We can still win (From Malvern Gazette)
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We can still win
8:52am Friday 10th February 2012 in Letters
I WOULD just like to say well done to LOTS for their hollow victory at the EGM on Thursday night – not quite the landslide they were expecting with a split 7/7 vote and the mayor using his casting vote to oppose the Sainsbury’s application.
A couple of points I’d like to raise about the meeting: Cllr Harvey did get in a bit of a pickle with her comment of no one will travel 12 miles to Ledbury to use the supermarket which pretty much contradicts the increase in traffic figures promoted by LOTS (7,500 extra per day). So which is it, not travelling 12 miles or 7,500 extra cars per day?
To the gentleman who spoke about the possible Tesco expansion – excellently done by the way, but exactly what has it to do with a meeting called specifically about the Sainsbury’s application?
I’d like to say a big thank you to all those who braved the cold night to stand outside and greet the councillors as they arrived and contrary to comments made I would say both sides were pretty evenly matched in that department.
A thank you must go to the police for their low profile approach, but most of all a thank you to my fellow LESS speakers – Paul, Judith and finally Yvonne, a true Ledbury lady who loves this town with all her heart.
Stage two now commences where LESS are asking all who support the Sainsbury’s application to write to the planning committee councillors expressing that support.
Now is the time to concentrate on the positives: The petition with over 2,000 names of which 96.5 per cent live within the HR8 district; the chamber of commerce report supporting the application; the problem of fuelling highlighted by the only garage running out of petrol; and the panic buying stripping the shelves of the two stores in a matter of hours due to the snow; up to 220 full and part-time jobs and the chance for a local firm, Galebreaker, to have a purposebuilt factory with a view to expand their orders by 50 per cent over five years.
COLIN MARSCHALL
LESS spokesman
Comments(12)
Andrew Warmington
says...
12:01pm Fri 10 Feb 12
Rather than going over all the contentious ground in Mr Marschall's letter, I'd like to highlight one point. You congratulate local architect Anthony Peake on his proposal that clearly shows that Tesco can expand on its current siteand still absorb all the projected retail growth in Ledbury to 2026, then asked what has this got to do with a meeting about the Sainsbury's application.
Well, it has quite a lot to do with it, actually. One of the key planning hurdles for an OOTS is to prove that no 'sequentially preferable' sites are available, i.e. any nearer to the town centre.
Sainsbury's skimped over the clearly 'sequentially preferable' alternatives of the current Tesco site and Lawnside Road in their planning application, saying only that there was 'no evidence' that either was available. Not that they had looked. Actually, there is increasing evidence that Lawnside Road IS available, whether we want it to be or not.
Now you might fairly reply that the current Tesco site is almost certainly not gloing to be available to Sainsbury's, but that is not relevant in planning terms. The point is that this site is obviously available to a major supermarket (Tesco), which can redevelop it and make it easily big enough to meet every conceivable need that we have in Ledbury.
This is a better option all round. It can give us a bigger, better supermarket in the right place, without sacrificing our High Street or the environment. I urge everyone who seriously cares about Ledbury to embrace this as the best possible compromise.
jmccabe
says...
12:27pm Fri 10 Feb 12
It also seems odd, based on these criticisms and comments, for himself and his friend Mr Dudley to be actively going outside Ledbury, and even outside the HR8 postcode area, to drum up support.
See, for example, http://www.bromyard.
info/index.php?optio
n=com_content&view=a
rticle&id=3954:lates
t-ledbury-superstore
-scheme&catid=1:late
st&Itemid=233.
It seems there is one rule for LOTS and another for LESS.
LOOTS supporter
says...
12:58pm Fri 10 Feb 12
Valerie McLean
Cuchulainn
says...
8:28pm Sun 12 Feb 12
jmccabe
says...
11:04am Mon 13 Feb 12
It's a simple case of LESS complaining about something and then going off and doing exactly the same thing. I know a very good word for people who do that!
It is certainly interesting that they should choose Bromyard due, as you say, to its location.
Colin J Marschall
says...
9:00am Tue 14 Feb 12
jmccabe wrote:The usual spouting from LOTS
Exactly Cuchulainn. My point, which is clearly lost on a number of LESS supporters, is that you would expect people who were so immensely critical of a few out-of-town signatories on the LOTS petition to be much more selective with their own petition.
It's a simple case of LESS complaining about something and then going off and doing exactly the same thing. I know a very good word for people who do that!
It is certainly interesting that they should choose Bromyard due, as you say, to its location.
jmccabe
says...
11:47am Tue 14 Feb 12
Colin J Marschall
says...
4:17pm Tue 14 Feb 12
psychiatrist
says...
4:30pm Tue 14 Feb 12
you tell them Col
jmccabe
says...
2:52pm Wed 15 Feb 12
Colin J Marschall wrote:Unfortunately though, that would lead me in to a moral dilemma!
Thats quite alright Mr McCabe I'm always open to gratitude .. BTW as I don't know you on a personal level perhaps you would be so kind as to address me as Mr Marschall, adressing someone on a first name basis without even knowing them can be seen as a little "over familiar"
Colin J Marschall
says...
3:55pm Thu 16 Feb 12
jmccabe wrote:In what way would it lead into a "moral dilemma"?
Colin J Marschall wrote:Unfortunately though, that would lead me in to a moral dilemma!
Thats quite alright Mr McCabe I'm always open to gratitude .. BTW as I don't know you on a personal level perhaps you would be so kind as to address me as Mr Marschall, adressing someone on a first name basis without even knowing them can be seen as a little "over familiar"
drewinledbury says...
10:46am Fri 10 Feb 12
5 independent Retail Assessments, 2 Town Council votes, 3,500 signatures, CPRE reports all point to any Out of Town Superstore bringing an end to Ledbury's future prosperity and quality of life.
It should be remembered that the increase in headcount from Galebreakers is "up to 10 within 5 years if plans go as hoped"...we would lose this if just 2 small retailers closed. And remember that Galebreakers are actually hoping to move to a smaller site than the one they have now...