Campaigner Martin Crumpton has written to
Wales’ Minister for Environment and Sustainable Development asking why he has
not yet replied to a letter sent to him in June this year in connection with
the proposed Sainbury’s supermarket in Llan.
Mr Crumpton, who has spearheaded the fight
against the new store planned for the Dobson & Crowther printworks site off
the A5, is asking John Griffiths AM why he has not responded to the question
whether or not the Co-op store in Regent
Street is to be considered as part of the Llangollen’s retail offering when it comes to considering the need for the
new Sainsbury’s.
This point, claims Mr Crumpton, is of
critical importance to the determination of the store application next month.
Here is
Mr Crumpton’s letter to Mr Griffiths in
full:
“ Dear
Minister,
On the
20th of June this year, I wrote to you requesting a determination on
whether or not the Co-operative Food store in Llangollen should be considered
part of the Town Centre or not. You’re aware that the developer has claimed it
is only a top-up shop, out of the “defined town centre” and therefore excluded
from their calculation of retail sales area. They also excluded Stans
Superstores, a smaller supermarket which opened in February this year, though
it is adjacent to the High Street. On the basis of these exclusions, the
developer has claimed a need for additional retail space in Llangollen.
I have
already provided incontrovertible proof that the Co-op is the town’s closest
and largest store for the majority of residents. Better than hundreds of dry
words, I provided a link to the video I produced. In case you’ve been unable to
watch it, it’s here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dvd5QNBMgbU (it
only takes six minutes).
The
Co-operative Group has been reluctant to reveal commercially-sensitive
information, but they’ve been persuaded to by Cadnant Planning, acting on their
behalf. WYG, for the developer, and Roger Tym and Partners acting for
Denbighshire County Council, has grossly understated the impact upon the store
(at least 43%) and that is it a main shopping food store, unlike both WYG’s and
RTP’s dismissive claims otherwise. Being the shopper for my family, I’ve always
known this, but now there’s proof – it’s attached in the report by Cadnant
Planning (attached).
Neither
WGY nor RTP have ever taken into account the impact on the community, most
especially vulnerable groups such as the elderly, the disabled, and those
without private transport. It is an established fact that the proposed new
supermarket is a vehicle-only destination to all but a very few, contradicting
national planning policy.
Minister,
I wrote to you on the 20th of June but I’ve never received a reply.
Mark Isherwood expressed an interest in your response, and you wrote to him,
but he only received mention of my earlier call-in request.
Neither he nor I
have received correspondence concerning the matter I raised with you on 20th
June, being, essentially, whether or not the Co-op should be included in the
Retail Impact Assessment.
Minister,
your adjudication on whether the Co-op store is to be considered part of the
Llangollen’s retail offering is of critical importance. Even without it,
Denbighshire County Council is without a robust, credible and acceptable Retail
Impact Assessment. Were the Planning Committee to meet on the 18th
of September, just weeks away, without being properly advised of the importance
of this store and the impact upon the residents were it to be so detrimental,
an approval for the new development must be considered unsound.
I urge
you to watch the video and read Cadnant Planning’s comments, and come to a
decision.
With
kind regards,
Martin
Crumpton “
No comments:
Post a Comment