The Herts Advertiser (29th March) carried no fewer than 6 (!) letters opposing Tesco's development, as well as coverage of Saturday's 700 name petition. The letters were sparked by a Tesco survey which claimed that 66% of 27 surveyed businesses near the proposed supermarket site supported its proposed development. The letter writers neatly summarised local people's views on this survey.
Here are some of the comments....
'Why were only 27 surveyed? The majority of these businesses are non-competitive - at present - to Tesco'
'These supportive businesses may want to consider the future effect on their rents of having Tesco as a neighbour... If the retail value of the area does rise with Tesco as a neighbour, their rents will rise also'
'When [Tesco] have sucked the life out of the surrounding retail zones, they will have perversely proved there is (was) a demand for their presence'
'I recently spoke with the operator of a business in London Road and she told me she had indeed been asked her view on the development... she told the representative that she was indifferent to the scheme as long as none of the small ancilliary schemes competed with her particular business. No surprise there. Furthermore, she doesn't herself live in St Albans.'
'St Albans' city-centre shops and markets need all the support they can get, not direct competition with a hefty rival down London Road'
'Other stories in your newspaper last week highlighted the need to build 7000-plus new houses in St Albans... The Evershed site was zoned in the council District Plan for housing and redeveloping this area for housing would certainly relieve some of this pressure to build on Green Belt land'
'I cannot put the case against the move better than Simon Hoggart who wrote in the Guardian this week of how big supermarkets "suck the money out of communities"'
'There have been countless reports from Central Government, the New Economics Foundation, Friends of the Earth and others showing that large supermarket developments impact negatively on existing businesses, whether those supermarkets are town-centre, edge-of-centre or out-of-town'
Many thanks to Nic Trevillion, Mrs Philippa Parker, Eric Roberts, I.M. Langford, Tom Hardy and Simon Grover for their letters.
Thanks also to the St Albans Review and Observer which covered the petition on 28th March!
Thursday, 29 March 2007
One Day - 700 Signatures....
Stop Tesco started gathering signatures for a petition calling for an alternative to the Tesco development in London Road at the St Albans City Market on Saturday 24th March. We were amazed to gather over 700 names in just one day. Almost everyone we spoke to including business owners, tourists and local residents thought that the proposals were bad for St Albans.
Tesco's plans to build a store in Tolworth were recently derailed by 3,000 signatures. We hope that when we get more than this number Tesco will back off. We need to achieve this quickly, and need help. If you'd be willing to spend some time in the City centre or just visiting people in your street, please let us know - click on the Volunteer page on www.stoptesco.com to start.
Monday, 19 March 2007
Stop Press!!! Posters and Petition Now Online
Stop Tesco posters and a petition are now available online.
There are four different posters to choose from and a petition that you can download and use to collect signatures in your street. Visit http://www.stoptesco.com/downloads/
Sunday, 18 March 2007
Local Blogger: "We made our last Tesco purchase last week"
On his blog, PlanetMike writes:
We made our last Tesco purchase last week.
I'd been getting very uncomfortable buying anything from Tesco given their plans for St Albans, but we needed an internet shop, our details were already set up and we had some money off vouchers to use; so as a last resort it didn't seem too bad an idea. Well, not until their customer service wouldn't give a reasonable response to a query and certainly not when some of the produce turned out to have a use-by date of the same day as the delivery.
So, screw 'em. Sainsburys/Asda/Morrisons can have our supermarket money, we'll buy more from the market and grow more of our own veg.
We made our last Tesco purchase last week.
I'd been getting very uncomfortable buying anything from Tesco given their plans for St Albans, but we needed an internet shop, our details were already set up and we had some money off vouchers to use; so as a last resort it didn't seem too bad an idea. Well, not until their customer service wouldn't give a reasonable response to a query and certainly not when some of the produce turned out to have a use-by date of the same day as the delivery.
So, screw 'em. Sainsburys/Asda/Morrisons can have our supermarket money, we'll buy more from the market and grow more of our own veg.
