Oswestry21

The long running Oswestry supermarket/retail saga is ramping up nicely. From the Shropshire Star yesterday: Council Asked To Revisit Store Plans

In the article Oswestry mayor, Margaret Chamberlain, says ……….”the proposals (to develop the Smithfield site). These have been the subject of the widest consultation”.

No, they haven’t. There was one presentation to the public when the Smithfield was  presented as a fait accomplis and a done deal, and at which one person who stated her objection to the scheme was called “a communist” by a Liberty Mercian PR representative. This does not constitute public consultation by any measure, let alone in the “widest” sense.

The developers of all the other schemes have, admittedly with varying degrees of engagement, consulted with interested stake holders such as CPRE, Civic Society, Chamber of Trade, affected residents groups and associations, in ways that make the Liberty Mercian consultation appear both spectacularly arrogant and lamentably feeble by contrast.

On the topic of consultation, it would be interesting to know what independent consultancy advice, both planning and financial, the Town Council has taken in order to arrive at the conclusion that the largest and most out-of-town site is the most suitable, under current planning guidelines, for a relatively small market town, and why this conclusion has been arrived at with such certainty that they are now “legally committed” to it before any planning decision has been made.

Requests under the Freedom of Information Act may, or may not, prove fruitful.It would seem that the intention is to ensure the future of a cattle market that is surely successful enough to look after itself at the cost of leaving the town centre of this “historic border market town” as dead as a dodo.

The following has been sent to the Shropshire Star in response to piece in todays edition, July 29th. The quote from OS21 used is a month old and has been used out of context. OS21 is genuinely heartened by the response of David Preston and the Town Council in match funding the Mydeco budget and in seeking to source funding from elsewhere. They are to be congratulated on this level of commitment to the Powis Hall and it’s future, and it is hoped that an appropriate and ambitious manager can be in place to manage the market and to promote it within the region.

“(We) would like to put the quote used in your piece “Plans For New Market Manager To Run Site” (Star July 29th) in context. We said a month ago, at the time of the Oswestry Powis Hall - Times/Mydeco makeover win that the victory had had nothing to do with Oswestry Town Council in order to emphasise that the nomination of the market hall, and the hard work in getting it to win, was all achieved by members of the market traders and the public at large. It was an opportunity spotted and orchestrated at grass roots level.

OS21 is more than delighted that Oswestry Town Council have committed themselves to match funding the Times/Mydeco budget to the tune of £50,000, and is looking for a new manager to run and promote the market. This is exactly what it needs, and if a successful and thriving market is the outcome of this victory and the liason between the Town Council and Mydeco, then this can only be of benefit to the town. Congratulations to David Preston, Town Clerk, and to the Town Council for their support and commitment to this project”.

Excellent coverage tonight on the front page of the Shropshire Star of the CPRE report on whether Oswestry needs any new retail development outside the town centre. Many thanks to Iain St. John for coming to last nights meeting, covering the event and picking up on this particular story, I will put a link up to the latest version of the CPRE report as soon as I can, but it makes clear the arguments against retail development on the sites concerning the three current planning applications, Smithfield, Burbidge and J T Hughes.

The link is here >CPRE report updated July 2009 

It is also interesting to consider that at the time of Sainsburys coming to Oswestry, 15 years ago, the Five Acre Site (Village Green) was considered by developers a suitable for retail/supermarket development, but was turned down by planners at the time as being too far from the town centre.  During those 15 years, concerns have grown, just as evidence has, about the effect of out of town supermarkets upon town centres and particularly those of market towns - this in turn has coloured government guidlines on out of town retail development in such document as PPS6 - Planning Policy Statement 6 - Planning for Town Centres, which states in para. 2.44:

A sequential approach should be applied in selecting appropriate sites for allocation within the centres where identified need is to be met.All options in the centre (including,where necessary,the extension of the centre) should be thoroughly assessed before less central sites are considered for development for main town centre uses.

It is clear that neither the Smithfield, nor Burbidges, nor J T Hughes, have moved closer into town centre in the last 15 years than the 5 Acre Site that was deemed unsuitable on grounds of distance at that time. If such sites were at too great a distance from the town centre for retail development then, why are they being considered now when 15 years of evidence of damage to town centre economies and vitality have been witnessed since then?

PPS6 also states that sites should be suitable, viable and available. In the case of the Central Car Park, the fact that the Town Council is seeking to, (or has done so), extend it’s lock-in agreement with Liberty Mercian (Smithfield developers) concerning no retail development upon the Central Car Park until 2018 instead of the existing 2014, seems to suggest that both the Town Council and Liberty Mercian feel threatened by the suitability and viability arguments for a town centre development, and appear as a result to have sought to counter this threat by closing down the availability by gratuitous and artificial means.

