Petition Reaches 3,500 and keeps climbing...

A magnificent twenty-four volunteers spent Saturday (28th) in St Albans City collecting signatures against Tesco’s proposed London Road development. Thanks to you all! We also unveiled our natty new T-shirts (modelled by Nick and Craig on the left!)

A fantastic 1,300 signatures were gathered, taking the total number to over 3,500 in just 4 weeks. Many visitors to the Stop Tesco stand in the Maltings shopping centre also took away petition forms and pledged to gather more signatures from their families and friends.

We are also receiving a steady stream of signatures from local people who have downloaded petition forms at www.stoptesco.com and canvassed their neighbours or signed the online petition. Please click on the links to the right of the blog if you can help in a similar way.

Thanks also to BBC Three Counties Radio for mentioning the campaign on Saturday morning!

The next opportunity to help us collect signatures is at the St Albans Farmers' Market on May 13th. You can now volunteer to help here.

The World Is Not Enough

Tesco's domination is causing protests across the globe. The Bangkok Post reports today of a major protest by small retailers against Tesco's Lotus operation in Thailand. The sad and true news is that if the country goes the same way as the UK, very few of the 1,000 small retailers who protested will be in operation in 30 years time.

This YouTube clip showing Tesco invading Denmark takes the idea to its logical extent (WARNING: SOME BAD LANGUAGE!)

On a related note, the Stop Tesco campaign has itself achieved global fame! We've been listed in internet encyclopedia Wikipedia as an 'aggrieved local community' in the 'Tesco: Criticism' article (reference 51)!

Negative comments...

'St Alban' (England's real patron saint?) emails us through the website with some objections to our campaign. He writes...

"I'd like to use the Tesco site to construct a conference centre that can be used by NIMBY's from all over the UK.

"Then we can all get together to discuss how we can force our views on everyone, pressurise any random person on the street to sign our petitions (preferably those who don't live in the town the development is in) and generally stand in the way of progress.

"We can also work on our propaganda techniques to liken the building of a supermarket to a world ending apocalypse. Please!"

We would like to write back personally, but the email address he left doesn't work - so we thought we'd write back on the blog...

Firstly, we don't think we're NIMBYs - we know the Eversheds site needs to be used for something and we have strong ideas what we'd like to see there. We'd love to see a modern school and affordable housing on the site as well as space for local businesses and for recreation. We would have liked to have seen the site developed on years ago rather than being left to fall into disrepair by its owner. What we can't see is how building yet another huge supermarket (replicating the dozens within a 30-minute drive) attracting hundred of cars each hour and causing pollution can be seen as progress.

Secondly, we've hardly had to 'pressurise people' to sign our petition - we've often had 3 or more people at a time queuing up to sign when we've been out and about. And we can hardly exert the same pressure as Tesco - a number of people have said that they would love to sign the petition 'but my company does lots of work for them and so I can't'. We've not collected signatures outside of the centre of the city - and surely if someone regularly travels into St Albans to use the market, they're as entitled as anyone to fight to keep it.

OK, Sandy Walkington did compare the Tesco development to an 'atom bomb' - but I think that's more exaggeration for effect than a physical description. But we do like the idea of a conference centre as we've already had someone suggest a hotel - both would benefit St Albans without damaging local businesses, the market and clogging up a major traffic artery.

Air Pollution on the Agenda

Following an intervention by local MP Anne Main, Tesco has agreed to include a survey of air quality in its forthcoming planning application. Anne told the Herts Advertiser,

'I am extremely worried about a store of this size and its environmental impact. When it's a question of people's health we must ensure that we get it right'.

The paper reports Tesco spokesperson Michael Kissman saying in reponse that the company had 'already instructed experts in the field to write the report'. Hopefully these 'experts' are genuine research scientists, not retail consultants who do most of their work for big supermarket groups.

Saturday Traffic Jams

Two pictures taken this morning (Saturday 11:45am) that illustrate the traffic problems that we face already in the area around the proposed Tesco in St Albans.

The first shows Alma Road totally blocked with traffic. The second shows the end of a queue of cars over 600m long in London Road from Lattimore Road beyond Orient Close.

You can see the streets on Streetmap here - the brown building marked 'Works' in the centre of the map is the proposed Tesco site.

An extra 500 cars per hour going to Tesco (more on Saturday?) plus lots of delivery lorries will gridlock the area even more - and all Tesco can suggest is putting in a 'right turn lane' on London Road!

