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ASDA: Consulting the public or a foregone conclusion?

Mary Horesh | 01.10.2007 15:53 | Globalisation | Birmingham

ASDA have recently been consulting the public about two new superstores in South Birmingham. Is this consultation concerned with our views or just a smear to show the City Council that they have taken on board the public's concerns?

ASDA Consulting the public or a forgone conclusion?

ASDA has recently been putting surveys around the Selly Oak and Weoley Castle area about plans for two supermarkets. ASDA are asking for public opinions on two sites: one in Selly Oak opposite Battery Retail Park and one in Barnes Hill, in the Weoley Castle area.

Under close examination the Selly Oak option looks highly suspect as a viable project. The planned supermarket would be opposite Battery Retail park, which already has a supermarket onsite and has approved planning applications to redevelop the area. So its very unlikely that the Council would want to allow another development in the area. In contrast, the Weoley Castle area has no nearby supermarket neighbours just a thriving local shopping centre.

When you to look at the plans of Selly Oak they are not well developed with the car park not clearly defined and some car-parking spaces not even big enough for a mini! Also in the plans are triangular retail units - not really practical for a viable shop. There are no plans for a petrol station or recycling facilities in the Selly Oak plans whereas the Barnes Hill these have all been planned and laid out as well as proposed road changes.

So why are ASDA asking the local community about these two proposals? To make residents and Councillors feel like they are being given a choice, thereby backing the Council into a corner and making the council feel obliged to allow the Barnes Hill project. I argue that if they present two plans, they have a better chance of getting the Barnes Hill supermarket than just presenting it as a standalone application. It is not a choice of yes or no, it’s either one site or the other.

There have been other supermarket sneaky tactics happening around the UK for the developers to get what they want. In Birmingham we have seen a lot of these tactics. At the Swan Centre in Yardley the plans for a new Tesco were passed by the City Council but at the last minute the plans where adjusted to allow them to build on an area of the local park opposite for extra car-parking. As this was a last minute change the council allowed it as they needed some development at the Swan and if they delayed it again, it would mean that the area would be further delayed in re-development. In Hodge Hill, playing fields were not allowed to be used for football matches for years so that the land can be considered as less important as a community facility and therefore open it up for development. Local residents there are still campaigning to save their children’s playing fields despite the Tesco plans having already been approved by Birmingham City Council.

I think we have to stop the march of the supermarkets as its going to kill off the High Street. The supermarket power and monopolisation of the food sector results in the closure of local shops and this has so many implications:
- On the local economy, rather than creating jobs, they result in fewer jobs overall once local shops have closed. Supermarkets employ fewer staff per square metre of retail space they own.
- Supermarkets take money away from the local economy. Research by the New Economics Foundation found that every £1 spent in a local shop is worth four times more to the local economy than every pound spent in a supermarket. Local shops typically invest far more in the local economy than big businesses with shareholders and suppliers abroad.

You only need to go out to the now moth-balled Maypole shopping centre to see the damage a supermarket can do to a local shopping centre. We have to join together to show our Councillors that we are not prepared to allow huge superstores that do not have local interests at heart to come in and dominate our communities.

Mary Horesh
- e-mail: campaigns@birminghamfoe.org.uk
- Homepage: http://www.birminghamfoe.org.uk

Comments

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Why do people complain about supermarkets?

08.02.2008 09:00

Why do people complain about supermarkets, they bring much needed regeneration (the council could not use our taxes on the Swan centre so they get tesco to redevelop the area and any way the place has been run down for years), almost all developments include whats called a 106 agrement in which the supermarket must perform some act or pay some money towards something (the new sainsburys in Selly Oak is paying a large amount for the development of the new bypas, and we all know how good that will be for South Birmingham, the Asda at one stop basicly built the rest of the centre and bus station). With out this injection of cash we would have to pay higher taxes surely?

I work 8 -6 monday to friday, i need to have easy access to shops and all I can do is go to supermarkets, without them my weekends would be spent shopping and I dont want that I want to be able to use that time for lesiure. Anyone who is against supermarkets I would love to see them try to spend a month or two without ever going to one, they will indeed fail or have huge shopping bills.

Our High street are now lovely places with cafes and resturants, great social locations for day and night and wonderful places to live and work. Ok I admit that the smaller high street is not the same as it used to be but with the increase in transport (the free buses and the ring and ride) people can get to these places easier than ever and enjoy the experiance more.

Supermarkets are changing our cities for the better, those who dont like them need to look at the bigger picture

Luke Bailey
mail e-mail: lukebailey_@hotmail.com