Homelessness at Christmas

Season's Greeetings to you all!

The issue of homelessness is one that comes up regularly at Christmas. This BBC article reports a study by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors that shows over 760,000 houses are empty across the UK - while about 10% of that number of people are homeless or in temporary accommodation.

We know that Tesco's houses in London Road and Inkerman Road are contributing to this number of empty properties (and there may be a lot more in Tesco landbanks around the country, unfortunately). Remember Tesco promised in February to 'renovate six of the homes it owns in May or June, and all should be occupied by tenants by the end of this year.'

Obviously this has not happened.

You may ask how this fits with Tesco's pledge to 'be a good neighbour and run a business that is responsible, honest and fair'? Tesco must sort its act out quickly - and we need to keep urging St Albans District Council to make sure that it keeps its promises.

If you would like to help homeless people this Christmas, here's a link to Shelter's Christmas campaign!

Tesco Apologises for Three Year Delay (but not here!)

The Manchester Evening News has a story that should be a warning to anyone who thinks Tesco is really interested in communities! In the story Tesco's man in St Albans Nick Gellatly apologises for a massive delay in building a new GP surgery next to a new supermarket. The promised surgery was apparently a major factor in gaining local support for Tesco.

The medical practice manager is quoted as saying,

"The job was supposed to take only six months but not a spade has been lifted. We can't spend any money on improving the surgery, which is in an antiquated house, because we are waiting for the new building."

So, a couple of lessons here - Tesco shows again that it can't stick to timetables, and it also shows that we need to be very careful about any promised 'community' benefits that might be used to swing support behind a new supermarket!

Anne Main MP Makes A Statement

Our MP, Anne Main, issued the following statement today... we do like the phrase 'living under a Tesco cloud'!

“Whilst it is good news that Tesco has decided to rule out going down the potentially expensive route of appealing the Council’s decision on its plans, many of us had hoped that the refusal would mark the end of Tesco’s involvement in this location, and that other uses could now be considered for the former Eversheds site.

"I hope that the Council will refuse any new proposal which is not appropriate as an unsuitable development here could have damaging implications both in terms of its impact on the conservation area and on pollution in the vicinity. For years, St Albans has been blighted by this scruffy development site. This problem must be sorted.

"On a positive note, I welcome the news that some action will finally be taken to redevelop the properties owned by Tesco on London Road as these have been left empty for too long. A similar scheme for the properties in Inkerman Road needs to follow as residents there are living under a Tesco cloud which is very damaging.”

There's No Appeal, but Tesco Isn't Going Away!

Mixed news from the Herts Advertiser today. The paper has finally got an admission from Tesco's Nick Gellatly that Tesco will not be appealing against the council's rejection of its inital plans. This must come as a relief to councillors who will not be faced with funding an appeal. It presumably also reflects the fact that Tesco would find it very difficult to overturn such a comprehensive rejection.

However, we're not finished yet. Mr Gellatly then talks about 'initial proposals for a new scheme which is expected to be ready early in 2009', justifying his comments by claiming that there 'is a huge amount of support for a new supermarket close to the city centre'.

At this point we'd really urge Tesco not to waste its time and money going through the processes of 'consultation' exercises only to produce another unwanted plan - the people of St Albans made it quite clear last year that they don't want a supermarket on this site - they want housing and a school. If there is clear need for a supermarket, it is obvious that one should be built right in the City Centre, where it would be accessible by public transport and not drag people away from the centre.

Finally, Mr Gellatly tries to use recent changes in economic circumstances to try to justify his position, claiming that the store would be 'boost for the city in terms of new jobs'. We know this is getting a bit repetitive, but research shows that new supermarkets COST jobs (that's where Tesco's profits come from) and we know that these jobs would be lost from the City Centre retail area.

PS - our spellchecker keeps wanting to replace Gellatly with 'Flagellate' - then again, being a bit of a masochist could be seen as an essential quality for being Tesco's PR man in St Albans!