Recommendation ‘reflected vested interests’ say pro Tesco group

A group supporting an edge-of-town supermarket proposed for Thame, has publically responded to Thame Town Council’s decision to recommend refusal of plans for a supermarket, employment buildings and a petrol filling station on the DAF site at Wenman Road.

“It was obviously a very disappointing outcome to see such a decision being made by Councillors on the August 25,” Thame Needs Tesco (TNT) spokesperson, Rachel Lester told Thame.Net, “which reflected only the vested interests of the town centre lobby.”

“We feel that we put across the views of many of the real people of the town. We felt that there was lack of opportunity to put questions to the Councillors, not only from ourselves but the other group which would have made for wider discussion and allow other important aspects of the proposal to be addressed.

“Councillor Dyer questioned where Tesco staff would park if Tesco came to Thame. Thame Centre First claimed that there would be a lack of sufficient parking provision for Tesco employees and would result in neighbouring streets becoming congested with parked cars,” she continued. “This happens in Thame everyday of the week, people working in Thame park in nearby steets, Waitrose staff have to park in nearby streets which residents at times find difficult to cope with. Perhaps the John Lewis Group should be questioned about this. The last thing these people should be worrying about is where Tesco staff are going to park!

“Supporters of the campaign can be assured that we will continue to campaign for and on behalf of them for what we see is an essential part of the towns infrastructure.”

COUNCIL SAYS ‘NO!’

Thame Town Councillors recommend overwhelmingly, 10 v 2, for refusal of an edge-of-Town Tesco Superstore, at the meeting where around 120 residents and business owners packed the town hall to hear the application. They concluded that the planning application should be refused by South Oxfordshire District Council because it would threaten the viability of the town centre and did not conform to the Thame Neighbourhood Plan.

Members of Thame Centre First, a community campaign that opposes the edge-of-town superstore, spoke at the meeting on behalf of town centre businesses and local residents.

High Street businesses were represented by Chris Lindop of Mobalpa Kitchens, and Tom Newitt from Newit’st the butchers. Each spoke about the adverse impact they feared an edge-of-town supermarket would have on their businesses and the town centre. Tom Newitt explained said: “The proposed store is too large and in the wrong location – on the edge of town, away from the town centre. If it were to be approved, the effect on the centre would be highly detrimental.”

Local resident, Sue Gilbert, also spoke against the plans, pointing out that the proposed store contravened national and local planning policy, including the Thame Neighbourhood Plan. She also talked about the undesirable effect that increased noise from the supermarket would have on local residents. She told councillors: “The planning application from Tesco for an out of the town supermarket is a threat to the town centre shops and the weekly market, and undermines the principles set out in the Neighbourhood Plan.” She maintained that Tesco’s impact statement contained inconsistencies in that it tried to reduce the figures for the impact on the town centre, but also tried to demonstrate there is a need. “The two arguments are contradictory and by presenting the data in a way that tries to make both cases, it is flawed,” she said.

IMPACT STUDY CRITICISED

Sue Gilbert then went on to say that Tesco’s ‘Convenience food sales’ need has been overstated in the impact study, by overstating the Thame catchment area, the result of which, she said, would be a need for Tesco to take more from the town centre to achieve their turnover. She also noted that the convenience sales per sqM are lower than the norms quoted for other stores which, she said, needed to be investigated further. Other criticisms of the Tesco impact study she made were:
* The low estimate of diversion of comparison shopping from the independent stores is unsupported by sufficient evidence.
* The beneficial effect of Waitrose as an anchoring store for linked shopping trips to the town centre is dismissed by Tesco with no fact based evidence to support their      claims.
* Tesco state that the majority of their trade will be redirected from the Waitrose store which it justifies by stating that Waitrose is overtrading. “Using DCLG guidance      on overtrading Tesco need to demonstrate overcrowding and congestion, not simply Waitrose’s above average turnover,” she said.
* The loss of footfall in the town centre will have a detrimental effect all town centre businesses including the library, post office and banks.
* A study of 50 superstore applications showed in every case the applicants had underestimated the impact on the town centre.

PARKING

Representatives from Tesco and individuals supporting the store, including Thame’s ex Traffic Warden, Peggy Long, spoke on the benefits, as they saw them, that the store would bring the town. Peggy Long said: “We feel deeply that Thame, because it is growing rapidly with new housing estates in line with the Neighbourhood Plan, need a large supermarket to cater for not only those that live here already but for those about to come to live in Thame – also for people living in nearby villages.

“Parking is a subject we all know is a topic of conversation in Thame,” she continued. “We are rapidly running out of parking spaces. Once (ED. we have) all the houses that have been built in Thame – and those proposed in nearby villages – we will have frustrated drivers driving out of the town centre and on to other towns. Tescos on the outside of town would free up some of those town centre spaces for people that would look forward to visiting our town.

‘THAME MUST CATER FOR EVERYONE’

“Thame must cater for all of its people; the rich and not so rich; people on limited incomes; old and young; those renting who cannot afford to buy property and people who have large mortgages and need to budget carefully. Not everyone can afford Waitrose prices and the other two supermarkets have limited choice.”

EMPLOYMENT

On the matter of employment, Peggy Long said that several companies, including the Pizza factory, Schwartz Spices and Cargo, had all provided a large amount of employment for the area and had all left Thame over a number of years. “Tesco in Thame would bring jobs for all age groups,” she said.

The anti Tesco group’s view on employment implications of the proposal were that The TNP identifies retail as a key employment sector for Thame, and its policy is to retain existing employment land in employment use.  Sue Gilbert said: “The site is currently in employment use and Tesco claim they will maintain a similar level of employment to justify the change of use to retail.  But studies have shown that an edge of town store can reduce the overall retail employment levels of a town due to loss of town centre shops, so in fact there is likely to be a net loss of employment in Thame if this application is approved.”

PLAN WOULD ‘STEAMROLLER’ OVER NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN

After these representations, the council debated the planning application. Cllr Mike Dyer explained his reasons for objecting to the application, concluding, “If approved, this store would steamroller over the Thame Neighbourhood Plan and rip the heart out of the town centre.” Councillor Peter Lambert said that he believed 70% of town residents opposed the store, whilst other councillors voiced concerns that fewer people do a large weekly shop and are opting to shop more frequently at smaller more convenient stores.

The two town councillors that voted to recommend approval of the application were Cllrs Mary Stiles and Tom Wyse. According to draft minutes of the meeting (LINK HERE), these two councillors highlighted that Thame was set to grow following future housing development and that current provision within the town, with particular reference to parking, could not accommodate this additional need. Similarly, the town also needed to make provision for those who could not afford to shop at the current outlets within Thame.

South Oxfordshire District Council are expected to make the formal decision whether to approve or reject the planning application by the end of September.

SOURCE: Written statements read out by groups’ representatives at the meeting (Thame.Net was unable to attend the meeting hence no first-hand account)