DETAILS of an ambitious exchange deal between The Petersfield School and Tesco will go under public scrutiny when a consultation period begins next week. The supermarket giant is negotiating a deal to buy a strip of land from TPS in order to expand its floor space. In return, the school would be able to buy extensive all-weather sports facilities, which would also be available for community use. Designs and proposals are set to go before Petersfield Town Council next Thursday at 7-30 pm. And the public will be able to view details of the exchange at an exhibition in the Festival Hall's Rose Room from noon to 6 pm on Friday, and 10 am to 2 pm on Saturday. Tesco press officer Felix Gummer said he was looking forward to engaging the public in the process. And he said that he hoped visitors would be interested in the results of some of the independent shopping surveys that had been carried out in the town. He said: "The survey found that 75 per cent of shoppers travelled outside Petersfield to buy non- food items. "We want to keep people shopping in the town and create jobs here. We are in a fantastic location and it works really well with the town centre. The walkway between the town centre and Tesco is always busy. "So far, we have increased people's expenditure on convenience items in the town from 53 per cent to 70 per cent."