The Strategic Planning Committee is meeting in Sept/Oct on these matters, and “It is the intention to approve only one application” says Mr Tim Rogers, Principal planning Officer, North West Area, Shropshire Council. Well God help ‘em, it’ll all end in tears and Judicial Reviews, and as the CPRE document says do we actually need out of town retail development at all?

It was very gratifying to see the Shropshire Star picking up on the recent Community and Government Committee MPs publication on markets and its recommendation on how to run, manage and promote them. And also to see the Star giving coverage to OS21s event at the Oswestry Food Festival running a price comparision competition between two baskets of staple items, one from a supermarket and one from Powis Hall market ……….. the market basket proved to be about one fifth cheaper, on a quality for quality basis.

The report itself is a long and detailed document  (< link here), commenting on the social, economic and cultural importance of markets, the success of those owned by councils who have placed initiative, investment and energy into them, and recommendations as to how to regenerate and integrate markets into town economies. A concise 10 point excerpt from the report is given below:

What qualities contribute to a successful market delivering social and economic benefits, and are there examples of best practice that have a wider application?

The qualities required are:

1. A clear focus by a local authority on the running and management of a successful market. You have to want to run a market.

2. The integration of the market into the surrounding area where it is located, whether the surrounding retail  or or the host community. You have to manage the place in which the market is located, and study and understand the links it has and needs to maintain. Permeability is a key feature.

3. An understanding within the authority of the potential of the market in helping to deliver cross cutting programmes within the council. You have to understand how a market works.

4. The development of links with organisations locally who might benefit from contact with the market ie schools and hospitals etc and also those outside the area linked to the market supply chain. You have to adopt an entrepreneurial outward looking approach to your market.

5. An ongoing programme of customer research, feedback and improvements to the market. You must always be seeking to find ways of improving your market, both for those who trade in it and those who visit it.

6. Strong trader organisation and proper liaison with the market authority. Markets work best when both are working together to a common set of objectives.

7. Transparency in the running and financing of the market is vital. This encourages ownership and involvement by stakeholders.

8. A clear understanding of where and how the market operates in the supply chain. It is essential to see the market in its wider economic context.

9. Participation in local regional and national networks: It is vital to stay abreast of developments in the markets world and also in the regeneration and education fields amongst others.

10. Celebrate your achievements. Let people know how you are making progress and share that with the local community.

All of which appear to make ex Oswestry Town Councillor, (now leader of Shropshire Council), Keith Barrows insistence, both in public meetings and in private conversation, that the Powis Hall market should be demolished and redeveloped as office accommodation run counter to government thinking, and, in the light of the recent Mydeco win for the Powis Hall, counter to public opinion.

This, coupled with verification from the Guildhall finance department that Oswestry Town Councils advertising budget for the market this year amounts to £20 a week, not enough to buy a miniscule box ad in the Tizer, does go a long way to explaining the sad decline of the Powis Hall market when Government thinking is pointing the way forward and other councils are picking up the initiatives and running with them - Bury and Leicester to name but two, and more locally, £500K investment in Market Drayton market.

It is to be hoped that the passion about the Powis Hall that spurred public opinion to vote sufficiently for it to win the Times/Mydeco competition, and the consequent interest in the Terence Conran/Tara Bernerd makeover will prompt both Keith Barrow and Oswestry Town Council to reconsider the role of the market in a “historic border market town”, and to take note of the increased government and public interest in markets, particularly in these economically difficult times.

The news that Oswestry Town Council have, apparently, agreed to match fund the Times/Mydeco budget is a promising sign.

See also: 

24dash.com/news/Local_Government/2009-07-24-Markets-in-decline-due-to-poor-planning-by-councils

Local Joint Committee…………. well, what can one say? Firstly the positives: that 25 or so members of the public should turn out to attend on the hottest evening of the year when they could all have been sipping something cool in their gardens is to be applauded. And that George Candler, Assistant Director Culture and Leisure and Arran Roberts, Corporate Performance Officer, both from Shropshire Council gave a sound and capable impression of being likely useful conduits of access to the Shirehall for local issues. Good also to have local police involvement and Community Support Officers present.

As for the rest……. well, the casual alacrity with which a Chairman and Vice Chairman were chosen, without any resort to a show of hands from the public who had bothered to attend served to remind us why there is distance and an uneasy sense of mistrust between elected Town Council members and the populace.

Confused explanation about the make up of the Community Chest, from which grants up to £2k to local projects and organisations are available was somewhat baffling. A sum of £16k was mentioned, and then there seemed to be a further £38k available, but not quite as available as the former figure, but this may have been misunderstood in the oddly explained details. Suggestions coming forward from the Town Council and Shropshire Council representatives as to what to do with the £38k seemed to be concerned with cleaning up paving and more hanging baskets - there seems to be an public impression that such things are already part of the Town Councils remit and come out of council tax payers money as it is. And frankly there is a feeling that if no one never sees yet another hanging basket in town again it would be a blessed relief. Some clarity about the make up and intention of the Community Chest would be welcome.

