Sainsbury's debate returns to Ledbury

9:30am Friday 7th September 2012 in Ledbury

SAINSBURY’S is set to decide on whether to press ahead with a new bid for a superstore in Ledbury.
 

A decision will be announced either later in September or early in October,
said the retailer.


It looks like there will be yet more debate in the town that was previously divided over whether or not to welcome any proposal for construction.


An application for a superstore on the New Mills industrial estate, on land owned and occupied by Galebreaker, was thrown out by Herefordshire
Council in February.


Since then, there has been silence from Sainsbury’s concerning Ledbury.
 

But this week, Thomas Issitt, of Gough Bailey Wright, the PR firm that represents Sainsbury’s, said: “There are a lot of discussions going on as to what the next stage will be.

“There could be clarification in three or four weeks. “A meeting will be held when a decision will be made.”


Mr Issitt said that the meeting would involve Sainsbury’s chiefs and company consultants.


The earlier Sainsbury’s application divided the opinion of the town and event led to a split vote at Ledbury Town Council.
 

Former Ledbury retailer Yvonne White, who spoke strongly in favour of the Sainsbury’s application at the planning meeting in Hereford in February, said: “I hope a Sainsbury’s supermarket does comes to Ledbury.
 

“There are plans to build 800 new homes in town, and the town’s going to need it.

“But I do fear this could lead again to a divided town. However, the people who don’t want it want us to be quiet. I still think that 70 per cent of the town is in favour of the supermarket.”
 

Ledbury’s mayor, Councillor Phill Bettington, who was opposed to the earlier application, said he would judge any new application on its merits.
 

“If there are new proposals, I’ll wait and see what they are, and make a comment afterwards,” he said.

Comments(11)

RichHadley says...
12:21pm Fri 7 Sep 12

It would be so good if Mrs White and her pro-out of town superstore supporters could provide a shred of evidence that the majority of Ledbury people want a massive Sainsbury's to be built a mile away from the town centre on the by-pass. Working on the principle that if you repeat a lie enough times, it begins to acquire a ring of truth, she once again claims a majority of the town - which has now gone up to 70% - are in favour. Hello?

Actually, in every possible measure to gauge public opinion on the matter, Ledbury has rejected the Sainsbury's plan by over two to one. When Mrs White stood in the recent town council election (on her pro-superstore ticket), she was overwhelmingly defeated (two to one) by four other candidates who were all opposed to an out of town superstore. When the letters of objection were tallied up at Herefordshire planning department, they fell two to one objecting to the scheme. The anti-out of town superstore petition likewise had twice as many names on it as those in favour.

Finally and most tellingly, when Mrs White and her group proposed to hold a parish poll back in November 2011 to allow the residents of Ledbury to decide on the matter, what happened? One minute gung-ho claiming their 'silent majority' would win the day, the next they pulled out of the referendum idea on instructions by Sainsbury's spin-doctors Gough Public Relations. Why? Because the PR smoothies knew the truth - Ledbury people love their High Street, and don't want it sucked dry by a greedy out of town supermarket operator. And they knew they would lose the referendum.

Why don't you just face up to reality Mrs White? You have been defeated at every turn on this question. And will continue to be so. There is no future for an out of town superstore in Ledbury. Ever.

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Deborah Baker says...
12:47pm Fri 7 Sep 12

Its so good to see Sainsburys thinking of their future in the town. Also its laughable to see yet again, those of the community who portray they want to build bridges and then start to get personal in their attacks again.

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RichHadley says...
2:08pm Fri 7 Sep 12

Debbie, what do you mean... it's a big controversial question, Mrs White has the freedom to put her views forward (quoted in the main news item), others (including me) have the right of reply. I went head to head with her on BBC H and W and have also discussed the issue face to face in the street with her on more than one occasion. We totally disagree with each other, and neither is backwards in coming forward to say why they don't. What's personal? We're just arguing our case.

And in any case if anybody wonders why I mention Mrs White specifically, it's not to make a personal attack, but because she is the figurehead of the pro-Sainsbury's group, quoted extensively in the media, and a prolific letter writer to local papers - just like me.

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Deborah Baker says...
4:30pm Fri 7 Sep 12

Rich, for anyone who reads any of the newspaper sites, it is clear to see you have your differences, but when you use such words as 'face up to reality' then it becomes personal. We can all debate ideas or differences without the need to use such words.