Friday, 16 March 2007
Thank You For Your Support
We'd like to thank everyone who voted for us in the Herts 24 website awards. Voting has now closed.
Our campaign, however, has only just begun. Why? Because we feel very strongly that allow Tesco to build an inappropropriate and unnecessary store on the edge of centre Evershed site in St. Albans isn't the right thing for our community. We are opposed to the demolition of locally listed homes that form part of a sensitive conservation area. We are opposed on the grounds of the environmental impact of an estimate 500 additional motor vehicle movements AN HOUR in the area surrounding the store. We are concerned about the effect of such a store upon local businesses, city centre shops and our thousand year old market. We fear that already congested roads - important access roads into the city and to the nearby St. Albans City Station - will become even more gridlocked.
Do we really want to all Tesco to vandalise our city as shown in the artists impression of Alma Road below?
Our city, our communities and our families deserve for something more suitable to be built on the Evershed site, something that benefits us all. That could include new homes built alongside and in keeping with the existing locally listed buildings, including affordable housing for local people and incorporating environmentally sustainable features, a sorely needed new school for the area, local shops, and other things that local people - not Tesco shareholders - want and would benefit from.
In the coming weeks our campaign will be ramping up and we'll be asking for your support. Not just by voting for us in a web awards competition, but by putting your name to our cause, writing your letters of opposition, and making it known that our community can and will stand up together in opposition to Tesco's plans. Stay tuned.
[The composite image above was created by local resident Simon Dowell who created the images based on an interpretation of the plans revealed by Tesco and shown on their website for the St. Albans development. We thank Simon for his kind permission to use these images here.]
Our campaign, however, has only just begun. Why? Because we feel very strongly that allow Tesco to build an inappropropriate and unnecessary store on the edge of centre Evershed site in St. Albans isn't the right thing for our community. We are opposed to the demolition of locally listed homes that form part of a sensitive conservation area. We are opposed on the grounds of the environmental impact of an estimate 500 additional motor vehicle movements AN HOUR in the area surrounding the store. We are concerned about the effect of such a store upon local businesses, city centre shops and our thousand year old market. We fear that already congested roads - important access roads into the city and to the nearby St. Albans City Station - will become even more gridlocked.
Do we really want to all Tesco to vandalise our city as shown in the artists impression of Alma Road below?
Our city, our communities and our families deserve for something more suitable to be built on the Evershed site, something that benefits us all. That could include new homes built alongside and in keeping with the existing locally listed buildings, including affordable housing for local people and incorporating environmentally sustainable features, a sorely needed new school for the area, local shops, and other things that local people - not Tesco shareholders - want and would benefit from.
In the coming weeks our campaign will be ramping up and we'll be asking for your support. Not just by voting for us in a web awards competition, but by putting your name to our cause, writing your letters of opposition, and making it known that our community can and will stand up together in opposition to Tesco's plans. Stay tuned.
[The composite image above was created by local resident Simon Dowell who created the images based on an interpretation of the plans revealed by Tesco and shown on their website for the St. Albans development. We thank Simon for his kind permission to use these images here.]
Tuesday, 13 March 2007
Herts Ad Website Awards: Please Vote Now!
A few weeks ago, we gushingly announced that this website had been nominated for "Best Community Website" in the Herts Advertiser's Web Awards 2007.
Please ensure that your vote counts by clicking on the button below and registering your vote before Noon on Friday 16 March.
The five sites in this category will then be forwarded to the judges to decide the winner. We don't know what sites we're up against but we're willing to go out on a limb to suggest that Tesco's promotional website for it's St. Albans plan didn't make the list.
Every little vote helps.
Please ensure that your vote counts by clicking on the button below and registering your vote before Noon on Friday 16 March.
The five sites in this category will then be forwarded to the judges to decide the winner. We don't know what sites we're up against but we're willing to go out on a limb to suggest that Tesco's promotional website for it's St. Albans plan didn't make the list.
