A Hinckley councillor has claimed that the results of a local paper’s reader survey could stop a major supermarket chain from setting up shop in the town.

The Hinckley Times received 560 survey forms from its readers concerned about the future of the town, with 419 respondents saying that they did not want a Morrisons supermarket on the bus station site in the town.

Borough Council leader Councillor David Bill (Lib Dem, Clarendon) said he believed the strength of public opinion could sway the company into staying away from the town.

A legal agreement committing the local authority and Morrisons to work together has not yet been signed and the Bradford-based supermarket chain could walk at any time.

Coun Bill said: “This information will be looked at by all the major players and if they think ‘we’re not wanted here, we’re off’, then that’s it.

“If the weight of public opinion is so much that they don’t want it to happen, they may well win. There is no compulsion for any would-be developer to come into this town at all.”

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