Oswestry21

Meet and talk at our Jumble Sale, Saturday 22 May from 11am - 2pm at the Memorial Hall.

Clothes, books, great cakes and tea.

Perhaps not the groundbreaking post you have come to expect, but our activities need funding!

D day tomorrow. Decision or Deferral? After two years of debate since the Town Council/OCA Smithfield shambles first came to light, during which Oswestry has become encircled by Tesco in every neighbouring town,  the Strategic Planning Committee meets at the Lion Quays tomorrow afternoon to decide whether Oswestry is to become another clone town/ghost town and become one of the last to clamber aboard the sinking ship of supermarket over-provision, or whether it can have some self belief in its own economy and community and offer the rare opportunity to inhabitants and visitors alike to experience what it is to be a market town.

All the current applications were visualised in a very different economic climate to that which we are now experiencing. All are based on a need argument set out by Nathaniel Lichfield Partners which have been steadily and incrementally reduced since 2007 to a shadow of their initial findings. Petrol costs are rising, food miles and local food issues are now common components of newspaper articles and news items. And realisation that true leakage is the leakage from the local economy created by supermarkets is now common knowledge.

All the applications facing the Strategic Planning Committee are either far too large or too far out of town, or both. All will affect the town, independent traders, the community, and drain the local economy. Until real need in the form of sensible creation of employment land for real long term and decently paid jobs and the subsequent building of housing in the locality is in place, there is no need for further supermarket presence in a small market town that already has Sainsburys, ALDI, Morrisons, M & S; S, Iceland, and the various other outlets that provide food retail that have opened recently.

Here’s to a sane and pragmatic decision to either refuse all four applications or to defer a decision until such time as scale is appropriate to need. The desperation evidenced by developers in recent days says far more about their need to make the bucks than it does about any consideration for the town’s need to continue as an economic community.

Twist or bust.

350 people made a presence that put paid to recent rumours of a “vociferous minority” of supermarket protesters. It was a strong turnout which met with no opposition views and represented concerned individuals of all ages from Oswestry and it’s surroundings. This was a definite message that many are tired and angry at having the future of what is a market town dictated by supermarket retailers and developers and by elected councillors that are so in thrall to them that they have little vision for the town as a community and economic entity in the changing times that are facing us.

The arguments and reasons have been discussed many times in these back pages, and if the process after a planning decision on the 18th March is to go to appeal, as expected, then these arguments will have to be refined and honed further. But for now, the fact remains that 350 people gave up their Saturday morning for their voices to be heard and their actions seen. Many thanks to all.

As the Civic Society, CPRE, Chamber of Trade and OS21 coalition poster and leafletting campaign starts to become apparent, here’s a reminder of what a busy town market can look like. And hey! It’s Oswestry 18 years ago in 1992. Not only is it interesting to see how many stalls there are, both in the Horsemarket and the Bailey square, but it’s interesting to see that only 18 years ago people were prepared to get off their arses and actually walk 200 yards from the Oak St. car park to the Powis Hall. One of the moans about having a bigger market and more stalls now is “But where will everyone park?”. Oak St. car park! Get a bit of excercise why not, while you go and buy fresh food at the Powis Hall! The walk can’t be any longer than the walk from the end of a superstore car park to the sliding doors.

Markets have a future: market town centre regeneration, local food hubs, supporters of local food suppliers, small business start ups, food miles, social cohesion, shopping as a social experience, tourism, wide variety and choice, value, quality, food provenance and knowledge ……. endless reasons why the direction that the economy is heading and the forces that are shaping society both cry out for active investment in, and management and promotion of town markets.

And until councils and highway authorities start to realise that town centres are for people, and people have legs, then we will continue to destroy town centre vitality by building supermarket retail parks with vast car parks where shoppers are happy to traipse about all day for miles, but claim that walking 200 yds in a town centre is too far.

With the imminent date for some kind of decision on the Oswestry supermarket situation looming on the horizon - March 18th - the coalition of OS21, Civic Society, CPRE and the Chamber of Trade are orchestrating a poster campaign around the town, and also a leaflet drop by Royal Mail which will be delivered to all households in the SY11-1 and 2 postal districts.

The posters will raise awareness of the campaign, and the leaflets will provide information about the consequences for the town centre and it’s economy if Oswestry were to have another supermarket and part of it will form an addressed objection letter that will require and address and a signature - and a stamp. 7,500 leaflets will be delivered.

