Paul Newton of Hasnett Road, Ledbury, says new facilities are needed for Ledbury (From Hereford Times)

Paul Newton of Hasnett Road, Ledbury, says new facilities are needed for Ledbury

7:00am Wednesday 1st February 2012 in Letters

I AM writing to you regarding the above planning application for a Sainsbury store in Ledbury, which I fully support.

I have lived in Ledbury for 25 years and have great affection for the town and the surrounding area and would not advocate anything that I felt may detract from this.

It seems to me that the main opposition is founded on a basic desire of a minority who refuse to accept any changes to the town, whatever they may be.

Unfortunately, the world constantly changes. Ledbury is gradually expanding and so to satisfy the general needs of the population, good and adequate facilities must be available within the local area so as to maintain the lifeblood of the town.

A large number of the residents of Ledbury regularly visit Hereford, Worcester, Cheltenham and Gloucester to carry out a comprehensive, cost-effective shopping exercise.

This has an impact on many of Ledbury’s shops – people who shop in other places will often stroll around and make purchases of nonsupermarket items that could have been possibly obtained in Ledbury, had they been able to stay there for their main shopping requirements.

It is also important to note that as we are all being encouraged to reduce our carbon footprints, a local retail development would be very effective while helping local people to reduce their fuel costs and wear and tear on vehicles.

I regularly walk around Ledbury town and always buy such things as bread, meat, fruit, vegetables and dairy products from the local traders and I feel that a Sainsbury store in the town would have little impact on such activities.

In fact I think that trade for these stores is very likely to improve if people are not leaving Ledbury regularly to do their main shopping. Lots of Ledbury residents prefer to buy these products locally, both for quality and freshness.

However, for virtually anything else it is a different story. There is little or no choice for affordable clothing, electrical items, household goods, basic furniture items, children’s items – goods that are available at stores such as Sainsbury’s.

The town has many charity shops, gift shops (usually closed on Sundays and bank holidays, when the town is busy with tourists), pubs (which are mainly empty except for weekends), banks and building societies. Should you wish to have a snack, tea, coffee etc the choices are very limited, especially at weekends and bank holidays.

Having a Sainsbury store in Ledbury may well encourage small traders to improve their services, so attracting more customers.

With fuel prices at an all-time high and continually rising, the availability of slightly cheaper fuel at Sainsbury’s can only be welcomed.

Regarding the employment issue, it is obvious that opportunities will be available, much needed in this area, especially in the current poor economic climate.

It is likely that the majority of vacancies will be for part-time staff, as is common in the retail industry, but for many people, especially young mothers, students and older people, these are ideal and, ultimately, any job is better than being unemployed, if a person has a desire to work.

PAUL NEWTON, Hasnett Road, Ledbury.