News. . . .
September 22nd, 2010
Property developers launch public relations offensive over supermarket proposal
Kevin and Ann Davies, owners of Eiddo Davies Properties have written to local traders to persuade them of their belief that a new supermarket on the Cawdor site would benefit the town, not destroy local businesses and create more traffic congestion. Their letter is reproduced below and can be downloaded here
A reply to this fromt he Supermarket Action Group can be seen below
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Eiddo Davies Properties
(Partners Kevin and Anne Davies)
Cawdor Garage
Water Street
Newcastle Emlyn
Carmarthenshire
SA38 9LZ
To whom it may concern
Dear Trader,
Re: Proposed development at Tanyard Lane (Rear of Cawdor Cars)
As you wilt be aware, my main business has operated from Newcastle Emlyn for 25 years and my family are residents of the town.
I appreciate that there has been some opposition to our application for planning permission for a supermarket on the site to the rear of the garage. I fully understand the feeling against large out of town supermarkets, however I feel quite strongly that a development of the size proposed, so close in to town would be a Benefit, and not a Disadvantage to the existing Businesses on Main Street.
A consequence of the development would be to double the Car Parking Spaces currently available, with 2 hour parking for all users of the Supermarket. Less than half of this time will be spent actually in the supermarket.
The Archway would provide direct access from this car park to the Coffee shops and other specialist services provided by the existing businesses on Sycamore Street. Remember, the supermarket proposed is a comparatively small unit, and will not have the space to offer an in-store butcher or fishmonger, etc.; these services will still need to be provided within the town.
The area leading to the main street via the Arch, one of the main approaches to the town is in a sad state of repair and is surely in desperate need of development to improve first impression of town. It will be a priority of the development to tidy up this area and thereby improve the communication link between the supermarket and the specialist shops of the main street.
Consider the effect on Lampeter when the old Somerfield supermarket was redeveloped by Sainsbury. Discussions with local businesses, Deli, Butcher, Bakery etc., show that these all lost out during closure as trade moved to Coop, only a few hundred yards away from the centre of town. Similar process would follow in Newcastle Emlyn if trade was drawn out of town to the alternative supermarket site proposed. A budget store out of town may not have a great adverse effect on trade at present, even though they frequently stock non-food items and branded food lines, but consider what could happen if CKs were to sell to one of the big 5 Supermarket chains! Pedestrian traffic would not be attracted to the main street from such site, contrast this with the Tanyard Lane proposal where foot traffic will easily flow through the Archway to increase the daily footfall on the town’s main shopping area.
The current siting of convenience food stores in the high street has its own drawbacks for the other shops: Like all general food stores these stores have a high volume of daily deliveries, resulting in congestion caused by delivery vehicles parking on double yellow lines and gridlock at a time of day when the town should be handling its daily peak traffic flow. The proposed development would allow these high volume deliveries to be made in a dedicated area away from the main street.
Alternatively, if the outcome is that Newcastle Emlyn attracts no supermarket at all, there will be a major danger to the viability of the Town. Analysis of the sales by our Motor Dealerships in Cardigan and Carmarthen shows that many of our cars are sold by these branches to Postcode SA38 and Sa44. Enquiries into this fact reveals that many of the inhabitants of Newcastle Emlyn and its catchment area already do their weekly food shop in Carmarthen, Cardigan or Lampeter. With the new Debenhams shopping area in Carmarthen and Bath House development in Cardigan even more trade may be attracted away from Newcastle Emlyn and our shopping area could go into terminal decline.
We have researched the effects of this kind of development in similar country towns on the Welsh Border, and many, for example, Pershore, near Evesham, have prospered following development of similar size supermarkets within the town centres.
You will all be aware that I have only recently completed a substantial investment in expanding and redeveloping the Emlyn Arms Hotel; Like any Hotel of its sort, the Hotel, (Now known as Gwesty’r Emlyn Hotel) is dependent for much of its custom on the commercial activity in its local environment. Obviously I would not have made such a substantial commitment had I thought that an imminent development so close to the hotel would lead to a decline in the other Town Businesses. I felt that the town needed a quality Hotel similar to Liandeilo, which also, incidentally, has a major supermarket near to the town centre.
My own vision for the development of Newcastle Emlyn will improve the appearance of the approaches to the town: The Supermarket will improve the parking facilities at Tanyard lane and tidy up the approaches to the main street via the Archway. In addition, the existing Vauxhall Showroom would be moved to the other approach to town at New Road, redeveloping the old Crossville and Jewson’s sites in an attractive manner, and presenting an improved profile of the town.
