to be furious that tesco want to open a store in looe, cornwall?

[morecoffeepleaseholdthecake]

Just seen this on the news. There are currently no big supermarkets in this lovely cornish town, so Tesco want to build one on the outskirts.

They say, people already do their weekly shop in big supermarkets in other towns, so there is a demand for it.

If this goes ahead, that means this beautiful place will end up with countless empty shops when the local businesses close. They will then be filled with cash converter shops, crappy take aways and endless charity shops.

I think this is absolutely tragic. If somewhere is lucky enough to have got to 2012 without a big supermarket killing taking over the town it should be celebrated!

Ariel, agree with you on the parking, its ridiculous since they 'streamlined' the charges across the whole of cornwall.

Also agree with the poster that said the out of town shopping areas with next boots etc are damaging to town centres

A lot of money is being pumped into camborne pool and redruth. I think that is a good thing.

Yes, I was trying to find that phrase, Morecoffee - land banking.

Morecoffee- you say a town doesn't need a supermarket, but what about older people who don't have a car or internet access?

I lived and worked in Looe for two years, the Hotel I worked in had to go miles to Waitrose to get supplies for the morning, I think it's a good thing and though Looe is great in the summer (beautiful) it does lack something in the shopping department I think.

I think that at any given time about 50% of the population are pissed off about Tesco building new stores.

They are evil bastards though and generally get their way in the end

you say a town doesn't need a supermarket, but what about older people who don't have a car or internet access?

Just asked my gran this question Cailin. Hope this answer helps-

She goes on the bus (as most elderly people do) into town and shops there. She has the option to go to a supermarket (again by bus) and has a great selection to choose from including 2 Tesco, sainsburys, Asda, lidl, aldi, Iceland, co-op. She doesn't go to these as there is too much to choose from (her example was 10 different tins of peas) or the bus doesn't go regularly enough. She buys fruit veg meat bread etc in the relevant shops in town and then gets any other bits at local store. She's 92 BTW.

Also, if someone has managed for 10, 20, 30 plus years and are still managing, surely there is no problem? If you cannot manage without a supermarket, don't move to a town that hasn't got one?

Just heard waitrose has been approved in truro.

It just seems a shame that an older person who isn't as able and fit as your gran might have to move out of an area because they can't manage long trips on the bus.

But if the supermarket is being built outside of the town (as in looe), most would need to access it by car or bus anyway. If someone has mobility issues and finds bus trips difficult then that is not the responsibility of a supermarket and is in fact a whole other issue. If someone cannot access shops/supermarket on foot/by bus/by car, then they would need help or support to do so (eg someone to shop for them/ someone to take them/ meals delivered etc and by someone I mean family/neighbour/care//volunteer) if there is a person living in a town with no supermarket who can't catch a bus to the nearest supermarket, doesn't drive and doesn't have internet access and also has health or mobility problems, what do you suppose they are currently doing? They must be accessing food from somewhere?! The solution to that is not "build a supermarket", surely it is to provide that person with the help and support they need.....

I'm totally confused now. If the supermarket isn't actually in Looe then what's the problem

It's not in the centre of town, on the edge as most supermarkets are that are built now.

Hmmm I have mixed views on this.We live on the edge of a national park that had a Tesco metro built in the middle of the town.I think this is totally wrong and should be banned as it can't not hit all local shops and businesses which are unique.

However we camp outside Padstow every year and use that totally utter shit extortionate Tesco on the outskirts of town. I have to say it's a god send for camping although I resent the over hiked prices because they know it's a captive market.If I was uber rich and staying in a shabby chic beach house I'd shop in the delis etc in Padstow although the scrum would put me off a tad.

The Tesco being out of town I think would have less of an impact(it'll have some) but if it was actually in town it would be dreadful.I think Tesco Metros are totally awful.I live in Devon and you see them everywhere hoovering up any last bit of spare cash local businesses might have.I honestly think they should be banned.I also wholeheartedly support those in Bristol(which I know) as that road didn't need a Tesco store.

Out of town superstores I don't like but think strangely they do less damage.

How can a tesco metro selling milk, eggs, coffee, crisps hit a "unique" local shop - either the shops are selling milk, eggs, coffee, crisps and are not unique, or they're not competing with the tesco?

Right... If the locals want their town to stay as is, they won't shop at Tescos. No harm done. For the things they can't get locally they can go to Tescos. What's the issue?! I'm so sick of all this 'supermarkets kill communities' crap. No. Communities kill communities. No one is dragged kicking and screaming from the local shop!

They also sell cards, fruit & veg,papers,comics,sandwiches basically a bit of everything at lower prices.Many tourists(I think locals are more loyal)are hardly going to go into the deli to buy local strawberries and nice chocs,the craft shops,galleries for cards,the bakery for sandwiches or pasties,a paper,coffee etc from the paper shop etc if you can get it all cheaper next door under one roof and do a bigger shop to boot thus taking money from the local community and ploughing it all back to Mr Tesco.

Apparently the smaller independent shops everywhere are doing better than a lot of the chains atm,I think people are becoming aware of the Tesco Metro type problem,trying to spend less on crap they don't need anyway and are trying to support the little guys more.Hope it continues.

MrsHeffley - au contraire. I think that Tourists often leave their financial sense at home, at least for part of the holiday, and are much more prepared to pay through the nose for some 'local' strawberries and a 'hand cut' sandwich and a card by a 'local artist'. It's part of the romance of holiday.

