A public meeting will discuss the possible affects of a new supermarket planned for Royston.

The Royston Gateway Scheme, which includes a Waitrose supermarket, a new roundabout and a storage depot for Johnson Matthey, will be one of the items on the agenda at the latest Save Royston Town Centre meeting, which takes place later this month.

Organiser Clive Porter started the meetings earlier this year in a bid to drum new life into the town’s High Street.

He believes the Gateway scheme, which was given the backing of Royston Town Council last month, will be detrimental to small, independent traders.

He said: “I quite like Waitrose but it’s the position it’s in that’s wrong. I think everyone is being a bit greedy because we want a Waitrose. The small shops will suffer and it will not be good news for the town centre.

“Let’s be realistic about this out of town development, it certainly isn’t going to attract more souls to the High Street – it will impinge even more on the already spartan footfall. Market towns are part of our fast disappearing heritage, which we should treasure and be proud of.

“Royston, very sadly, has been allowed to stagnate, with no major investment.”

Town councillors have agreed not to oppose Royston Gateway, stating that the project was hugely popular among people in the town.

Also on the agenda for the meeting is the impact of proposed funding cuts to bus services. As reported in last week’s Crow, Herts County Council is running a consultation on plans to stop services after 6.30pm and on Sundays to save £600,000.

Caroline Patten and Guy Brigden, from the county council’s network planning department, will be present to talk about the consultation.

The meeting takes place on Wednesday, September 17, starting at 5.30pm at a new venue, Hogg’s Coffee Shop in the Corn Exchange, Royston.