A New Date For Your Diary

Many thanks for your support over the past few weeks. We will provide an update on the number of objections submitted to the council as soon as we have it, but we know that hundreds of you helped to send a clear and unambiguous message - WE DON'T WANT TESCO!

BUT... it's not over! The next key date for the application is Monday 30th June, when the St Albans District Council Planning Referrals Committee will consider the application at 7pm. We'll need as many people as possible to turn up to that meeting and show the strength of local opposition. We'll provide further details closer to the time, but please keep the date free!

APOLOGIES FOR THE INCONVENIENCE...

Due to factors beyond our control the main stoptesco.com website is currently down and you've been redirected straight to the stoptesco blog page! We hope you can find all your information here - although it will not be possible at the moment for you to download our objections document.

Can we also take this opportunity to remind you that it's tomorrow or never if you want to object to Tesco's plans! Please scroll down for more information on how to do this.

NORMAL SERVICE WILL BE RESUMED AS SOON AS POSSIBLE (ACCORDING TO OUR ISP ANYWAY...)

StopTesco.com Hits the Big 21 - That's 21,000 By The Way!

We've not published much in the way of statistics about this website for a while, but we're pretty pleased that just under 16 months from the first post (19th January 2007), we've come of age, with over 21,000 unique visitors now having made their way to this site. Over the past few weeks, we've been especially delighted by the number of new 'first-time' visitors - last Tuesday we had over 100 in one day for the first time! Thanks to you all for your support!!!!

STOP TESCO : WRITE RIGHT NOW!

We're running out of time! The deadline for your personal email or letter to reach the District and County Councils is THIS FRIDAY.

We have received huge support when going door to door, in the city centre and at the public meeting, BUT this will mean nothing to St Albans Council if you don't write a formal objection to Tesco's planned development - even if you signed the petition and put up a poster, please, please write!

Remember to include your name, full address and the planning reference numbers : 5/2008/0369 and 5/2008/0370. Then send the letter or email to:

The Head of Planning and Building Control, Civic Centre, St Peter’s Street, St Albans AL1 3JE or email planning@stalbans.gov.uk

For traffic issues, please copy John Wood, Head of Environment, Hertfordshire County Council, County Hall, Hertford SG13 8DE or email john.wood@hertscc.gov.uk

A reminder of our key objections, which you can refer to in your letter...

• This is not a City Centre site; it is a 750 metre walk from the centre. A supermarket would drain trade and vitality from our main St Peter’s Street shopping area, and be a real threat to the City Centre and our historic 1,000 year old markets. 83% of local businesses oppose Tesco.

• Traffic in the London Road area is already very bad. This will make it much worse, with 70% more lorries and cars on London Road. Even Tesco admits that air quality would be adversely affected – nitrogen oxide levels already exceed EU limits.

• It would have a damaging and irreversible effect on the character and tranquillity of a unique group of Victorian residential streets in the Conservation Area. They survived the wholesale clearances of the sixties: they don't deserve noise and light pollution now.

• Once on site, Tesco may apply for extended opening hours – or, as in Hertford, to double the size of its building. It has to be stopped NOW!

• The Evershed’s site was once given planning permission for housing – there are much better uses for this site than a superstore. The area is one of the last big development sites left; the opportunity could be lost forever.

Thanks again for your continuing support.

PS - our 110-page submission to the council containing a forensic response to Tesco's application can be downloaded from here. Our planning team, especially Liz, Ian and Pete have produced a masterwork!

Is this Tesco's Attitude to St Albans?

Local resident Michael Pagan sends us this story of his experiences with Tesco this week:

'Last Friday I witnessed an incident which to me typifies Tesco's attitude to St Albans. Around 7 p.m. a Tesco home delivery van pulled up in the middle of Paxton Rd. The driver’s helper got out and went to the back to open the rear doors. Meanwhile the driver wound down his window, opened a package of some sort and threw the wrapper into the road. I asked his helper to pick it up which he did.

'I suppose we can’t really blame the driver; after all he’d probably just driven up London Road and seeing the dereliction caused by his company had concluded (correctly) that they don’t give a damn about the communities in which they operate. After all what is one piece of litter compared to boarded up houses, blighted roads and the future destruction of a town centre? Clearly Tesco has successfully communicated to all its employees that disdain towards its host communities for which it is fast becoming notorious.'

Please draw your own conclusions - and thanks to Michael for his support.

Why the Poll Looks Wrong...

Many thanks to everyone who has clicked on the poll on the right of the blog to say they've written to St Albans District Council. The reason why it looks empty again is that we've updated the date on the poll in line with the revised final date for letters of 16th May. Before we changed this the figures showed...