First Time Visitors - Please Volunteer for Next Week

If you're visiting the site for the first time today having read our leaflet through the door, many thanks. Please download one of the posters and stick it in your window, fill in the petition online or on the leaflet, and ask friends and family to add their names.

If you'd like to help further we're back in the City Centre next weekend collecting petition signatures. Please click on volunteer on stoptesco.com and let us know when you can join us. Please don't worry that it will be difficult asking people to sign the petition - we've found people very supportive. You don't need to volunteer for an hour - if you can do 30 minutes that will be great!

More Coverage for Political Support Meeting

The Herts Advertiser covered the meeting today. Thanks!

Warning from Wolverhampton

Tesco is under fire for letting the former Wolverhampton Royal Hospital fall into disrepair, according to the Express and Star. After owning the land the former hospital stood on for several years the paper claims the site has 'become overgrown and a haven for drug dealers and prostitutes'.

Local priest, Rector David Frith, from St Peter’s Collegiate Church in the city centre, told the paper,

“So many people in the area are working so hard to breathe new life into the local community but Tesco are getting in the way. They don’t seem to care about the health, safety and quality of life of our city’s residents - only about their cash flow and market control.”

Local residents in St Albans sympathise - we've wanted to breathe new life into the Eversheds site for years while Tesco has sat on the land.

More Letters of Support

Two further letters from Stop Tesco. Simon Hepburn writes in the Evening Standard in reply to Tesco's massive profits...

"Tesco may be growing (17 April) but opposition to the supermarket's tactics for growth will grow faster unless it starts to listen to local people.

"One of St Albans' claims to fame is that it contains one Britain's first Tesco stores - something local residents are proud of. However Tesco has recently spent many years buying up all the land in one of the few remaining brownfield sites in the centre of town, centered around a former printworks. The site is has been long-designated by the council for housing. The 50,000 sq ft supermarket Tesco proposes will increase traffic and pollution and threaten the 1,000 year old market in the centre of the city.

"Since setting up the Stop Tesco campaign in January we've been overwhelmed by the support from residents and local politicians of all persuasions.

"Other recent cases where stores have been refused planning permission, at Finchley and Hillingdon show that the company needs to take a much more sensitive approach than in the past. While campaigners around the country are not against Tesco in principle, we have passed the point where the best solution for a brownfield site is automatically another supermarket."

Liz Needham writes in the St Albans and Harpenden Review about Tesco's potential damage to community spirit. She says,

"One of the unique selling points of St Albans is the ability of the city to retain the feel of a village, especially on the outskirts. I have always been struck by the fact that I cannot walk up Alma Road, London Road or Victoria Street without someone I know stopping for a chat...

"It would be to the detriment of our city if we lost this community spirit, but this is what I feel sure would happen if Tesco continues with its plans to build a supermarket on London Road...

"I, for one, would like to say stop, Tesco, please!"

Politicians Unite - the story of the meeting...

The St Albans and Harpenden Review carries the first press account of the cross-party Stop Tesco meeting last week. It quotes Lib Dem prospective parliamentary candidate Sandy Walkington as saying,

'This [development] is totally ludicrous - it's like dropping an atom bomb on the centre of St Albans'.

Defeat in Dumfries

BBC News reports another defeat for Tesco with planning councillors refusing permission for the company's second store in the town. The story reports the major planning concerns as,

'the proposed opening times, the impact on small local retailers and the new store layout'.

Jack Cohen's Market 'Killed off by Tesco'

The Sun reports today on the impact Tesco has had on the market where company founder Sir Jack Cohen worked as a barrowboy. The Well Street Market in London's East End now has only 3 pitches left. Trader Martin Wiles told the paper,

"Tesco killed off the market.When I started 35 years ago there were 50 stalls on a Saturday — last week there were two.

"Just like High Streets across the country, a supermarket has killed it for independent traders like me. It rips the heart out of a community. The difference here is that this market was where it all began for Tesco".

Let's hope this won't be the fate of St Albans 1,000-year-old market!

Fantastic support from St Albans MP

Anne Main MP spoke at the campaign meeting on Friday (the photo shows her alongside Lib Dem PPC Sandy Walkington).

Her statement after the event focused on the key issues of transport and pollution, saying:

"Currently Tesco is engaged in micro modelling studies of traffic flows in the London road, but I believe we should also have independent Council based pollution studies and as such I am writing to the Highways agency and environmental health to ask if we can have a pollution motoring station placed at the traffic hotspots near the site to assess current air quality and extrapolate those findings based on the workings of a 50,000sq ft supermarket.