The pace is hotting up as March 18th approaches, but it’s likely that any decision will lead to a long period of appeals and possible judicial review, so this looks likely to be one battle in a long war. The consequences of excess supermarket development are visible in town centres everywhere, and for anyone who doubts it, they might like to take the short trip to Wrexham and walk down the unfortunately named Hope Street now Eagles Meadow has landed.

We will also put the objection letter on this site this week under a tab on the bar above which will be downloadable and printable.

It’s a crossroads for this town - it can be one of the few towns to not opt for supermarket retail supremacy, and forge a workable and viable 21st century identity for itself, or one of the last to settle for selling it’s retail economy down the river and becoming a town centre of boarded shop fronts. Address and sign your objection letter, talk about the issue with friends and family and ask them to do the same.

For every £1 spend on food in supermarkets, just 8p goes to the farmers

Five large retail chains account for 80% of food sold in the UK

Around 2000 independent convenience stores disappear every year, more than 5 a day

Research shows that 50% of turnover from local retailers is returned to the local economy. Large retailers may return as little as 5% to the local economy

(Countryside Alliance)

A recent news article in the ‘Tizer reported that Sainsbury’s in Oswestry has started handing out free storage containers to customers to ‘help people do their bit to reduce the amount of food that goes to waste’.

      Laudable though this initiative may appear, it is somewhat ironic given the role that supermarkets play in creating food waste. Each year, up to 20 million tonnes of food are wasted in the UK, and most waste occurs before food even gets into our homes. British farmers are forced to waste millions of tonnes of fruit and veg before they even leave the farm, simply because the produce does not meet the strict cosmetic standards stipulated by supermarkets.

     Within homes, consumers bin around £12 billion of groceries each year, including nearly 100,000 tonnes of poultry meat. One major cause of food waste within homes is date-labelling, which confuses customers.

      Sell-by dates, which supermarkets use for stock control, have nothing to do with food safety.

      Best-before dates, which are supposedly for quality control purposes, are overused and often unnecessary; it’s obvious when fruit and veg, for example, are past their best.

     Even use-by dates are abused, as manufacturers set dates far in advance of when the food is likely to go off.

     Another source of food waste is supermarket bogof (buy one, get one free) offers or, even worse, buy three for the price of two, which encourage customers to buy far more fresh produce than they can realistically use before the excess starts to rot in the fridge or fruit bowl.  Consumers are essentially paying supermarkets for the privilege of throwing away excess supermarket stock, and thus saving the supermarkets the cost of doing so.

      Fortunately, shoppers in Oswestry can evade sell-by, best-before, bogof and other corporate chicanery by purchasing fresh produce from independent local food shops and market stalls, who will sell the exact amount you need – and offer free advice on what’s in season / the best cut of meat for a particular recipe, etc. 

While the Strategic Planning Committee ponders the retail future of Oswestry, it’s gratifying to see Shropshire Council leader and ex Oswestry Town Councillor Keith Barrow praising and supportive of independent local shops in the Shropshire Star & the Shropshire Council website. Worth remembering, as if we need to be reminded, that is exactly these kind of shops - corner shops, butchers, grocers, bakers, rural garages/post offices/shops that are the first to feel the brunt of increased supermarket presence and which soon become unviable in the face of such oppressive competition, and thus unable to supply local need in the way Keith Barrow describes below:

“I know from personal experience just how important the shop in my village has been for me and my neighbours over the past few days. I’d like to thank all the shop keepers and shop staff for the valuable role they have been playing over the past few days, often working long hours to provide a fantastic and vital service to local people”.

“Given the rural nature of the county, Shropshire’s local shops provide a valuable service all year round. However, it is during spells of bad weather when this becomes even more apparent, as village shops reduce the need for people to travel, or to travel further then necessary, to buy vital supplies. Once the weather improves I hope people will continue to support their local shops.”

Last Saturday evening Sainsburys was sold out of almost all vegetables, milk was low and tinned food was taking a hit. Earlier in the day, the vegetable stalls in the market at the Bailey were full of veg, and throughout the weekend corner shops and stores had veg, milk and tinned food. An example of how food reliance on large single suppliers can be a weakness and not a strength, and how the importance of a variety of small, local suppliers and retailers will be crucial in future. We jeopardize them at our cost. Centralisation of supply did not work under Communism, nor will it ultimately work under Capitalism.