Yes, I have written - 45
No, but I will write - 31
No, I support Tesco - 6

So, please add these onto the total!

Today Ely, Tomorrow St Albans?

Is this a lesson for the future? The Ely Standard today reports Tesco's plans to extend its store in Ely in Cambridgeshire. Interestingly, the thrust of the plan involves removing car parking spaces and replacing them with more store space.

We've worried about the possibility of this happening in St Albans, if planning permission is given. We've discovered that the planned 477 car parking spaces in St Albans are actually the maximum allowed under planning guidelines for the proposed size of store. This gives Tesco the option in future to reduce the size of the car park and increase the store size. This of course would mean yet more local job losses, more competition for local businesses and the market, and probably more traffic, congestion and pollution.

Another reason to write NOW to STOP TESCO! (Oh, and hello Michael Kissman - good to see you still have a job!)

Petition Handed Over

Many people have been asking us over the past few weeks if they can still sign our petition. The answer, from now on, is no - because we've handed it in to the council.

On Friday last week (2nd May) representatives of Stop Tesco St Albans and the St Albans Civic Society handed the petition of 5,827 names to Gavin Cooper, the planning case officer who is responsible for Tesco’s planning applications, at St Albans District Council.

The petition, gathered over the last year, contains 5,137 physical signatures and 690 electronic signatures collected via the www.stoptesco.com website. It calls for the former Evershed’s site in London Road to be used for the benefit of the people of St Albans and specifically opposes any Tesco development.

Mike Dilke of Stop Tesco St Albans said:

‘The petition sends a message to the council that an overwhelming majority of local people are opposed to Tesco’s plans and want something better for London Road.

‘However, because petitions, even those as big as this one, are not legal objections to a planning application, we would urge everyone who signed the petition to write to the council or email planning@stalbans.gov.uk objecting to applications CA5/2008/0369 and 5/2008/0370 before the council’s extended cut-off date for objections of Friday 16th May.’


(The photograph shows Marion Hammant of the St Albans Civic Society and Mike Dilke of Stop Tesco St Albans with the petition outside the offices of St Albans District Council before the presentation)

Another Weekend of Campaigning

Thanks to the many volunteers who helped in the City Centre yesterday. Thanks also to Gary for the photos, and to local Liberal Democrat Councillor Michael Green who is the bloke in the leather jacket.

Tesco's Tax Web

Those wanting more news about the Guardian/Tesco libel case should read this update today in The Guardian. Assuming this article is correct, the libel case may come down to whether it is more defamatory to be seem to be avoiding paying Corporation Tax or Stamp Duty Land Tax - and whether the amount of tax avoided is a reputation issue for a major corporation.

As we've said before about Tesco, and this applies just as much to its ongoing other libel suit in Thailand (here's the latest news on this), the issue for us isn't so much what Tesco does - it is the fact that it can afford to spend money on legal writs and tax avoidance that smaller shops can't.

Local newsagents, grocers and market traders would love to reduce their tax demands by using overseas companies and hiring expensive tax experts - but they can't afford to. Tesco can, and can then use the tax savings to both improve its massive profits, and cut prices to drive local competitors out of business. So there goes any sense of a level playing field...

Deadline extended! And another address to write to!

Great news! The deadline for objections to the Tesco development has been put back to 16th May! However, the Bank Holiday weekend would still be a great time to write!

ALSO: If you are objecting on traffic grounds, could you copy your letter to John Wood, Head of Environment, Hertfordshire County Council, Hertford, SG13 8DE or john.wood@hertscc.gov.uk as the County Council is the body that makes a recommendation on traffic issues. Thanks!

Help Us Tomorrow

We're going to be taking our message into St Albans this weekend - starting with a stall in the market tomorrow (Saturday). The stall will be just in front of the tourist information office near the gents' toilets (not that near...). We'll be there from 9.15am - please either turn up any time and help - or email tescocampaign@yahoo.co.uk if you can commit to a specific time.

Many thanks for your support!

Yet More Letters of Support

Many thanks to those who wrote to the Herts Advertiser today to show their support for the campaign - click here to find letters from local residents Tim Randall, Ian Langford, V.Wing, John Bailey and Alison Redcastle.

Great Support At Public Meeting

It was standing room only at the Trinity URC Church in St Albans earlier this evening (Tuesday 29th April) as campaigners, politicians and local residents met to discuss the latest news about Tesco's London Road development and to show solidarity in opposing it.