I would be grateful if you could think about these arguments, and I hope, add your support to my renewed application to develop a supermarket inside the main area of town.
Kevin Davies
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Reply to the above letter from the Supermarket Action Group
Dear Editor,
In the latest twist in the Cawdor supermarket planning dispute in Newcastle Emlyn, the developer, Mr Kevin Davies, has decided to try to boost support for his plans by persuading some local businesses and individuals to sign a statement favouring the controversial plan. Unfortunately, the arguments and accompanying “information pack” he is presenting create a very misleading picture, and it is important for anyone who has been approached to bear the following points in mind before they decide whether they still wish their names to be associated with this scheme.
The planning application predicts that the Cawdor supermarket would achieve a turnover of £11.8m. Mr Davies gives the impression that most of this money would be “clawed back” from trade now leaving the town and going to centres such as Carmarthen. In fact, Mr Davies’s agents believe that up to £5.5m of this revenue could come from existing businesses in town. A letter written by the agents in December 2009 states that estimated turnover in food and other convenience goods in town is £10.5m, and it states that these businesses could afford to lose more than half their business to a new supermarket.
In reality. no business can afford to lose half its trade, and the consequence will be job losses and the closure of businesses. Those businesses not directly threatened by a supermarket will then find themselves trading in a high street with more and more empty and boarded-up premises, and Newcastle Emlyn will lose its appeal as a place to shop and visit.
Mr Davies compares Newcastle Emlyn with Lampeter and other towns, such as Pershore in England. Lampeter has three times the population, and Pershore has five times as many inhabitants. Moreover, large stretches of Lampeter’s high street are now devoid of any shops at all.
Bizarrely, Mr Davies also disputes the facts set out in his own planning application, which clearly states that his proposed store would be more than two and a half times the size of the town’s existing CK’s supermarket. He even told the Town Council that a store that size would not fit on the site. Either Mr Davies is wrong, or his planning application contains some fundamental errors.
The letter which Mr Davies is now handing out also tries to imply that his new supermarket would somehow improve the town’s chronic traffic congestion while at the same time bringing more people (and of course, more delivery lorries) into town.
The same letter also states that car parking provision will be doubled. In fact, the number of spaces under the proposal would increase from 65 to 114, including an unstated number of staff parking spaces and 12
spaces for motor cycles and bicycles.
As an indication of his belief in the future of the town, Mr Davies cites the recently completed renovation of the Emlyn Arms Hotel, and while the renovation is to be welcomed, Mr Davies may wish to acknowledge the role of government (i.e. taxpayer) funded grants in this project.
While there is no doubt that Mr Davies loves the town which he has made home, it is hard not to believe that the prospect of selling the Cawdor site for millions of pounds is not a bigger factor in his desire to push the development through.
If the application fails, Mr Davies will lose the money he has spent on the application process; if it succeeds, all of the risk will be borne by the town, its businesses and its residents, and they could end up paying a very high price indeed. What guarantees are there for neighbouring residents and businesses that the massive amount of pile driving and other work needed to stabilise the site will not damage surrounding buildings, and what guarantees are there that this development will not kill our now thriving main street?
Signed on behalf of the Newcastle Emlyn Action Group.
Roger Ladbrook
Tim Swann
Richard Vale
Dear Newcastle Emlyn Residents,
Your town is so beautiful. My wife and I love to visit, spending time with you! Your shops are so individual:-
not part of a modern rat race. Your town retains a charm and pleasant ambience. You even have a livestock market.
Do you want to lose this? You must fight this application tooth and nail to preserve Newcastle Emlyn and surrounding villages!
What guarantees are there that the pile driving on the new development will not damage surrounding buildings? Two words – professional indemnity.
And what guarantees are there that this development will not kill our thriving town? Our own good sense to use the redeveloped site for convenience bulk shopping, rather than tesco.com or Carmarthen/Cardigan stores, BUT to continue to shop locally and sensibly and support our fine local producers of sustainable meat/fish/bread/vegetables etc. for these eminently better products – the two sources can and will survive and flourish together if given some thought by shoppers.
And how else do the Action Group plan to get this eyesore of a site redeveloped? Ive yet to hear a viable and sensible suggestion. There are no complaints regarding the current hugely costly shop refit of Sommerfield and subsequent rebranding as Co-Op, which will also have a retail impact.
Regards,
Andy Unett