Response to Tesco/Burbidge/MG Planning letter in this weeks Tizer
In her letter in the Advertizer (February 23) Maggie Godfrey of MG Planning, the planning consultants for Richard Burbidge’s proposed Tesco superstore, produced some misleading figures about the proposed Oswestry superstores, that demand correction.
· Her claim that 30% of local people from the town’s core catchment population do not shop in Oswestry is a myth. Shropshire Council’s advisers Nathaniel Lichfield and Partners (NLP) say only 17% of the core catchment population in and around Oswestry do not do their grocery shopping there. For Oswestry town itself, the figure is only 10%, which is not unusual.
· The headline results of the recent Skillsmart survey, showing that 78% of Oswestry shoppers don’t want a new supermarket, were out before Christmas and the full report is now available from Shropshire Council. A sample size of 100 in each area is quite normal in such surveys including the NLP survey mentioned above.
· Maggie Godfrey’s figure of 2,620 sq m net floorspace for Sainsbury’s includes checkouts, but the Burbidge/Tesco figure of 3,313 sq m net excludes them. The equivalent figure for Burbidge/Tesco is at least 3,726 sq m. This is 42% bigger than Sainsbury’s, not the 26% claimed. It is about twice as big as the new Tesco store at Ellesmere. Felix Gummer, Tesco’s representative for the area, has even stated that the proposed store could accommodate a mezzanine floor, which would increase the floorspace substantially.
NLP have just reduced their original 2007 assessment of the “need” for more grocery space now in Oswestry by 62%. For planning purposes local authorities still have to demonstrate “need” but, since the rules changed in December, applicants do not.
The key test for them is “impact”. The impact assessment accompanying the Burbidge planning application purported to show that their development would, by 2013, take only 16% of its trade from existing Oswestry shops, representing lost takings of £5.6million (3.4%) to the town’s shops. NLP, the council’s advisers, disagree and think the proposed Tesco superstore could actually take 67% of its trade from the town, representing lost takings of £26.6million (16%).
The statistics are clear. A Tesco superstore at Burbidge would be highly damaging to Oswestry’s town centre and its future as a market town.
OS21
IS A GROUP DEDICATED TO PROMOTING THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
OF OSWESTRY IN THE
21ST CENTURY
February 26th, 2010 at 6:52 pm
I hope the Advertizer is going to PRINT THE ABOVE next week. People need facts so that they can make informed choices. Burbidge seems to ignore or deny the evidence and continue to imply that the opposition to their plans is only ” a few activists with vested interests”. Since they are ignoring the Skillsmart Survey, let’s gather in BIG NUMBERS on SATURDAY 6TH MARCH.Meet at Cae Glas Park 11am, with placards, banners and noisy instruments. We are many, not few; our vested interest is our town, its future and its people.
March 2nd, 2010 at 12:53 am
Why not go the whole hog, and shut down all existing supermarkets in Oswestry? That would mean that many small shops would need to be opened again and we could all queue for hours on end either in person or in traffic. If supermarkets are opposed in Oswestry then so must the building of new estates of hundreds of homes be opposed, as there will not be enough large or small stores to supply them. You have to follow the consequences of what you oppose to the very end , just seeing a beneficial effect, holding the line for existing small stores will not be the only consequence.
You will construe from what I have said that I am opposed to small stores, I am not, I am playing Devil’s Advocate, I like a town centre with lots of different shops and different choices, but the whole developmewnt strategy for Oswestry must be reviewed if you are talking radical for the supply chain of food and other necessities. A small number of shops on Oswestry’s few streets, even if every shop tenemnt were open for business, can not supply Oswestry’s expanding population. The question then is are supermarkets a “necessary evil” and if they are, won’t we need more not less as the town’s population is increased by the Planners and developers?
March 2nd, 2010 at 9:40 am
You’ve evidently not read this website. What Oswestry needs is real jobs and real appropriate employment. We’re well placed for communications and this has never been capitalised on when it could and should have been. Real jobs create need for appropriate and affordable housing, which in turn creates need for retail. Nothing wrong with that.
Instead we have a strategy dictated by supermarket developers to create supermarket retail for which there is currently spurious and doubtful need, followed by an intention in the Core Strategy to build 3000 houses in the future and almost no strategy at all for utilising existing industrial land for the best benefits of the town and it’s inhabitants, or of designating new industrial land and attracting contemporary employment.
If you think that creating a ghost town centre first, then creating a dormitory commuter town around the outside second, with no cogent plan for attracting employment to the town as a none existent third constitutes strategic planning - good luck to you.
March 2nd, 2010 at 12:31 pm
Seeing as you were quick to point out to J.M. he hadn’t read your website - I thought I would point out you have evidently not got any experience in the communications industry.
Being well placed is irrelevant for communications companies, many of whom are outsourcing services to foreign countries. In addition BT iNet who purchased Total Netework Solutions already are one of the towns biggest employers out of Whittington House, which actually makes it unnatractive for competitive organisations to be based in the same area.
