The chance of a second shot at blocking the way for Tesco’s new supermarket in Ilkley was something opponents hoped for after the decision of the inspector in 2010.

At that time, there was talk by residents of raising money for a legal challenge, before legal advice convinced both them and Bradford Council not to challenge the inspector’s decision.

Tesco envisaged the new supermarket opening its doors for businesses by Christmas 2011. Since that time, residents’ group Irate has disbanded, economic conditions have done little to pick up, and Tesco has yet to resolve all the conditions it must comply with to make progress on building this supermarket.

Nearly three years after the controversial decision, with time almost up for Tesco’s planning permission, the company has to go back to Bradford Council and ask for permission once again. Anyone who still has half a will to challenge the development is likely to be asking questions right now. The feeling seems to be that the likelihood of completely overturning the plans is very unlikely.

Little has changed in terms of significant planning laws in relation to these plans, and presumably, the case behind the inspector’s decision still stands. This is simply a renewal of the permission already granted. But it does make the casual critic ask why there has been such a hold-up, given the effort put in by Tesco to drive the scheme forward, and how many more years it will be before the store which led to so much debate across the community actually comes into being.

Not everyone in town opposed Tesco, of course, and the benefits promised, such as extra jobs and a better service for customers, have yet to be realised. If Tesco is granted a renewal of permission, will this new store be open within the next couple of years, or will the same position arise again three years down the line?

Comedy of errors in Ben Rhydding phone cable cut

The situation with the loss of telephone service to Ben Rhydding Post Office would be funny if it wasn’t such a serious and annoying matter.

Postmistress Yoshika Wiley was unable to serve customers for five days after all her communications systems went down when work being carried out in the street outside caused problems. The work was being carried out by Northern Gas engineers, who told Yoshika they blamed the loss of service on BT, who responded by blaming it back on Northern Gas.

While this comedy of errors, blame and counter-blame was being carried out, Mrs Wiley was having to turn away hundreds of customers, including those who needed to collect their weekly pensions.

What is unacceptable is that Mrs Wiley seems to have been passed from pillar to post. Any loss of any public utility or service needs to be dealt with as quickly as possible, but especially when it affects a business such as this on which many people rely.