

Cllr Griffin said Cllr Nolan had strayed from the point of her representation, and argued the petition was submitted too late to be properly considered.

But angry campaigners claim they were told by council staff it would be acceptable to hand it over at the meeting.

Cllr Nolan said today: "I don't think it was a particularly fair hearing.

"He didn't allow me to speak on several occasions and the impression we were given beforehand was the petition would be accepted.

"It's a shame. But you can't really refuse Tesco it when other places in the High Street also have a licence, but the terms could have been restricted.

"Also there wasn't any police representation there which was rather sad."

Billie Figg, of the Wanstead Society, said the behaviour of the committee was "just not democratic."

She added: "This is a case of a rich and powerful company taking over a quiet suburban High Street, which is going to promote cut-price alcohol and make it available for all hours of the day.

"The council has acted against the interests of residents."

But Cllr Griffin said he was simply complying with the strict regulations of the meeting.

He said: "There's an end date for submissions and once that end date has passed you can only submit additional material if the other party agrees, which Tesco did not.

"You have to comply with the regulations."

Cllr Griffin said he had "no knowledge" that council staff had apparently told campaigners they would be allowed to submit their petition at the meeting.

He added: "Cllr Sue Nolan was asked to speak on behalf of an organisation [The Wanstead Society]. They put their representations to the committee and she could only speak on those recommendations.

"She couldn't speak outside the terms of reference, which is what she did.

"Everytime she did I stopped her, but she ignored me and continued to do it.

"Everything has to be heard on its individual merits."

TESCO HIT BACK AT CAMPAIGNERS

Meanwhile Tesco have today broken their silence over the campaign against their licence application in Wanstead, by claiming trade for other businesses could be boosted when they move in to the High Street.

A spokeswoman for the chain said: "We believe this is an excellent site for a Tesco Express store.

"It is situated within a well established shopping area and we think it will complement existing traders by acting as an anchor and keeping people shopping in the area.

"Our experience has shown that Express stores can actually boost local trade as they attract more people to the area which can benefit other shops and services.

"Our Express customers have told us they like the convenience of being able to shop early morning, and later in the evening and to have the opportunity to purchase a full range of items during these times.

She added: "We have a zero tolerance policy to underage alcohol and tobacco sales and anti social behaviour. We have rigorous and robust measures in place to ensure we sell alcohol responsibly including our `Think 25 policy'.

"We comply with all relevant legislation relating to licensing matters and we operate strict guidelines to our staff in relation to the sale of alcohol.

"The vast majority of customers enjoy alcohol responsibly but we recognise we have a role to play in helping to tackle problem drinking - we were the first supermarket to introduce labels showing the units of alcohol in our own brand alcohol."

A date for the opening of the new shop has not yet been set.