Every little vote helps.
Monday, 12 March 2007
St. Albans Observer: Tesco Battle Rages On
In today's St. Albans Observer, Tesco spokesman Michael Kissman says that people shopping at the store they hope to build on London Road will "pop into town and support their local shops."
Shame, then, that if they build a Tesco where they're proposing to, Tesco may very well kill off those local shops. Many have argued that the edge of centre site would act as a barrier to city centre shopping rather than as a much needed magnet to the city centre. Not only is the site of the proposed store a full 6/10th's of a mile up a slight incline away, but the store is likely to impose a strict 2-3 hour parking limit, making it nearly impossible to do the weekly shop and leave the car to continue shopping in town.
Kissman, not seen in local papers since he proclaimed that local opinion was split 50:50 on the plans - a claim most local people found to be unbelievable - is facing a growing uphill march of his own:
The St. Albans Green Party found that of the 100 respondents to it's own poll, 96% of respondents were against the plans.
Local Lib Dem activists have also set up a website in opposition to Tesco's plans and are polling opinion themselves.
The St. Albans Observer has started a Save Our Shops campaign, in part inspired by the Tesco plans.
St. Albans Convervative party MP, Anne Main is also against the proposals.
It increasingly appears that Tesco, and it's spokesman Michael Kissman, are alone in wanting to build a Tesco on the Evershed site in St. Albans. Will the last one out turn off the lights please...
Shame, then, that if they build a Tesco where they're proposing to, Tesco may very well kill off those local shops. Many have argued that the edge of centre site would act as a barrier to city centre shopping rather than as a much needed magnet to the city centre. Not only is the site of the proposed store a full 6/10th's of a mile up a slight incline away, but the store is likely to impose a strict 2-3 hour parking limit, making it nearly impossible to do the weekly shop and leave the car to continue shopping in town.
Kissman, not seen in local papers since he proclaimed that local opinion was split 50:50 on the plans - a claim most local people found to be unbelievable - is facing a growing uphill march of his own:
It increasingly appears that Tesco, and it's spokesman Michael Kissman, are alone in wanting to build a Tesco on the Evershed site in St. Albans. Will the last one out turn off the lights please...
Tuesday, 6 March 2007
That Ain't Half of It
According to the Times,
"The Trading Standards Institute has called for an overhaul of the national pricing code, and accused Tesco of “grossly exploiting” loopholes through its “fruit and veg pledge”. Tesco is urging its customers to eat five portions of fruit and vegetables a day to stay healthy with half-price special offers.
But the institute said that Tesco had misled customers because the prices for items featured in the promotion rose sharply just before the offer started. The half-price offer related to the higher prices."
Tesco refuted the claim, with a spokesperson saying: “Any suggestion that we ramp up prices in order to cut them again is the purest nonsense.”
It's not the first time we've had the feeling that Tesco had been a bit creative with it's use of the word "half" - Tesco spokesman Michael Kissman told the Herts Ad last month that:
"Overall, there's a half-and-half split between those who support our proposals and those who don't and the reasons vary hugely. "
Every little, as the ads say, counts - particularly, it would seem, if you've got a knack for creativity with numbers. For our own part, we admit that we've come across a few people locally who were unaware of Tesco's plans, but we have yet to come across anyone who actually supports them.
"The Trading Standards Institute has called for an overhaul of the national pricing code, and accused Tesco of “grossly exploiting” loopholes through its “fruit and veg pledge”. Tesco is urging its customers to eat five portions of fruit and vegetables a day to stay healthy with half-price special offers.
But the institute said that Tesco had misled customers because the prices for items featured in the promotion rose sharply just before the offer started. The half-price offer related to the higher prices."
Tesco refuted the claim, with a spokesperson saying: “Any suggestion that we ramp up prices in order to cut them again is the purest nonsense.”
