Tesco's Weak Survey

Readers of the Herts Advertiser will have noticed this article today, about a survey Tesco undertook in St Albans City Centre. Tesco claims the results show 'a silent minority not opposed to Tesco's plans'. The survey of 301 people apparently found that 34% were against a Tesco store, 36% in favour and the rest undecided.

We have many problems with the survey, some of which were mentioned in the article. Firstly, the survey methodology seems a bit curious - Tesco claims to have asked people to score their opposition or support on a scale of 1 to 100, but then converted this into three categories.

We suspect this is because the survey showed a high level of committed opposition, along with weak support - this would fit well with our experience of talking to people in St Albans City Centre - a lot of people who don't live near the site aren't too bothered initially about the idea - until they find out about the traffic problems and likely damage to the market and other local shops.

Secondly, it is interesting that Tesco don't say what questions it asked. Many people to be honest might well prefer Tesco to the current wasteland, but if given the choice between use of the land for a supermarket, or for a school and housing, the vast majority in our experience will choose the school and housing!

Thirdly, surveying shoppers in St Albans will only give a partial picture of the feeling of local people. We know from our own survey that 83% of local business people oppose the store. The Green Party and Liberal Democrats both report that an even greater proportion of people who live near the site are opposed.

Finally, we find it very gratifying that despite its massive PR machine, 15,000-strong leaflet drops and 'extensive local consultation', after eight years of owning the land, Tesco is celebrating the fact that only just over 1 in 3 of just one of the three important groups of local people actually want its store.