You say it has never been capitalised on but it has. All of BT’s directory enquiries all go through Whittington House and as a company they service many hundreds if not thousands of customers, are a multi million pound company and are seen as one of the industry’s best provider of communications yet seem to remain ubiquitous to the town!
Absolutely something to be proud of as a small town is Shropshire but trust me, the levels of discount, reputation and their location means that Oswestry, apart from low rental costs, is actually quite an unattractive base for Communications companies.
You seem to dis-credit the fact that anyone in Oswestry actually wants another supermarket when actually lots do. I looked at the Shropshire Star link which tells of your proposed March and all of the comments below support the idea! J.M. is right, you have to follow the consequences of what you propose through to the very end.
March 2nd, 2010 at 6:19 pm
The reference was to geographical location and transport communication, but I would join you in commending BT’s presence in the town, much of which, I believe, was due to the GPO’s historical role and presence at Brogyntyn.
There is no dis-credit to a want for a supermarket. We are asking that critical analysis and questioning is put to claimed need. The results of over supply of supermarket retail on towns and market towns in particular have been mentioned here many times, and newspapers and the web are frequent and busy forums for such reports.
At a time when funding for re-generation, along with many other aspects of public expenditure, is going to be harder to find, what do you do with a dead town centre? How do you attract visitors to a town of empty shops? At a time when there is a push to reduce food miles and a realisation that we have to become less dependent and waste less food, how is another supermarket going to help? At a time when you can’t open a paper to hear about alienation in society and community, how does another anonymous retail space redress this? How does yet another retailer of cheap alcohol, high fat/salt foods effect public health? In 5-10 years time, when peak oil is long past and petrol maybe £10-£15 a gallon, how does car reliant retail adapt? How do the many who want real choice find it in a monopolised food and comparison goods landscape without paying the earth?
All these are valid and legitimate questions that need asking, otherwise we are all direly ill-equipped to face an uncertain future. And as you point out, we will follow the consequences of what is proposed for us all to the end.
March 3rd, 2010 at 2:57 pm
J.M:
No one should go for the ‘whole hog’ unless terribly greedy. Os21 campaigns against greed, in whatever form.
There seems to be some confusion in your argument. Opposing an out of town development does not mean opposing any building or creation of new businesses and shops where new housing has been produced. It simply means that the new developments must fit the needs of local people and take into consideration the impact on existing facilities.
You want ” lots of different shops and different choices “. Great. The problem is that what you want are the very things that disappear when large out of town supermarkets get developed. There is much research on the loss of choice, the demise of independent shops, the death of the high street and ‘clone towns’. I do not need to repeat it as much as you do not need to ignore it, just to make a point. I want everyone supporting an out of town development to just be honest and stop making up stuff about “regeneration”. The Smithfield or Burbidge plans are out of town developments that will impact negatively in the rest of the town’s economy, traffic, social cohesion. People are completely entitled to have their shopping preferences and also not to give a toss about their fellow citizens. Do not discredit, however, those of us that feel strongly about protecting our town from speculators and monopolising supermarkets, by implying we are naive or want to return to some kind of primitive shopping. We have done our home work. There are hundreds of towns nationwide bitterly regretting out of town developments as the ones proposed for Oswestry. Visit them and let’s talk again.
Just to add that I talk about ‘ out of town developments’ because I give no chance at all to the proposed central car park plan. Too big, too disruptive and too complicated in terms of who owns the land. I would also LOVE to see a good digital cinema in town.
March 3rd, 2010 at 7:04 pm
Reading the discussion above one would be forgiven for thinking we have only to be concerned about the impending fuel crisis as mentioned by the Editor. In addition, there is undeniable climatic uncertainty plus food shortages on a global scale which will all surely conspire to undermine the assumptions on which supermarkets currently depend for their voracious appetite to provide us with bewildering ‘choice.’
The fact that applicants have queued up to build yet another vast supermarket in Oswestry, the smallest of which is way in excess of what has been recommended for food alone, has little to do with the needs of the town.
My worst fear is that another supermarket would not only irrevocably change the nature and sustainability of the town for the worse, but then would itself fail.
March 5th, 2010 at 1:38 am
You say that another or more suoermarkets are not sustainable, and supermarkets could lose their supply chains in the future through climate change, crop failures, transport expense etc.
I say that building hundreds of homes in the Oswestry area is also not sustainable if our surrounding agricultural land is taken for development. If you oppose the supermarkets you should also oppose so much house building. Many more mouths to feed and not the capablity to produce enough food locally may be storing up great trouble for the future.
But opposing house bulding is not politically correct or so popular to oppose for the Groups involved?
We have four supermarkets already, so the horse has bolted, and the impact of supermarkets has been felt on our small shops already, so will one more make much difference? I would have thought that it will just be competing with the other supermarkets and may drive one of these to close rather than the small shops. If a supermarket is the only way to get leisure provision, a Cinema, and a leisure provision other than pubs, then give me the supermarket. How many people do you think spend what amount of petrol driving to other towns for a night out at the Cinema? If Oswestry is to attract visitors it needs some basic leisure provsion, preferably on the Burbidge or Smithfield site.