It's not the first time we've had the feeling that Tesco had been a bit creative with it's use of the word "half" - Tesco spokesman Michael Kissman told the Herts Ad last month that:
"Overall, there's a half-and-half split between those who support our proposals and those who don't and the reasons vary hugely. "
Every little, as the ads say, counts - particularly, it would seem, if you've got a knack for creativity with numbers. For our own part, we admit that we've come across a few people locally who were unaware of Tesco's plans, but we have yet to come across anyone who actually supports them.
Your Views on the Tesco Plan
Last week, local papers carried a number of letters about Tesco's plan for St. Albans and the St. Albans Observer kicked off a "Save Our Shops" campaign with an online discussion that brought out many in opposition to Tesco's plan, including a market trader.
David Parry of Park Street, St. Albans questions whether it's reasonable to have a planning rule that stops our elected politicians from commenting publicly on the Tesco plan. He writes:
"St Albans is currently besieged by major and controversial planning applications - Tesco, the cinema, Luton Airport and the recently-determined rail freight (sorry, road freight) depot - yet the Government's rules prevent the very people we elect giving us their views right up until the decision is made.... as they stand the rules would even prevent someone who is speaking out now against Tesco voting on the issue if they stood and got elected at the May elections - assuming the final decision was made after May."
Ian Langford, of Orient Close, St. Albans wrote the Herts Ad to ask:
"Does St Albans really need a 55,000 square foot Tesco? We already have a 45,000 square foot Sainsbury - yes, the proposed Tesco will be 22 per cent larger than Sainsbury in Everard Close - a 37,000 square foot Morrisons, a 22,000 square foot Waitrose and another 20,000 square feet from Iceland, Marks & Spencer (food only) and Tesco Metro combined. That's a total of 123,000 square feet of supermarket retail space, excluding the large Sainsbury a couple of miles down the road at London Colney. Does St Albans really need the 45 per cent increase in supermarket provision that a 55,000 square foot Tesco would give?
Matt Phillips of Inkerman Road wrote the Herts Ad to query Tesco's claim that "50 percent" support their plan:
"As an Inkerman Road, St Albans, resident, the current view from my bedroom window is that of a detatched period house at the end of a pleasant cul-de-sac in a Conservation Area. Under Tesco's current proposed plans, that would be replaced by the second tier of the new Tesco's car park. I'm rather fond of the privacy, community and lack of pollution we have here, so clearly I am not in favour of the development.
But what stuck me was Tesco's remarkable claim that 50 per cent of residents consulted are in favour (Herts Advertiser, February 15).
I for one have not met one resident who wants this store. So presumably when Tesco's come round to officially submit their planning application they will also submit clear evidence and proof that half of St Albans residents are in in favour as they say?"
The St. Albans Observer last week launched it's own "Save Our Shops" campaign, kicking it off with an article and online discussion where many weighed in with their opposition to Tesco's plans.
Market trader Julie Crumpton says:
"I live and run my business in St Albans. I trade on St Albans market and have done for the last 3 years. From a business point of view the town centre has been suffering for a long time... shops have closed down, traders on the market have left and small independent traders who add character to the town have had to leave, yet the rents have gone up the parking fees have risen St Albans town centre is slowly disappearing... If the new tesco site goes ahead it will strangle independent traders especially as tesco's nowadays don't just sell food you can buy clothes, stationery, electrical products, flowers and the list goes on the shoppers won't need to go into town if they can buy everything under one roof not to mention the roads will not be able to handle the volume of traffic it would create. It will just be another blow to St Albans."
Graham Ward said:
"...With fewer specialist shops, there is little to attract a shopper to St Albans that they cannot find better in London Colney or Watford. A Tesco superstore would simply add to congestion, and take further trade away from the Hight Street."
Tony and Barbary Billings write:
"It seems fairly obvious that St Albans, having come under prolonged and sustained roadworks in its city centre for two years, Herts Highways must take a very large proportion of the blame. The latest signs "shops open and business as usual" comes far too late to save many traditional and family-owned businesses. As a result St Albans will have an added-on "Anytown" image and the (probable) inevitability of Tesco coming here will provide the final nail in our coffin."
