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From the third-floor window of a London, UK primary school, parent Sarah Slotover stares out over the industrial site at the centre of a David and Goliath battle between online supermarket Ocado and the community.

The plot in the Tufnell Park area of the capital is surrounded by houses, with just a high wire fence separating it from Yerbury Primary School's playground.

A group of parents and local residents are concerned about the air pollution impact on the school's hundreds of young pupils if Ocado opens a massive distribution hub. They have taken the battle all the way to London's High Court.

The dispute is a result of the rapid growth of online delivery services, which have seen customer fulfilment centres or smaller "dark stores" — named due to the practice of blacking out the windows of premises that were previously shops — crop up in residential parts of cities. The groups' concerns echo similar concerns in other cities in Europe and beyond.


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