'Sainsbury's gets Llan as Christmas present,' says correspondent

Letter to llanblogger ...

 

The news that Sainsbury’s have been granted almost everything they wished for is very disappointing and this is a black day for Llangollen.

 

What is the point of local businesses and volunteer groups striving to create a thriving community, if Sainsbury’s are allowed to ride roughshod over us and take the spoils?

 

I feel we have been betrayed and I am not sure I can forgive.

 

Denbighshire Councillors have played Santa Claus and given Llangollen to Sainsbury’s as a Christmas present.

Gill Thomas

Osborne says no VAT on Hillsborough single

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, has today announced that the Government will waive VAT on sales of the Hillsborough single, He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother.

The donation will be equivalent to the VAT receipts collected on sales before the end of March 2013.

Proceeds from the release of the single will be deposited into a fund to provide legal support for the families of the victims of the Hillsborough disaster.

The Chancellor said: “These families have been campaigning for justice for almost 24 years; it’s been a long journey so I’m pleased to be able to say the Government will effectively waive the VAT on sales of the Hillsborough single, ensuring that as much money as possible goes towards helping these families.”

Store's cafe restriction removed by councillors

A ban on including a café in the new Sainsbury’s food store earmarked for Llangollen has been lifted by Denbighshire’s planning committee.

At their meeting this morning (Wednesday) members followed the advice of county planning chief Graham Boase and voted 21-3 to remove the condition - imposed in September when they approved the scheme - preventing an in-store café when the store is built on the site of the Dobson & Crowther printworks.

Again on the advice of Mr Boase, the committee also voted to remove or vary three other conditions relating to permitted levels of noise from the store site and pedestrian access to it.

When the store was given the go-ahead by the planning committee in the autumn, it was subject to a long list of conditions on what could be included in the building and how it should be allowed to operate.

But agents for the developers recently submitted a fresh application to either remove or vary five of these conditions, which relate to the café, permitted levels of noise and pedestrian access to the site.

White Young Green Planning & Design said the changes are needed to allow the store to operate successfully.

Over 20 objections were received by the council ahead of the new application being considered by the planning committee this morning. 

Among those who have declared their opposition are the Town Council and the Civic Society.

The bid to remove the café restriction, which was imposed at the request of local councillors to protect other cafes in the nearby Riverside Park and the town centre, has been the most controversial.

Opponents claim an in-store cafe would damage those already operating in the town.

However, in their submission, Roger Tym & Partners, who have acted as retail consultants on behalf of the county council, say there is “probably no strong basis to condition out a café”.

In recommending that the committee allow the restriction to be removed, Graham Boase said in a report: “Whilst officers consider there are a number of relevant arguments in objection to the variation proposed, the absence of support for a refusal from the retail consultant offers little professional backing for a negative recommendation here, and it is ultimately considered unreasonable to insist on precluding a café use which is now a common facility ancillary to the operation of a modern food store.”

Catherine Veasey, of Llangollen Friends of the Earth, who attended the committee meeting as an observer, told llanblogger immediately after it ended: “The council voted 21 in favour and three against. So the café will now go ahead.

“The only variation opposed was regarding the protocol if noise emissions are breached.”

She added: “Big business wins the day again.

“What frustrates me in relation to the café is that there is legislation there to protect town centres and it just feels like everyone is too scared to use it.”

Minister asked to call in supermarket plan

Mike Edwards, chairman of Keep Llangollen Special (KLS), has written to Wales’ Environment Minister John Griffiths asking him to call in the application to build a Sainsbury’s supermarket on land currently occupied by the Dobson & Crowther printworks on the A5.

Mr Edwards (pictured left) says he is unhappy with the way this has been handled by Denbighshire County Council, whose planning committee will today (Wednesday) consider a fresh application by the developers to delete or remove five conditions attached to the original application which it approved in September.

Most controversially, this includes the removal of the restriction on an in-store café being included.

Mr Edwards’ letter says:

“Dear Minister,
 
I am writing to you on behalf of a Local Community Group, Keep Llangollen Special of which I am Chair.
 
We previously requested you to look at "Calling in" these applications because of the significant impact the developments will have on Llangollen Town Centre. You declined to act initially, but we wish to draw to your attention what has transpired subsequently which considerably changes the circumstances and we would ask you to look at it again, please?
 
I am enclosing an email received from the Case Officer at Denbighshire CC, the LPA which includes various enclosures for your officials to examine carefully.

Firstly I would like to point out that the Committee were advised by the Case Officer that "the emerging LDP carried no weigh at all" which totally mislead the Committee in making its decision.

The Minutes also record that the Councillors asked for restrictions on the presence of butcher, delicatessen and cafe, in store because of the detrimental impact on business in the Town Centre. However you will see from the resultant Certificate issued that the condition in relation to butcher and delicatessen was drafted by the Chief Planning Officer in such a way is not to prevent the end-user of the supermarket from having butchery and delicatessens counters within their store to the huge detriment of those businesses already operating in the town centre.
 
The matter has further deteriorated in that there is now an application before the LPA Ref 03/2012/1407 to have the restriction amongst other matters in relation a Cafe removed from the permission and the Planning Officer has a report before Committee on this Wednesday the 19th September, 2012 recommending this is approved!
 
This means that in addition to Denbighshire CC as LPA ignoring Planning Policy Wales in relation to Protection of Town Centres and Sustainability issues they are now prepared to give the developer an effectively unfettered planning consent which will ruin Llangollen's currently vibrant and viable town centre with its numerous independent businesses.

