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Last week we told how a controversial £20 million retail park planned for Stirling, including an Asda superstore, had been raised in the Scottish Parliament.

Speaking in Holyrood, MSP Mark Ruskell criticised the proposed development while speaking as part of a debate on the National Planning Framework. The Green MSP claimed that the proposals for the controversial multi-million pound out-of-town retail development in Stirling would lock the community into car dependency, further damage the high street, and is at odds with the Scottish Government’s aspirations for 20-minute neighbourhoods.

Stirling Observer readers took to our Facebook page to share their views.

Steve Johnston posted: “he says communities should have a say, well I think the Stirling community would want this. We’re already car dependent and the High Street is pretty dead.’”

Vicki Hambly added: “it’s not about having or not having Asda. It’s about the council going against its own planning department advice and putting it somewhere it shouldn’t be. It needs to be relocated to somewhere else in Stirling, following its own planners’ advice!”

Neill Ferguson said: “i agree with him the more and more I have thought about it the more this doesn’t make sense when the town centre is all but empty. There is no real transport routes and plenty of choice in the retail park as it stands.”

David Wilson said: “when the good folks of Stirling and Dunblane rejected the Park of Keir development, the Scottish Government overturned local democracy and imposed a development which will impact biodiversity and the environment.

“Under the current cost of living crisis, we actually want an affordable supermarket like Asda, the council approved it and now the MSPS are telling us that we can’t have it.

“If the Scottish parliament was in London, Stirling would want independence from a government that is out of touch.

“Do we need local shops?

“Yes if they are affordable like Asda, Lidl or Aldi. MSPS with their expensive salaries just don’t seem to get it.’”