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RichHadley says...
4:39pm Fri 7 Sep 12

OK Debbie. No intention to offend. I'm just straight talking. So is Yvonne. And lots of other people... This supermarket thing is a bit rough and tumble, but last thing I want to do is get personal. Promise you that. :-)

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Deborah Baker says...
6:13pm Fri 7 Sep 12

Thank you, Im well aware that it is rough and tumble, my poor kids were used as pawns in the game, when a certain newspaper referred to the LESS group as being Hari Krishna's look a likes just missing the red spot on our foreheads, this was most unfortunate and upsetting due to them being half Indian, and not at all Hindu, but Sikh. I also remember Lots proudly posting the article on its page and refusing to take it off.

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Colin J Marschall says...
7:05pm Fri 7 Sep 12

Wow Rich, nice to see I am no longer the figure head for the anti campaign, could that be because I have had my 15 mins of fame and can now crawl back under my stone as per the nice comments on your "secret" site.
Anyway enough of the banter, lets get down to a few facts shall we. Your petition of which less than a thousand people signed from Herefordshire, I know Shane is moving into the area but that doesn't make Melbourne a new suburb of Ledbury and as to your 2-1 on the election, quite true, but it still doesn't account for the 78% who didn't vote, you know the "silent majority" we love so much.
I also see you have expanded your learning as it now includes foretelling the future as to any supermarket applications of the future .. can you tell me the lottery numbers for tomorrow please.

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kellie2205 says...
8:24pm Fri 7 Sep 12

well i speak to a lot of people in Ledbury who would LOVE somewhere adequate to shop , and possibly a job !! as due to people wishing to keep Ledbury in past times and not supporting new developments are looking at remaining unemployed for quite some time ! but then again i suppose those jobs are not seen as employment to the likes of some !!!

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baboo2you says...
8:29pm Fri 7 Sep 12

Its sad to see so many empty shops in Ledbury and perhaps with rents being so high more will close. If you ever happen to be trudging round the supermarket after 19:00hrs of an evening both offer choices from the reduced section with the Co-op giving the wider choice on reduced items. They also had extended opening hours during the olympics but were dead after 20:00 hrs. But also both are fairly quite with carparks empty, ok the high street has a few designer shops some with ridulous prices. Perhaps some day a supermarket will come but so will unemployment for those whose jobs depend on the high street. Are staff who work in the retail trade rich? Why can Galebreaker not expand on the land they have? with passing traffic its a free advert for the company being where they are?. Some much of the existing building would be put into landfill, its not as if its falling down. I would not say its a secret site? you are talking of the facebook site are you not its common knowledge that probably people who say they are against the supermarket read comments and advise what they have read. Mr C Brown

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Colin J Marschall says...
10:15pm Fri 7 Sep 12

baboo2you wrote:
Its sad to see so many empty shops in Ledbury and perhaps with rents being so high more will close. If you ever happen to be trudging round the supermarket after 19:00hrs of an evening both offer choices from the reduced section with the Co-op giving the wider choice on reduced items. They also had extended opening hours during the olympics but were dead after 20:00 hrs. But also both are fairly quite with carparks empty, ok the high street has a few designer shops some with ridulous prices. Perhaps some day a supermarket will come but so will unemployment for those whose jobs depend on the high street. Are staff who work in the retail trade rich? Why can Galebreaker not expand on the land they have? with passing traffic its a free advert for the company being where they are?. Some much of the existing building would be put into landfill, its not as if its falling down. I would not say its a secret site? you are talking of the facebook site are you not its common knowledge that probably people who say they are against the supermarket read comments and advise what they have read. Mr C Brown
No I'm not talking about the known "Save Ledbury" or "LOTS" FB pages I'm talking about the secret one they had where all the 'good' stuff was, lucky for me they also had someone who took a great dislike to the comments there and they started emailing me them .. quite eye opening they were too.
The point we the pro store supporters have always made is that there is a very large number of people who currently don't use the high street anyway, they prefer to drive to Malvern or Hereford to do their weekly shopping, just as Cllr Crowe and x-mayor Conway do. Those people wouldn't be taking one single bean from the high street as they don't spend there anyway.

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Helebie says...
11:18pm Sun 16 Sep 12

I think it would be great to be able to do a big shop in Ledbury instead of traveling to Malvern or Hereford like I and a lot of people do now, especially if it's a Sainsbury that does clothes :-)

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