Oswestry21

SHOPPING FOR FRESH FOOD IN OSWESTRY

A  year long study of fresh foods in Oswestry undertaken by OS21 has shown that fresh fruit and veg. are cheaper in the Powis Hall Market than in Sainsbury’s and Morrisons. Meat is more expensive in independent butchers, but invariably comes from local sources, and food is more heavily packaged in the supermarkets.   

 Fig. 1 The mean price in £ per kilo of 12 items of fresh Fruit and Veg. is consistently lower in the Market and Covent Garden when compared to Sainsbury’s and Morrisons (more…)

Article by By Michael Haynes, Business lecturer at the University of Wolverhampton’s Shropshire campus from Shropshire Star, Feb 21st. Read ful article HERE.

“One in eight shops across the UK is empty. In some towns it is as many as one in four. In the worst cases many of these shops will remain empty until they are knocked down by redevelopers.

Becoming a ‘retail ghost town’ is a real danger in some of Telford’s component towns………..”

There is an undoubted surge of realisation that the supermarket game is up, which only adds urgency to the four cornered fight for another one in Oswestry. Throughout the media, journalists and commentators ponder and question what has happened to community, and the social connections that hold successful and viable communities together. Anywhere, you can embark on, or over hear conversations with ordinary people about the same subject. While there are a number of reasons, the role of supermakets - their control of production, consumption and retail, their destruction of independent and small retail business, it’s consequence on the life, appearance and vitality of town centres, the lack of any real choice they offer and the total lack of any human scale and interaction beyond the all important “Have you got a Nectar Card?” have a very clear quantifiable and qualitative effect on all these tangible opportunities to engage in life in meaningful ways.

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)

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.

Listen to Candida Lycett Green on the Today Programme, Radio 4, Friday 1st January 2010, talking about the plight of Britain’s town centre. She doesn’t mention Oswestry.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8436000/8436881.stm

The following contributed by Andrew Tullo. Excellent news for Oswestry, in terms of town promotion, tourism and sustainable transport. And shows what can be achieved by a group of committed individuals working together.  

On last Friday’s cold November evening over 100 members of the Cambrian Railways Society and the Cambrian Railways Trust crowded into Oswestry’s Station building  for a meeting convened by Nigel Davies of the Cross Border Tourism Development Group.

They were there to hear Rob Williams (Society Chair) and Henry Thomas (Trust Chair) give persuasive accounts of why it was time that the two groups take the further step of merging into one organization called the Cambrian Heritage Railways Ltd.(CHR)

In separate and simultaneous EGMs both groups then voted overwhelmingly to take this advice.

The CHR  will be a larger but leaner  group which can pool resources, avoid duplication and apply for much larger grants than has previously been the case, which will certainly be  required to achieve the goal laid out in the 2009 Railway Project  Plan ie;

To reopen the entire 7 mile length of line between Gobowen through Oswestry to Llynclys with the branch line to Blodwell, and create a railway heritage attraction unique in the UK.

Collaboration has meanwhile been established with the Shropshire Wildlife Trust to strike a balance between clearing the track and making it safe, whilst maintaining it as a ‘green corridor’.

There has already been loads of activity on the line this summer. Volunteers have been hard at work to clear the track to establish just what needs to be done to get trains running again north of Llynclys.

Only a week ago Shropshire Council and the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers joined Society and Trust members in a major litter pick in Oswestry Station area.

There is a growing belief that the Railway is going places and can once again achieve a real and lasting impact on the economy and viability of this Railway Town.

Asked what we are likely to see in 2010, Henry Thomas confirmed;

·      building a ‘halt’ at Penygarreg Lane just north of Pant, so that passengers can alight and walk the short distance to the nearby Montgomery Canal. This will make an historic link with other features of the area’s rich industrial past.

·      work on a shed down at Llynclys which has just begun to house rolling stock and allow important restoration work on wagons and carriages to continue throughout the year.

·      trains to run by Easter in the Oswestry Station area which is being tidied and will complement the developments planned for the Town Green.

Meanwhile, local people are encouraged to visit the Station Building for more information and to use Buffers the new café and restaurant.

Oswestry has reason to be chuff, chuff, chuffed at the prospects…

www.cambrianrailwaystrust.com and www.cambrianrailwayssociety.co.uk

How Holmfirth took in Tesco and won.

Smal towns 1, big business 0 

Interesting after yesterday’s post about Ellesmere. There’s a a groundswell and change in the air that more and more people are angry and tired of the march of the bland and the dull, fed up of being told that lack of real choice and queuing are somehow “convenient”, weary of being a number on a loyalty card and not a a name, and hungry for some real experience, not “lifestyle”. People want some authentic social interaction, real fresh food, not pretend fresh food that’s been chilled a week or more, and sense of place and locality - not a grim over lit shed that’s the same from Minsk to Milton Keynes to Minnesota.