THE stalled public inquiry into the plans to build a new Tesco supermarket in Coleford has now been rescheduled to re-start on June 6 – and PINS, the planning inspectorate, have appointed Mr David Leeming to preside over the inquiry. He had previously been appointed as inspector of the first inquiry in February, which collapsed after the lawyers representing the supermarket and the District Council decided that, due to a technicality over notifying people who had sent in objections to the plans and who wanted to be represented and have a voice at the inquiry, the whole process would have to be abandoned and a new inquiry set up.

Opponents of the plans to build the new supermarket and petrol station had complained that not everyone who had lodged objections with the District Council planning department had been notified of the public inquiry, and one person who attended the aborted first attempt said that she felt that many groups had been "betrayed and isolated" by the botched process. She told the Review: "David Leeming was made aware of the shortcomings in notification five or six times before the inquiry. We repeatedly told him of the problems, but he chose to override our objections, even when they were brught to his attention on the day itself.

"The two solicitors, representing the council and the developers, had the temerity to say that one public speaker, who had left the inquiry in disgust at Mr Leeming's reluctance to even adjourn, was responsible for the inquiry being cancelled - when it was actually the solicitors themselves who had requested it of the inspector. This I think was because they were worried about the notification process to the objectors, and that the inquiry may have been acting unlawfully."

The shock cancellation of the first inquiry has led many people to speculate on how much money the failed hearing cost, and whether the Council or PINS would be footing the bill. A figure of £30,000 has been mentioned.

The new inquiry will convene on June 5 in the same venue as the first, in the Forest of Dean District Council chamber in Coleford.