Speaking at the meeting were:

Mike Dilke of Stop Tesco St Albans: In introducing the meeting, Mike spoke of the importance of the campaign focusing on finding a positive outcome for the former Eversheds site, and not being just against Tesco's current plans. He also emphasised the importance of immediate action, with a tight deadline for objections to be made.

Simon Grover of St Albans District Green Party spoke of the impact of the planned superstore on local shops and the vitality of the City Centre. Simon talked about the negative impact of Tesco on four other UK cities. In one, Cirencester, a new Tesco in a position around as far from the centre as that proposed for St Albans led to a 38% decline in local retail stores. He also spoke of the impact of superstores on local economies - with money being sent to head office rather than being spent in the local area.

Cllr Roma Mills, Labour Party Prospective Parliamentary Candidate, spoke of the impact on local people. She pointed out the massive local traffic problems and urged those present to write to Hertfordshire County Council as well as St Albans District Council to ensure that the County Council objected to the development vigorously on traffic grounds. She also spoke of the environmental degradation that a new supermarket would cause.

Sandy Walkington, Liberal Democrat Prospective Parliamentary Candidate spoke of his experience of campaigning in the area 20 years ago and the 'spick and span' houses owned by the Evershed family around the site - comparing them unfavourably to the current state of the area after 8 years of Tesco ownership. He also spoke of other campaigns around the country that successfully had opposed Tesco.

Nadia Davies, Conservative District Council Candidate, spoke of her experiences as a local resident, as well as the importance of using the site to ease St Alban's urgent housing needs. She also read out a statement from MP Anne Main, which concluded 'I am sure that most of you have already formally lodged your comments on the proposal with the Council, but if you have not I would urge you to do so as soon as possible. I sincerely hope that the Council feels, on balance, that it can refuse this proposal on good planning grounds.'

Ian Langford, one of Stop Tesco's planning volunteers, then shared some of the information he had obtained from Tesco's application. In particular, he argued that Tesco had significantly underestimated the problem of pollution in the area. To support this point, he produced figures that showed that Tesco's computer modelling of nitrogen dioxide levels in 2006 had underestimated the actual measured level by 18% and in doing so took the level under the EU 'safe' level. The same computer model was then used to derive even 'safer' figures for a 'post-Tesco' level. Unfortunately the computer model seemed to avoid pollution from stationary cars.

Mike Dilke then read out a message of support and encouragement from the Mill Road campaign in Cambridge - the campaign succeeded in preventing Tesco from opening an Express store in the city.

Peter Trevelyan of the St Albans Civic Society hosted a question and answer session, before Mike Dilke rounded off the event with a call to arms - and handed the Stop Tesco St Albans petition of over 5,800 names to the politicians present.

After the meeting, a number of volunteers signed up to deliver over 1300 extra leaflets and to help campaign in the City Centre. A significant amount of money was also raised to support further work. Thanks to all who attended!


UPDATE: Thanks to the Herts Advertiser for covering the event!

How Did This Get Here?

Sunday 7:29 pm 4/27/08 St. Albans, England
Originally uploaded by robinhamman

We know that lots of people have taken our leaflets and support the campaign - but how did this get into Tesco's in St Albans? Is there a mole? (Thanks for the photo Robin!)

What Local People Want Instead of Tesco

Over the past year we've had loads of comments and really useful ideas for making good use of the former Eversheds site suggested to us. We've taken some of them and overlaid them on pictures showing the last year of the Stop Tesco campaign. Click below to see them! (And thanks to Nick for doing this.)

Who's Coming to the Public Meeting?

We've finalised the list of speakers and expert guests for Tuesday's meeting. The meeting will be an excellent opportunity to find out more about Tesco's development and to ask questions of a wide range of experts. Please come along, even if you've never thought of yourself as a local activist! Although it may appear that a lot of people are speaking, we've asked them all to be brief and the meeting should take around an hour. (It's at Trinity URC Church, Beaconsfield Road at 7.30pm).

At the meeting we will be revealing the impact of Tesco's proposed development on local air quality. Representatives from all four political parties will show their support, and although MP Anne Main is unable to make the meeting as she is needed in the House of Commons, she has prepared a letter of support to be read out. We will then outline the key steps that we can all take to Stop Tesco and answer all of your questions!

Speakers will include:

• Simon Grover, St Albans District Green Party
• Cllr Roma Mills, Labour Party Parliamentary Candidate
• Sandy Walkington, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate
• Nadia Davies, Conservative Party
• Mike Dilke and Ian Langford, Stop Tesco St Albans
• Peter Trevelyan, St Albans Civic Society

PS - many thanks to the volunteers who are spending this weekend delivering thousands of leaflets and campaigning in the City Centre, and to the many market traders and residents who are displaying our new posters.

