Monday 19 December 2011

Merry Christmas from the Tenbury Futures Team...


Just a quick mail to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from the Tenbury Futures team. We especially want to thank the many 100's of local and regional individuals who have joined us in objecting to Tesco's plans on the town's Cattle Market site.

Here's hoping too that 2012 will bring a set of solutions to the town's Cattle Market site that best serve a whole range of our local and regional communities. You can be assured that we'll still campaign for a blended development solution to the Cattle Market site as the majority vote [over 200 of the 300 returns] in our 'community questionnaire' concluded in early 2011. 


A quick reminder of some of our key findings:

The majority view from the questionnaire was
to re-use the Old Infirmary/RBB Building.
The majority vote was that survey participants didn't want
a solely large supermarket solution to the site.

Other local issues we're interested in...

We'll also still encourage debate around this and other related subjects such as the Teme Bridge, traffic and parking as the new year progresses. Even now there's a new idea that we support to add a single track bridge across the Teme discussed in the Christmas edition of the Teme Valley Times. In this new idea the old Teme Bridge is kept in use but only for one-way traffic exiting the town while a new single-track bridge near the Burford fire station acts as the main way 'in' to the town. 

[Click to enlarge this image]


The proposed new single lane bridge featured in the latest Teme Valley Times.

Once again, thanks to those many 100's of people for their support in our campaigns - it's all very much appreciated by us.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year - we hope that 2012 will be a vibrant, sustainable and prosperous year for the town.

The Tenbury Futures team

P.S. You can comment on this post by clicking the 'comments' link below or why not mail us on our e-mail: tenburyfutures@gmail.com

Sunday 11 December 2011

Fairplay? Highstreet Shopkeepers on Tesco


These are all genuine accounts from recent UK newspaper reports. Each features a quote from a small highstreet shopkeeper who either sees the writing on the wall or who are facing closure as a result of a Tesco store near them taking their customers or through Tesco undercutting them.

Shopkeeper 01
“We had lots of regular customers but we haven’t seen many of them for months - since the new [Tesco] store opened... We’re going to see if it picks up, but we are really worried we may have to close.”
Priti Patel, owner of Churwell Food Market for 16 years in Churwell, West Yorks. From “Churwell shopkeeper’s fears for future after Tesco opening”, Morley Observer & Advertiser, 13th Oct, 2011
Read more...
Shopkeeper 02
"Who’ll come and buy a pound of sausages from me when they’ve been to Tesco? It’ll kill us."
Melanie Fox, daughter of Derek the butcher whose family has traded for 200 years in Malton, Yorks [now threatened by a Tesco Superstore].
From Daily Mail article: ‘Don't let Tesco wreck my town says Selina Scott..’ 25th Nov, 2011
Read More...
Shopkeeper 03
“We have reduced the price of the shop. We are definitely selling up... It’s [the local Tesco] devastated us as a business... We go and sit in the Tesco car park and watch all the customers who used to come in to us go in and out of there all the time.”
Julia Moore owner for 20 years of Moore’s Grocers in Madeley, Telford.
From “Every little helps, "Telford shopkeeper to throw in the towel", Shropshire. Star, 21st Mar 2011
Read More...
There has been suggestion that a Tesco supermarket in Tenbury would "benefit Tenbury's shops"...  Is this the sort of "benefit" the town's food shops need?

Sunday 4 December 2011

"Don't Let Tesco Wreck My Town.." Selina Scott, Malton, Yorkshire


From the Daily Mail, 25th November, 2011
'Plans have been submitted to Ryedale District Council for a supersized supermarket covering the area of a football pitch to be built in the heart of Malton, on the site of the town’s car park.

Residents are unequivocal in their condemnation, certain it will destroy the fragile balance of local shops and community spirit that has been the hallmark of this special little town since the middle ages. Like many other market towns in Britain, locals are banding together to try to stop the developer, Leeds-based firm GMI Holbeck Land, obtaining planning permission.'

And

'It is not as though Malton, with a population of just 4,000, doesn’t have a supermarket. It has three. 

But if a 50,000 sq ft store gets the go-ahead then the hundred or so small shopkeepers who are already struggling will be driven out.'

"Who’ll come and buy a pound of sausages from me when they’ve been to Tesco? It’ll kill us."
Melanie Fox, the daughter of Derek the butcher — whose family has traded here [Malton] for 200 years.

'Malton is the latest town to attempt to resist the power and money of the supermarket chains which steamroller over local sensibilities. From the Herefordshire town of Ledbury to the Welsh market town of Machynlleth and Scotland’s Castle Douglas, local people have manned the barricades.'

Read more in the original article...