There was also some difficulty in establishing, from a question from the audience, what exactly is the Town Council’s commitment to the Powis Hall market over the next 10-15 years. A simple question, but one that was left totally unanswered. Instead we were vaguely informed about Town Council advertising of the Powis Hall Market, and when further pressed, councillors admitted that they didn’t know what the advertising budget was, nor exactly how it was spent. When asked how we could find out “680222, 680222″ was shouted from the panel.

There are some issues here about clarity, intention and transparency, which if the Local Joint Committee is going to work well, seem to need to be addressed. While dog fouling and wheelie bins contribute to the concerns of the local electorate, the LoJoCo should not be used as a convenient display of Council “consultation” with their electors by solely dealing with these ever present minor irritants, but should also become a forum for wider issues in which accountability, transparency and a genuine sense of partnership all play a part. It is only in this way that the electorate can feed up issues beyond dog crap and littering in the park to the Shirehall.

Despite these concerns, this could be a useful and productive forum, and another useful method of alerting the Town Council to town issues and of  having Oswestry’s voice heard further up the line in Shirehall.

Incidentally, I phoned “680222″ and enquired about the advertising budget and expenditure for Powis Hall and was put through to the Finance Office, which informed me that year 09-10 the budget is £1k but couldn’t elaborate on how this was being spent as it was too early in the financial year. Year 08-09 the budget was £3848 due to the production of bags advertising the market - which, reportedly, traders had to pay for or contribute towards in some way. Powis Hall has apparently been advertised in the Star, Tizer, local radio and market trade magazines and websites.

Just to forestall Town Council hijacking this event for their own purposes, some clarification is needed for readers and interested media. This campaign had nothing to do with Oswestry Town Council at any time, though both David Preston and Gail Hollloway have been aware of the nomination and competition from the beginning, with Gail Holloway making a statement at the outset. The competition in The Times came to the notice of Valentine Davis, who passed it on to Mike Coppock, market trader, who then nominated it for inclusion in the competition. The rest was down to people power, leafletting and word of mouth by Wendy from the Gates, Mike, Anne from the petfood stall outside the market, OS21 and many other people using their contacts and e mail address books to spread the word. (Many thanks to all!). Despite Guildhall knowledge and qualified support for the Powis Hall nomination, some Town Councillors have still, in private discussions, been talking of the redevelopment of the Powis Hall while the competition has been running.

In the past, there has been talk emanating from the Guildhall of match funding for improvement of Powis Hall should traders as a group come up with a sum themselves. Doubtless this was in the near certain knowledge that this would prove impossible, thus strengthening Town Council claims of lack of interest in the building in order to justify redevelopment. Now that funding in kind has been achieved, and we will shortly know what that might entail, it will be difficult for the Council to renege on those original proposals for match funding, and, after 1400+ votes cast in favour of a Powis Hall makeover, continued talk of redevelopment would prove rather unpopular, to say the least.

With an internal makeover, more daylight inside, a lift, replacement of the slate hung panels with something more colourful and contemporary and a new treatment to the frontage colonnade at ground level, we would have a pretty damn functional and funky building which the town could feel proud of. The Town Council only seem to see it as a short term financial asset, and not as the economic draw and social asset over long term that the town needs. Talk of a token market presence in the town with a few temporary stalls set up in Cross St. or Red Square do nothing to assuage fears that Oswestry Town Council (hosting the national offices of the National Association of British Market Authorities) don’t really want Oswestry to be a market town at all. And it surely must be the source of some embarrassment to the Town Council, hosting NABMA as it does, that the Powis Hall has to be reliant upon public action and winning a newspaper competition in order to fund improvement. A sad state of affairs indeed.

Note: some factual detail in para.1 edited and corrected Sunday 21st June. Ed.

The following letter appeared in the Advertizer this week written by George Miller, whose permission we have sought to include it here. It points out not only a local and topical concern around retail planning matters, but the issue of where democracy begins to cease to be democratic once decision making processes end up in the hands of too few people at too many levels of bureaucracy and control.

 “Whatever your politics the results of the recent Unitary Council elections have been bad for Oswestry. Three of the four councillors elected for Oswestry town are also members of the Town Council. As I understand it, because the Town Council is a landowner and interested party in development plans for Oswestry, these three would not be able to take part in the decision making process. The interests of Oswestry people would be represented by only one councillor, who, as it happens, does not live in the town.

It would surely be the right and proper thing now for the three joint councillors to resign from the Town Council. This would allow them to devote their full energies to the Unitary Council and representing our interests on it. It would also create vacancies for new faces, talent and ideas in the Town Council.”