Also, I'll use the Padstow example again; they are less likely to trek up the massive hill to Tesco with their pushchairs in their stoopid holiday flip flops to buy a bog standard egg 'n' cress from Tesco when they can spend 3x as much on a minging pastie at the bottom of the hill by the lovely harbour.

And is it better that they shop in Tesco's down here than loading up their cars with Waitrose shopping in Islington before they drive down?

A slightly acidic observation aimed at second home owners really.

The Padstow thing is completely different.Padstow is utter hell.We are tourists there and avoid going down the hill into Padstow at all costs.We are a family of 5 and seriously the cost of pasties for 5 is laughable.We go into Padstow once because the kids like the sweet shop and buy pasties from the Tesco before.

Where we live we have different tourists,less well off ie not the Joules set who are all by the sea.We get more of the walkers,pensioner types.

Also in the past in the town I was talking about I stopped going to the deli etc and did just what I said because it was easier to pop into Tesco and do it all under one roof.I try hard not to now.

Padstein.

He has a lot to answer for.

a potted geography lesson of looe,!

the town is made up of several parts,
the downs, the hannafore and west looe on the west side of the river,
east looe centre, sunrising and barbican on the east side of the river,

both the centre of west and east looe are mainly holiday cottages and second homes, plus all the shops, and the harbour.
sunrising, the downs and the barbican are the main centres of the population.

the new tesco store is proposed for land on the sunrising/ barbican area,
400 new homes are already being built on land nearby, and the outline proposal for the tesco site also has somewhere in the region of 100 affordable homes, plus land set aside for community use, ie, play area, skate park etc.
the actual store will be on the small side, and it has been agreed that it will not have a chemist or cafe. for over half the residents of looe the store will be within walking distance.
it will bring around 180 all year round jobs to a town that needs all year round jobs badly. the only other shops in the near area are a londis, a spar and a small bakery.

a consultaion process has begun with the local people, councillors etc,
and it seems most people are very much in favour of it.

as to the decimation of other cornish towns, blame can be laid squarely at the doorstep of a few things, the working history of the area, ie, mining and fishing, both industries that are in serious decline, well mining is all but dead really, and the other big stumbling block for cornwall, well cornwall county council, stupid increases and changes to parking rates, hikes in business rates, inability to do anything to improve town centres, sorry, i could go on for ever !!
as for those against the plans, mostly people who have moved here recently and see tesco as destroying thier rural dream. oh, and devaluing thier over inflated house prices.

I still don't really get it. People are more likely to shop in Tesco because it's cheaper. That's just the normal way business works, and expecting people to pay higher prices just to preserve some ideal is really odd.

I blame Cornwall Council for nearly everything bad in my life, if I'm honest

They really are the biggest set of blind, cloth eared, shit brained, irresponsible, clueless, inept, selfish, misguided fools in the country.

Apparently they are looking at taking over some of First Great Western's rail services

I moved abroad before Cornwall became unitary; still have my home in Caradon and will be back within the next couple of years. Why is the Unitary authority so bad? I know it is damn near impossible to call them from abroad as their number doesn't work from abroad, and I can't always find one that does. I also have issues with the fact they are in fecking Truro, and many parts of Cornwall (like mine) are closer to West Devon than Truro, so how can what they decide for Penzance say, also be applicable to the different conditions in Callington and Launceston for instance?

Scary, where do I start? You sussed where I live some time ago I think.
Basically it's just Carrick but administering the whole county. The policies are totally Truro centric. The said we wouldn't lose jobs or services, that the district council services would in essence remain as "One Stop Shops" , that services would be equal given that we all now had the same council tax. What happened of course that costs were brought up to the highest common denominator (if that's the right phrase), so Carrick level council tax, but shitty services for the most remote areas. e.g. Recycling - Carrick had a fortnightly collection of plastic, card, glass, paper, tins, batteries, junk mail...most things. In Penwith they take newspapers, tins and glass.

Jobs - all those hollow promises of jobs remaining where they were have been broken. Now a skeleton staff remains here, as more and more jobs and departments are moved to Camborne and Truro. Lots of people here don't have cars, so they depend on the buses, but oh! the bus services are being cut (not because of the unitary council, admittedly, more of a sign of the times).

You call someone at the council for say, a litter problem, and they don't have a clue where you are on about, because it is someone on the end of a phone miles away who lives in Truro.

The big, well paid (non elected) jobs seem to be staffed by Massive Egos in Suits. Take the Pz harbour/islands link fiasco - the whole town was torn in two by the intransigence and stubbornness and downright unpleasantness of a certain councillor, who refused to budge an inch on the issue, despite advice from almost everyone. He went in the local paper and accused the opposition to his plans of being Nazis . And he kept his job! His extraordinarily well paid job, which is supposed to be to serve the people of Cornwall! The leader of the council is on more than the PM, and doesn't even live down here full time.

And as for PARKING! They looked at the places where most people used the car parks and hoiked the charges up again and again. This is strangling town centre trade, and despite well organised, well supported, sensible, business-centric suggestions that the town would fare much better if the car park charges were fairer, they won't budge. And have you heard the latest? Yes, they are going to close public toilets in Cornwall, because it will make a saving. Fabulous idea in a tourist based economy, non? Truro of course - a much larger town - will lose three. Here we will lose eight.

This was after 95% of the residents of Cornwall voted against having a unitary authority.

He endeth the badly written and angry rant!