ANGRY Mullumbimby residents stepped up their campaign to stop Woolworths developing a supermarket on the edge of the scenic NSW North Coast township yesterday but the retail giant said it would not back down.
The Mullumbimby Forum, a group of residents opposing the project, said Woolworths directors were being petitioned "to let democracy decide the impasse over the big supermarket their company wants to build on a green field in one of Australia's truly special towns, Mullumbimby in far northern NSW", according to The Australian Finanial Review.
Woolworths yesterday would not agree to a community request that it jointly fund an independent poll of residents to find out if its plans to build the 2600 square metre supermarket had the backing of locals. The retailer argues Mullumbimby's residents want the store.
But Mullumbimby locals said the majority did not want the development.
"We did a telephone poll," said secretary of the Mullumbimby Community Forum Tricia Shantz. "Half the people said they didn't want it, a quarter were unsure, and a quarter did. If the community wants the development we will go away. [But] we would like to present the results of the survey to the board of Woolworths.''
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