The LPA have failed to request a major impact study of the effect of this development on Llangollen which as you will know is within an AONB and the Pontcysyllte and Llangollen Canals World Heritage Site and River Dee SSSI. It did receive an updated retail impact assessment, but this was flawed in that it failed to take account of the opening of Stan's Superstore in February 2012 and also a large Tesco in Cefn Mawr only four miles from
Llangollen.
 
Sainsbury's intend according to their own projections to extract £18.4m per annum out of the Llangollen which will cause major detriment to the local economy and although some new jobs will be created these will be principally part-time jobs, and other jobs will clearly be lost from businesses in the town centres which is not the gain suggested.

Research by the CPRE indicates that money spent in a local economy recirculates and is worth three times the amount if it is exported out of the local economy to a Corporate Headquarters.

We have concerns that a new supermarket out of the town centre fronting the A5 trunk road which is a major tourist route to North Wales will cause increased traffic congestion which is already significant in the holiday season causing grid lock through Llangollen.

Residents can currently walk to Llangollen town centre and shop at the Co-op, Spar or Stan's for their groceries, but this development will force residents to use their cars to drive to the out-of-town location proposed for Sainsbury's. It will significantly increase vehicle journeys on an already congested trunk route through our town.
 
We would therefore urge you to urgently call in these applications and have your own Planning experts examine the issues comprehensively which we feel has not been accomplished by the LPA who have failed to grasp the significance of this development on Llangollen which is a major inland tourist destination.

We currently have a "Vibrant and Viable" town centre with minimal vacant retail premises unlike many towns and cities up and down Wales and the UK. This development if approved will destroy that situation and is not aligned with Planning Policy Wales and the work currently being undertaken by Welsh Government under the "Vibrant and Viable Places" initiative upon which your colleague Huw Lewis AM is consulting widely.” 

'There'll be no stopping them,' says letter writer

llanblogger has received the following letter which relates to our post earlier today about the supermarket planning application:

How can Denbighshire County Council recommend allowing Sainsbury’s to have a cafe when the planning committee meets tomorrow (Wednesday) and at the same time urge people to buy local and support small businesses?

 

I attended the original presentation to the Llangollen Chamber of Trade & Tourism given by Dobson & Crowther and J-Ross Developments in November 2011.

 

It was emphasised several times that this was to be a pre-packed food store only, and unfortunately we believed them.

 

They have already been granted permission for a manned butchery and delicatessen counter and if they are allowed the other concessions including a cafe, on Wednesday, there will be no stopping them until they destroy the delicate balance of our High Street.

Gill Thomas

The Elms

Llangollen 

Ysgol Dinas Bran keeps its top banding

* Ysgol Dinas Bran - still tops.

Ysgol Dinas Bran in Llangollen has retained its top Band 1 listing from the Welsh Government.

All of Denbighshire's secondary schools have seen their bandings improved or maintained, according to information issued by the government today (Tuesday).
No school in the county appears in the lower bands.

Banding uses the relative performance of schools across four sets of data to group them into one of five bands – those in band 1 show good overall performance and progress and those in band 5 show weak performance and progress relative to other schools.

Last week, statistics were released by the Welsh Government which showed that 82.7% of pupils at Key Stage 4 achieved the Level 2 Threshold (5 GCSE A*- C or equivalent) which ranked Denbighshire the top education authority in Wales in this measure. 

Councillor Eryl Williams, Cabinet Lead Member with responsibility for Education, said: "We believe that these bandings are a reflection of the tremendous amount of effort going on to raise standards in our secondary schools.

"The council and individual schools have made resources available to really drive home our programme of school improvements and the achievement of pupils at Key Stage 4 in last Summer's examinations are a testament to that effort.
"Improving standards in education remains a key priority for the council and this is a very positive profile for all our secondary schools across Denbighshire.”

10,000 tested for drink driving in region

A campaign to crack down on drink driving and driving under the influence of drugs over the Christmas period has seen almost 10,000 breath tests being administered in North Wales in just over two weeks.

So far over 50 people have been arrested after drivers failed breath tests in roadside stop checks as part of the All Wales Anti Drink Drive campaign that begun on Saturday 1^st of December.

 

Chief Inspector Darren Wareing from North Wales Police’s Roads Policing Unit said: "We announced at the start of the Wales Christmas Drink Drive Campaign that we would be out and about, in force, targeting drink drivers/riders.

“Many people don’t realise they can still be over the limit the morning after a drinking session. We would urge everyone to think twice before getting behind the wheel the morning after and consider making alternative arrangements to get to work.”

“Despite the warning that we would be out and about, in the first two weeks of the campaign, over 50 motorists have been arrested. If convicted, each will be disqualified from driving for at least 12 months; face a heavy fine and many could lose their jobs. Drink drivers are a danger to themselves, their passengers and other road users. We will continue to conduct high profile roadside checks and use intelligence to identify offenders. Please heed the warning."

North Wales Police are also using the campaign to reinforce Operation Sodium, a campaign which was launched during the summer, in response to the growing number of young people who are involved in collisions linked to drink or drug driving, and in particular in rural areas of the force.

Chief Inspector Wareing added: “Younger drivers tend to take more risks and this is a cause for great concern. Operation Sodium is aimed at reducing the number of young drink-drivers and those who drive whilst under the influence of drugs, who are putting their lives, and the lives of other road users, at risk on our roads.”

If you know of someone who regularly drinks and drives, or if you suspect someone who is behind the wheel whilst under the influence of alcohol, contact North Wales Police on 101, or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.