[Please Note: The above have been quoted to make them available to a wider audience. No permission has been requested or granted by the authors of the above who may or may not support our campaign.]
David Parry of Park Street, St. Albans questions whether it's reasonable to have a planning rule that stops our elected politicians from commenting publicly on the Tesco plan. He writes:
"St Albans is currently besieged by major and controversial planning applications - Tesco, the cinema, Luton Airport and the recently-determined rail freight (sorry, road freight) depot - yet the Government's rules prevent the very people we elect giving us their views right up until the decision is made.... as they stand the rules would even prevent someone who is speaking out now against Tesco voting on the issue if they stood and got elected at the May elections - assuming the final decision was made after May."
Ian Langford, of Orient Close, St. Albans wrote the Herts Ad to ask:
"Does St Albans really need a 55,000 square foot Tesco? We already have a 45,000 square foot Sainsbury - yes, the proposed Tesco will be 22 per cent larger than Sainsbury in Everard Close - a 37,000 square foot Morrisons, a 22,000 square foot Waitrose and another 20,000 square feet from Iceland, Marks & Spencer (food only) and Tesco Metro combined. That's a total of 123,000 square feet of supermarket retail space, excluding the large Sainsbury a couple of miles down the road at London Colney. Does St Albans really need the 45 per cent increase in supermarket provision that a 55,000 square foot Tesco would give?
Matt Phillips of Inkerman Road wrote the Herts Ad to query Tesco's claim that "50 percent" support their plan:
"As an Inkerman Road, St Albans, resident, the current view from my bedroom window is that of a detatched period house at the end of a pleasant cul-de-sac in a Conservation Area. Under Tesco's current proposed plans, that would be replaced by the second tier of the new Tesco's car park. I'm rather fond of the privacy, community and lack of pollution we have here, so clearly I am not in favour of the development.
But what stuck me was Tesco's remarkable claim that 50 per cent of residents consulted are in favour (Herts Advertiser, February 15).
I for one have not met one resident who wants this store. So presumably when Tesco's come round to officially submit their planning application they will also submit clear evidence and proof that half of St Albans residents are in in favour as they say?"
The St. Albans Observer last week launched it's own "Save Our Shops" campaign, kicking it off with an article and online discussion where many weighed in with their opposition to Tesco's plans.
Market trader Julie Crumpton says:
"I live and run my business in St Albans. I trade on St Albans market and have done for the last 3 years. From a business point of view the town centre has been suffering for a long time... shops have closed down, traders on the market have left and small independent traders who add character to the town have had to leave, yet the rents have gone up the parking fees have risen St Albans town centre is slowly disappearing... If the new tesco site goes ahead it will strangle independent traders especially as tesco's nowadays don't just sell food you can buy clothes, stationery, electrical products, flowers and the list goes on the shoppers won't need to go into town if they can buy everything under one roof not to mention the roads will not be able to handle the volume of traffic it would create. It will just be another blow to St Albans."
Graham Ward said:
"...With fewer specialist shops, there is little to attract a shopper to St Albans that they cannot find better in London Colney or Watford. A Tesco superstore would simply add to congestion, and take further trade away from the Hight Street."
Tony and Barbary Billings write:
"It seems fairly obvious that St Albans, having come under prolonged and sustained roadworks in its city centre for two years, Herts Highways must take a very large proportion of the blame. The latest signs "shops open and business as usual" comes far too late to save many traditional and family-owned businesses. As a result St Albans will have an added-on "Anytown" image and the (probable) inevitability of Tesco coming here will provide the final nail in our coffin."
[Please Note: The above have been quoted to make them available to a wider audience. No permission has been requested or granted by the authors of the above who may or may not support our campaign.]