March 5th, 2010 at 8:05 pm
I do not wish to offend or do anyone a diservice, as the people who oppose the supermarket are sincere and hard working in their opposition. However I do wish to speak frankly, and it is a fact that some of the people opposing the supermarket live in villages and will not have to live in the immediate area that will feel the consequences if the supermarket bid is rejected.
For Oswestry will be left with 4 brownfield sites, and a brownfield site to a Planner is like a vacuum to Nature, they must fill it with something. I can guess what that will be- even more flats and houses, and no cinema or leisure facilities. No thanks to more houses without provision of a cinema. How will a cinema be paid for without the supermarket developer’s money?
March 5th, 2010 at 8:31 pm
If you reckon Oswestry needs or can fill a five screen cinema at £10 quid a pop - dream on. There are existing buildings that’ll hold a digital. Just look around.
March 5th, 2010 at 8:36 pm
How about “no thanks to more provision of retail until there is more provision of quality jobs?” A cinema is not the life-blood of a town. We will not wither and die if we don’t get one.
However, the town will die if we seek only to provide supermarkets and don’t create more employment. Good employment puts money in pockets…then all sorts of things become possible. Sort that out first. I really think the point is being missed when people seem so distracted and dependent on the idea of a cinema.
March 5th, 2010 at 8:42 pm
do the 200 skilled Burbidge jobs count as quality jobs ?
March 5th, 2010 at 9:21 pm
Absolutely they do. But sadly Burbidge has decided to leave the site and relocate.
Is Tesco going to give the same wages, terms and conditions to their employees as Richard Burbidge offered his workers?
March 5th, 2010 at 10:09 pm
I heard they were planning to relocate within Oswestry if they get the funding from their redevelopment plans - does that still count ?
March 5th, 2010 at 10:10 pm
sadly ?
March 5th, 2010 at 10:47 pm
I’m very interested in what you’ve heard as it differs considerably from what I have heard. Hence the ’sadly’ as I believe Burbidge to be a very valuable employer. When the first announcement of relocation came out, there was no mention of the relocation being related to the redevelopment plans.
March 5th, 2010 at 11:02 pm
I am not sure where you get your information from smallfish - there are probably 300 people from Burbidge reading this and thinking maybe you have just arrived on earth from outer space - then again you are probably the architypical member of Osw 21.
go and have alook at
http://www.cambriangateway.co.uk or http://www.richardburbidge.com
Burbidge are the largest private employer in the town having set up in Oswestry in 1964.
It is so sad that the people of Osw 21 do not want to recognise them.
March 5th, 2010 at 11:07 pm
no doubt you illustriuos editor will respond soon with some pious drivel
March 5th, 2010 at 11:21 pm
according to Shropshire Council’s Economic Development Department in September 2009. Richard Burbidge Limited :-
Employs 13% of the town’s skilled workforce
Delivers 7.4% of Oswestry’s economic output
Contributes an £8million wage bill to the local economy, much of which is spent within the town
“lets let them leave …..that will help us all”…….Osw21 2010 “aren’t we clever” clap clap clap
March 5th, 2010 at 11:39 pm
What part of ” I believe Burbidge to be a valuable employer” did you not understand?
March 5th, 2010 at 11:53 pm
the part that said “there was no mention of the relocation being related to the redevelopment plans”
March 6th, 2010 at 12:38 am
Valuable though they may be I don’t think Burbidges has the right to hold the town to ransom. What if they sell their site to Tesco and then leave the town completely anyway? We’ll end up with a town centre up the creek AND we’ll lose the jobs. Burbidges themselves have been very quiet on the topic of their relocation of late and that’s worrying.
By the way, attacking Os 21 and what kind of people they may or may not be just shows how scared you are. Fair enough if it’s because you’re scared you’re going to lose your job, but not if you simply can’t bear to live in a democracy where everyone has the right to free speech.
Make your point, but grow up on the personal attacks.
March 6th, 2010 at 1:56 pm
I understood that Burbidge has stated they intend to stay in this area. The statement did not say ‘unless our sited is rejected for supermarket development”.
There’s no point attacking OS21. There are four sites and most likely one will be chosen which may or may not be Burbidges. We are arguing that the fifth option (no more big supermarkets) would be better for the town. Not to stop all development but because this no longer represents progress. We should be allowed to evolve in a way that maintains our market town status and appeal.
People need to discuss development in this town more widely and not assume that the things we lack will only come as part of a big retail package. We need small food outlets in East Oswestry, skate parks, interactive play spaces, a smaller digital cinema that could serve as a mixed use auditorium, shelters where young people can hang out. We need a holistic plan that aims to regenerate the town from its centre, not from its edges. Then businesses will come.
We are soon to have a superb purpose built new youth centre - this is fantastic news for Oswestry and a good start.