"As Mr [Ed] Davey [MP] observed, it will be a long fight for both constituencies, but I want us to win the war on inappropriate development in St Albans not just the skirmishes.”

All Party Support

First picture from the meeting this evening - Cllr Roma Mills (Labour PPC), Sandy Walkington (Lib Dem PPC), Anne Main (Conservative MP for St Albans), Ed Davey MP (Lib Dem) and Mike Dilke of Stop Tesco, plus a host of supporters with a simple message ...

A full report will follow later!

Do You Want To Work for Tesco?

Tesco has made big claims about the new jobs its store might bring to St Albans (although the British Retail Planning Forum found that every time a large supermarket opens on average 276 jobs are lost!)

However, the quality of jobs is also under question. Scottish drivers working for Tesco are holding a 'strike summit' because they 'don't want to accept new terms and conditions they say the company is forcing on them' according to the Scotsman today.

UPDATE: The workers now have the support of a number of MPs - see this Scotsman article

More Herts Advertiser Letters

A great letter from supporter Ian Langford in the Herts Advertiser today, pointing out that the council-commissioned retail report that Tesco has used to support their application actually opposes it when you read in detail! The letter reads...

"Malcolm Edward's letter (Herts Advertiser April 5th) highlighted that the St Albans District Council report which Tesco claims supports the building of a superstore on the Evershed site does nothing of the sort. In fact chapter 13 of the report states: 'Shoppers are using the Sainsburys, Morrisons and Waitrose stores outside the city centre for their main food shopping needs to the detriment of the city centre as a whole'

"The proposed Tesco development is a similar distance from the city centre as Sainsbury's so the same conclusion must apply. Building a Tesco outside the city centre will be to the detriment of the city centre as a whole.

"Far from supporting the building of a Tesco on the Eversheds site, the council retail assessment report warns against it".

Angela Nicholls of Stop Tesco also writes to reassure a previous letter writer that Tesco is beatable. Her letter reads.

"I would like to offer some reassurance to your letter writer Graham Murphy (‘Ready for Battle’, Herts Advertiser, 5th April). He argues that ‘Tesco are very experienced in fighting and beating local opposition across the country’. However, our research shows that that up and down the country Tesco is being defeated. Our website www.stoptesco.com records recent setbacks for the company in Barnet, Hillingdon and Tolworth, and the website www.tescopoly.org lists many other examples where local campaigns have defeated planning applications.

"As your correspondents Roma Mills and Chris Oxley suggest in their letters (‘Homes Crisis’ and ‘Primary Places’ respectively) it is obvious that St Albans needs affordable housing and school places rather than another supermarket.

"We would encourage anyone opposed to Tesco's proposal to support the Stop Tesco action group by volunteering to collect signatures for our petition in the City Centre during April, signing the petition themselves, or putting a poster in their window. Please email us at tescocampaign@yahoo.co.uk, phone 07758 589 499 or visit www.stoptesco.com/volunteer to help".

'Tesco's Parking Contempt'

Interesting article from the Camden New Journal. Apparently our favourite blue and red supermarket is factoring the cost of parking tickets into its operations - thus allowing lorries to park at will. This is how the Journal puts it..

' Supermarket giants Tesco have been accused by Camden Council of showing contempt for parking rules after it emerged that its delivery trucks get ticketed at least once a day.

'The multinational firm is said to have factored in the possibility of parking penalties to its daily delivery operations in Hampstead, Belsize Park and Kentish Town and swiftly pays any fines that it incurs.

'The policy – nicknamed locally as ‘The Park Where You Like System’ – has meant Camden’s fines have become largely toothless and parking chiefs are stumped over how to deal with Tesco and the growing mailbag of complaints at the Town Hall centring on the noise, disruption and traffic congestion caused by its delivery lorries'.

As we've pointed out repeatedly, traffic is a massive issue for Tesco to address in St Albans - and the company hasn't come up with any detail yet as to how they could avoid gridlock in London Road and the surrounding areas.

'One Supermarket State' warning

The New Economics Foundation argues in the Guardian today that the Competition Commission should be scrapped if it fails to act on the continued growth of the big four supermarkets. The Foundation warns Britain is in danger of becoming a "one supermarket state".