Please let us know if you're around to help next weekend - with the tight deadline for responses we need to get as many people out and about over the Bank Holiday Weekend.

Some Interesting Tesco Claims

Our planning team have spent the last couple of days poring over Tesco’s mammoth application. They’ve started to unearth some really interesting and highly controversial Tesco claims. We’ve listed some of the most amazing below…. although we’re sure we’ll have more of these by Tuesday’s public meeting.

1. Tesco claims the site is highly accessible by public transport, although no buses pass the store and the nearest bus stops are at least 300 metres away from the store. Tesco say they might try and get operators to change the routes and stops although buses currently avoid London Road because it is too congested. There’s also the problem of where to put a bus stop? Blocking the Tesco filter lane? Under the store? The report also regularly mentions the store closeness to the railway station as more evidence of accessibility to public transport. As local people we really don’t think that people will travel from Radlett, Brighton or central London by train to shop at Tesco St Albans!

2. Apparently Tesco says in the report that, "it cannot be disputed that the existing site is of extremely poor visual quality and is in dire need of redevelopment" – perhaps this might have something to do with 8 years of ownership and lack of investment by Tesco?

3. There has (apparently!) been extensive community engagement by Tesco (we’d heavily dispute this!) Tesco claims that Stop Tesco is 'operator specific' (i.e. is just against Tesco) – despite the fact that we’ve made it obvious from the start that we oppose ANY supermarket development on the site.

4. In a slap in the face for local people, Tesco claims that the 5,500 plus petition should carry little weight as its revised proposals demonstrate that it listened to Stop Tesco concerns and amended the scheme accordingly! A couple of points here - these were our concerns after the meeting, and the petition clearly states that people object to ANY supermarket development on the site. A slightly smaller supermarket than initially proposed does not invalidate the views of thousands of people!

5. Tesco also admits for the first time that its own first public consultation showed 63% of people against the store. And although they mention the second consultation exercise they undertook we can’t see any actual results in the application! They do claim that their business survey that showed 13 of 16 businesses supporting their application is valid – although this took place well before the petition was finished - surely they should have done the survey again once they had changed the design?

6. Finally for the moment, Tesco’s traffic assessment covers only Friday peak times, not Saturdays when everyone knows that London Road is busiest.

The Objections Have Started

Thanks to those people who have already written to register their objections to Tesco's development and copied us in at tescocampaign@yahoo.co.uk.

Janet Theakston has kindly let us post her comments, which cover many of the areas that local residents are very worried about. She wrote,

'I object to the Tesco proposal to build a supermarket on the old Eversheds site. There is no need for a further supermarket in St Albans - we are well served already. A supermarket where sited would draw custom away from the town centre, which, like other centre sites are underthreat from out of town shopping sites to the detriment of the heart of our historic city, which must be preserved. I object to the destruction of some of the houses/buildings in Alma Rd/London Road as being unnecessary and altering the character of the area.

'The traffic problems on the London Rd/Alma Rd junction are already terrible - I pass this junction twice daily on my way to the station - it is regularly blocked. Tesco's "solution" of an extra traffic lane on London Rd is a joke - it would do nothing to relieve the huge amount of extra traffic generated by a supermarket, certainly not massive delivery lorries. The noise, light and air polution would be awful.

'There could be so much better uses of that large site: housing, especially low cost housing for key workers in an expensive area would be great; also we need more primary school places - the housing on the old Oaklands College site will add to this need. This would be a much better site for a cinema/arts/theatre/community use development than the suggested site at the back of the Alban Area.

'Come on St Albans Council - think creatively - our lovely historic city is worthy of something much better than an unwanted and much opposed commercial development which will bring misery to those who live nearby. Be the ones that stand out against the Tesco land-grabbers and listen to what local people have to say. Sir Terry Leahy might not be impressed but St Albans residents will be! Please reject this proposal.'

Stop Tesco Announces Public Meeting

Next Tuesday (29th April), Stop Tesco will be holding a public meeting at Trinity URC Church, Beaconsfield Road, St Albans. The meeting will start at 7.30pm.

The meeting will provide an update on the campaign against Tesco, including brand new information about the increase in pollution that the proposed supermarket could cause. Local politicians will demonstrate their support and the petition of over 5,500 local people will be formally handed over.

The meeting will also give you a chance to take positive action against Tesco, including writing a formal letter of objection or volunteering to help in other ways.

Further details of speakers will be posted over the next few days - please watch this space!