Friday, 2 March 2007
Stats for Tesco Campaign website: Week 6
The graph below shows the statistics for this website for the week 23 February - 01 March. The headlines are that, during the period shown, we had 440 unique visitors who looked at 787 pages of content ("hits"):
This brings the total for the life of this website to 2,648 unique users and 5,491 pages of content viewed. Hundreds have also looked at our photos on flickr and our podcasts on NowPublic.com.
February was our first full month of operation so it makes sense to, along with the weekly updates, to supply monthly stats from now on as well:
Thanks for your support!
This brings the total for the life of this website to 2,648 unique users and 5,491 pages of content viewed. Hundreds have also looked at our photos on flickr and our podcasts on NowPublic.com.
February was our first full month of operation so it makes sense to, along with the weekly updates, to supply monthly stats from now on as well:
Thanks for your support!
Thursday, 1 March 2007
Herts Ad: Retail Study Firm Also Was Working for Tesco
When Tesco revealed it's plans for the Evershed site in St. Albans, they put much stock in a study, conducted by London based property consultants G.L. Hearn for the District Council, which suggested that the city needed another supermarket.
Well, today's Herts Advertiser carries an editorial that suggests that G.L. Hearn was, at the same time, also working for Tesco:
A FIRM which advised St Albans councillors on the district's needs for an extra supermarket was working for Tesco at the same time.
In a study carried out for the district council which was presented to its planning policy advisory group in November 2005, London-based property consultants G.L. Hearn, suggested that another supermarket almost as big as Sainsbury's in Everard Close would be needed in the city within six years.
At the time it was suggested that the proposal gave the green light to Tesco to press forward with their scheme for the old Evershed's printing works site off London Road which it already owned.
It has now transpired that at the same time the company was working for Tesco in other parts of the country, something it did not reveal to the council.
As part of the publicity for its current proposals which it has put forward for public consultation, Tesco points out that the study suggested the city needed an additional food store to keep people shopping locally.
Now we're not about to argue that this doesn't matter - many are likely to call into question the entire study now that the link between the land consultancy and Tesco has been revealed. However, in trying to shore up confidence in that very study, the consultancy reaffirmed on particular message from it: although the study recommended further retail space in St. Albans, that space should be provided in "centrally located site in St. Albans". The spokesperson from G.L. Hearn told the Herts Ad that:
"The findings of the study in connection with food retailing were that there was a need for a new store to serve St Albans and that, applying the sequential approach, that need should be met on a centrally-located site within St Albans."
Over half a mile away from the town centre isn't, we'd suspect, what they meant by centrally-located.
Well, today's Herts Advertiser carries an editorial that suggests that G.L. Hearn was, at the same time, also working for Tesco:
A FIRM which advised St Albans councillors on the district's needs for an extra supermarket was working for Tesco at the same time.
In a study carried out for the district council which was presented to its planning policy advisory group in November 2005, London-based property consultants G.L. Hearn, suggested that another supermarket almost as big as Sainsbury's in Everard Close would be needed in the city within six years.
At the time it was suggested that the proposal gave the green light to Tesco to press forward with their scheme for the old Evershed's printing works site off London Road which it already owned.
It has now transpired that at the same time the company was working for Tesco in other parts of the country, something it did not reveal to the council.
As part of the publicity for its current proposals which it has put forward for public consultation, Tesco points out that the study suggested the city needed an additional food store to keep people shopping locally.
Now we're not about to argue that this doesn't matter - many are likely to call into question the entire study now that the link between the land consultancy and Tesco has been revealed. However, in trying to shore up confidence in that very study, the consultancy reaffirmed on particular message from it: although the study recommended further retail space in St. Albans, that space should be provided in "centrally located site in St. Albans". The spokesperson from G.L. Hearn told the Herts Ad that:
"The findings of the study in connection with food retailing were that there was a need for a new store to serve St Albans and that, applying the sequential approach, that need should be met on a centrally-located site within St Albans."
Over half a mile away from the town centre isn't, we'd suspect, what they meant by centrally-located.
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