Tolworth MP to visit St Albans

This Friday (13th April) representatives from Stop Tesco will be meeting with Edward Davey, MP for Kingston-upon-Thames. Mr Davey's constituency contains the Tolworth site where Tesco recently withdrew a planning application. There's more in this front page article in the St Albans and Harpenden Review.

We'll post the findings of the meeting after Friday. We're also gathering petition signatures in the City Centre on Saturday - please email tescocampaign@yahoo.co.uk if you'd can spare 30 minutes or more.

News from the East

Thanks to reader Lucie Smith who emailed to tell us of the impact Tesco is having on Norwich and Norfolk. This article in the Eastern Daily Press tells of the impact of the company in Norfolk. It also gives the views of local shopkeeper Nigel Dowdney who saw takings at his business, Stalham Shopper, drop by half in the week Tesco opened in the town five years ago.

Happy Easter to you all, by the way - and thanks again to those who signed our petition at the Farmer's Market on Sunday!

Kissmanwatch

For those of you wondering where Tesco's Michael Kissman is (no survey for a couple of weeks?), we've picked him up dealing with South Bucks District Council about the collapsed Gerrards Cross rail tunnel. Find out more here. There's also some good background about why Tesco is having to deal with a collapsed rail tunnel here.

Driving Locals Round the Bend

Tesco has been accused by West Sussex Council of 'ignoring dangers caused by trucks delivering to its Express stores in Bognor Regis and Pagham', according to website Roadtransport.com. The site adds, 'Councillors say lives are being endangered as delivery vehicles are not using the loading bays provided, but blocking roads, forcing single line traffic'.

Tesco's response isn't that reassuring - 'A spokesman for Tesco says if loading bays are available it is confident they will be used', nor is the fact that 'West Sussex County Council deputy leader Mike Coleman... is frustrated by Tesco's lack of response after attempts have been made locally to engage the company in resolving the problem'.

Traffic is a major concern around Tesco's plans for St Albans. Where will delivery lorries go, especially when several lorries are there at the same time? London Road is far too busy to cope with stationary lorries. From Tesco's response above, it looks like the company needs to be asked further questions to find out what happens when loading bays are not available!

Stop Tesco Website Statistics for March

Below is a graph showing that this website continues to regularly visited by dozens, and sometimes well over 100, of people each day. During March there were 1,406 unique visitors and they looked at a total of 2,252 pages of content:



We thank you for your support and hope that you continue to visit this website to find the latest news and information about Tesco's plans and our campaign to stop them.

Ready for Battle

Thanks to Graham Murphy for this letter in the Herts Advertiser.

SIR, - Your story on Tesco saying that businesses support permitting their proposed store in London Road. St Albans (Herts Advertiser, March 22) demonstrates that the multinational is gearing up for its latest battle.

Tesco are very experienced in fighting - and beating - local opposition across the country. How can we expect a small district council to fight the might of a company making billions of pounds a year and with a planning budget to match its aspirations?

In the PR offensive, we have already seen retail consultants to a market dominated by Tesco, saying we need an extra store in St Albans. To quote Mandy Rice-Davies: "Well they would say that, wouldn't they"?

The fact is that we don't need another large supermarket. We are well served by companies representing all sectors of the food retail market. A large Tesco would offer nothing new or extra. What Tesco would give to St Albans is another monstrously-large building in the city centre. Have you ever seen an impressive Tesco or even one that blends in with its locality?

If you want to see urban retail sprawl, just go to Hatfield or Watford or indeed most other towns across the land. St Albans is unique but is in an ongoing fight against corporate greed reducing the city to just another small English town.

Tesco offers nothing positive. Many of the buildings they have bought they left to rot until, after the BBC highlighted their neglect, they were spruced up. I say a cynical ploy so people say "even a Tesco would look better than that".

What Tesco offers is a permanent scar on London Road. There must be better options than that such as housing. It will make a largely residential area into a bland urban traffic zone. But more importantly it will permanently destroy a gently-evolved city centre. If Tesco's proposals gets through then there will be little pride in our city centre and will start a downward spiral in our urban environment, and for what? We don't need their food or anything else they offer. We have plenty enough as it is thank you. Tesco offers more parking spaces but if, like me, you have a car then the distance to an existing supermarket is no excuse to build an extra one.

We don't need this Tesco. Nothing personal but it would start the ruin of our beautiful city. This is one battle that Tesco, even with its deep pockets, should not be allowed to win.

