The application submitted to the council was to convert a garage premises in Forest Fields into a 'food retail store'. The application didn't say so, but it is believed that that this would actually be a Pak Store, similar to others in Sneinton Dale (NG2 4HJ), Birmingham and elsewhere in the Midlands.

If this is the case the application hardly gives a fair description of the scale of the project. A Pak Store is more on the scale of an Aldi or Lidl store - ie not the kind of community based corner shop of which Forests Fields is so blessed. The application states the worthy aim of 'providing daily provisions for the people of Forest Fields, reducing their need to travel to shops further away'. However, when a store the size of that proposed moves into a neighbourhood others inevitably close - resulting in less choice, not more, and the migration of funds out of the local community. On their own website they say that 'PAK stores tend to be larger than those of other retailers in the area.'

Twenty years ago there was a concerted 'homes not hypermarkets' campaign. Despite being forced to include some community housing in the plans, Asda came anyway, with it's acres of car park and (yet again) reduced green space. Picture the amount of traffic generated by Asda, or the car parking associated with Aldi at Radford Boulevard or Lidl on Mansfield Road. Now picture a long and winding road through a residential neighbourhood with ever restricted street parking and no off-street car park. Not the kind of area to bring in a plan a business that will need to bring in car-bound customers from out of the area to support it's scale of operation. See the Site Location Plan, part of the planning application below, to imagine the potential traffic impact.

For an idea of the scale of Pak's operation see their website, where they say that "Pak supermarket strives to be the premier quality foodretailer in the United Kingdon". Again fine sounding words, but look where the 'competition' between the other 'premier' supermarkets has got us - loss of high street community and every town centre devoid of any individuality. We are really lucky in Forest Fields to have a number of genuinely local community-based food businesses. Lets strive to keep it that way.