We can reassure him in two areas. The good news is that Tesco developments are being defeated around the country (see this blog for some great examples), and that we've exploded the idea that the local retail survey supports development of the Eversheds site.

As fellow letter writer Roma Mills suggests in her letter 'Homes Crisis', the most important need in St Albans is for housing and schools.

Somerset People Protest Tesco Delays

Tesco is in trouble with local people in Somerset for not starting work on a site once planning permission had been obtained. Accusations of 'landbanking' and letting a site fall into disrepair - not what you'd expect from a leading supermarket firm is it?

Review Letter Explodes 'City Centre' Location Theory

A letter in the St Albans Review and Observer and the Herts Advertiser from Malcolm Edwards of Stop Tesco. The letter points out that Tesco cannot claim support from last year's retail study as its proposed site is not in the City Centre.

Dear Sir,

Many local residents have been receiving literature from Tesco recently concerning their proposed development on the Evershed's site in London Road, St Albans. However, there is one glaring error that totally undermines their cause.

The supermarket giant's website, www.tescostalbans.co.uk, has a 'benefits' page which starts with the sentence 'A retail study carried out last year by consultants on behalf of the Council confirmed that St Albans needs a new foodstore to keep people shopping locally'. We have obtained a copy of the survey and while the sentence is factually correct, the survey does not support a new supermarket on London Road. The retail study in fact recommended a food store in the centre of the City, around the location of the police station. This site is easily accessible by public transport, and would definitely allow people to walk into the centre after shopping.

The Eversheds site is outside of the City centre as defined by the report. It will be very difficult to get to by public transport, which will encourage excess car use. As it is highly unlikely that anyone will walk up the steep hill that is London Road to do additional shopping, it will also prove a massive threat to the businesses in the centre of the City.

We urge everyone to make their objections felt on www.tescostalbans.co.uk.

The full retail report can be seen here.

Times: Tesco says ‘local’ means up to a 30-minute drive away

Today's Times Online reports:

"Tesco tried to railroad the Competition Commission into considering the broadest possible definition of the grocery market yesterday after failing to persuade the regulator to accept its arguments in a document expected to be released next week.

Britain’s biggest supermarket released a 28-page document arguing that the UK grocery market should be considered as one national market and that “local” should mean as much as a 30-minute drive from a store."

It's not, by the way, the first time we've spotted those clever people over at Tesco coming up with their very own brand of imaginative vocabulary.

As for distance to shops, back in January we asked here whether St. Albans really needs yet another supermarket. Using google maps, we found a total of 8 grocery stores, not including smaller convenience stores, corner shops or specialist food providers, within the St. Albans area with just over half of those within walking distance.

The furthest of those from the proposed Tesco on the Evershed site is the Tesco at Hatfield, just 7.4 miles away. Now how many grocery stores do you reckon we would have found within Tesco's definition of "local"? We'd prefer proper local shops anytime...

They don't stand still, do they...

Hot on the heels of yesterday's news from London, Tesco is causing headlines in Southampton - this time for seeking planning permission for amendments to a store just five weeks after it opened.

Of course the need to apply for planning permission after opening isn't new for Tesco - the company famously built a store 20% larger than allowed in Stockport 2 years ago and had to apply for planning permission again.

Tesco defeated in Finchley and Hillingdon...

The Evening Standard front page today (First Edition only) reports on how 'Tesco has been refused permission to open a mini-supermarket, specifically on the grounds of the harm it would cause to 24 independent traders in the area'. Barnet councillor Brian Coleman is quoted as saying 'This is truly a victory against the odds... I'm delighted that we have shown that local councils can stand up to huge retailers'.

This is great news for those opposed to Tesco in St Albans - one of the main objections is the impact the store is likely to have on the historic market as well as small local shops.

The Evening Standard also reports that last week Tesco was refused permission to open a 80,000 square foot store in Yiewsley,Hillingdon because 'of the risk of turning the village and nearby West Drayton into a ghost town'. This seems to go against Tesco's view that they have '...helped to boost business for local traders in over 100 market towns'!


UPDATE: The BBC also covered this story - and adds the interesting news that Tesco was 'using Trojan horse tactics - using the cover of the premises' leaseholder, a carpet shop, to apply for a change to the planning conditions'. You might wonder if Sir Terry Leahy thinks this is a good example of how to 'treat people how we like to be treated', as outlined on Tesco's 'Corporate Responsiblity' page.