No Tesco in Stokes Croft

11.02.11

Building work continues apace in the former Jesters Comedy Club. It is understood that Tesco Plc have withdrawn their application to overturn the refusal of an Alcohol Licence. Presumably intend to open without selling alcohol.

The No Tesco Group is currently considering the possibility of taking the Council and Tesco to Judicial Review, a legal process that is demanding for all concerned. There is a few more weeks to go before the deadline.

Meanwhile, we received notice last week that  Tesco PLC are to appeal the decision to refuse them an alcohol licence. A time is yet to be announced for this appeal meeting.

Meanwhile, Tesco have begun works on their frontage, behind secure barriers.

The whole process has been one that Tesco PLC are very familiar with… Tesco have considerable experience of opening outlets where they are unwanted. Having manipulated the planning system to their advantage, they think they are on the last stretch, and that they will open, and therfore will have won…

However, this is only the beginning… Stokes Croft is an area of the City that aspires to question the status quo and to promote ideas and to create an alternative vision. It is increasingly clear that the kind of food and general retail distribution system offered by the likes of Tesco PLC is disastrous for local community, and threatens the sustanability of our fragile planet.

Our role must therefore be to highlight and to explain why Tesco and their ilk are to be shunned.

The new Boycott Tesco website offers much information, and will hopefully persuade people to no longer shop in Tesco or indeed other supermarkets…

If Tesco are to be stopped, we must boycott their shops nationwide… Watch this space…

The NO TESCO team is also pursuing the possibility of a local food hub, and are actively seeking premises in the area.It is a source of regret on behalf of the No Tesco team that no meaningful dialogue ever took place between the local community and Tesco.

Even more regrettable in this episode is that our City Council have been found to be lacking in courage and moral fibre. In fact, it is arguable that their behaviour in this regard seriously weakens their claim to be part of the democratic process, and by extension, their right to govern in our name.

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Bristol City Council gives go ahead for Tesco in Cheltenham Road by 4 votes to 3

Councillors voted by 4-3 in favour of allowing Tesco to open. The remaining barriers, according to our  planning system were the noise assesment to the rear, where Tesco intend to install huge freezers and chiller rooms. The detail of the  shop fronts were also in dispute, and it was also considered by the Anti- Tesco group that there had been no impact assessment over servicing of the proposed retail unit, and that this should be a material consideration.

Councillors, who voted in favour of Tesco were, Cllr. Mark Bradshaw, Cllr. Kent, Cllr.Clark, and Cllr. a.n.other…

Councillors who voted against were, Cllr. Chris Windows, Cllr. Derek Pickup, and Cllr. and Chairperson Alex Woodman. In his summing up, Alex Woodman said that “In the back of his mind that Tesco would probably go to appeal”, and that BCC would have to foot the legal bill…

The meeting was well attended, and the speeches submitted were universally against permission being given to Tesco. Most poignant of these speeches was that of Richard Fox of Radford Mill Organic Farm Shop in Picton Street, whose business will be directly affected. He questioned what the planning process was for, suggesting that it should be about delivering what is good for the Community and, indeed, the planet. Claire Milne, who heads up the No Tesco campaign, had succeeded in drawing together a vast array of relevant information, which clearly gave our elected councillors sufficient leeway to refuse planninng permission had they been so minded to do…

Chris Chalkley of PRSC attempted to expound clearly what had happened over the last 12 months, and what was at stake. His speech is reported below:

Councillors,

At this late juncture, I think it is perhaps appropriate to review the journey that has brought us to this point, because this will help us to see more clearly.

The applicant, Tesco PLC, applied for change of use in the name of an agent, with a Bath address, fulfilling the minimum legal requirement for consultation. ie. a small ad in the Evening Post, one A4 poster in the street, and 50 letters to locals, to which there were no replies to the Planning Dept.

As soon as Tesco’s possible arrival became common knowledge, there was furore. 2500 complaints were sent to the planning dept. 93% of locals who were surveyed said that they did not want a supermarket in the former Jesters Comedy Club. On top of this, the building was squatted by locals who started to use the buildings as a community space. These squatters were evicted by bailiffs in March at a reported cost of £60,000. It is still not clear who footed that bill.

It is difficult to imagine that Tesco PLC did not expect resistance…

Since then, five security guards have guarded the property 24hours a day, seven days a week. Barricaded front and rear, the property resembles a military encampment. Can this supermarket that claims that “Community is at the Heart of everything we do” really be in such fear of the community they intend to serve?

It is our contention that the Community was hoodwinked: Because the local community forfeited the right to make its opinions felt from the beginning,  we have been forced to fight this campaign on narrow grounds. Today we are notionally here to discuss shop fronts, congestion and probable noise levels. The proposed retail shop front, which will permanently combine what was originally three shop fronts, makes a mockery of the notion of conservation of traditional streetscape. Furthermore,The No Tesco campaign has clearly shown that the likely amount of servicing by large delivery lorries required by the proposed supermarket will cause serious and prolonged traffic congestion on a main arterial road, and on a bus lane. The proposed refrigeration units to the rear will be noisy, and though the noise report submitted is slick, it is clearly misleading.

Even on the narrow planning grounds where the No Tesco campaign has been forced to fight, it is abundantly clear what the applicant is attempting to do: By seeking to cram as much as possible into a space that is clearly not designed for such an operation, Tesco have shown that their goal is retail conquest by any means possible. This will certainly be damaging to the fragile but enduring local economy, and this is not acceptable. Net local employment would be certain to fall.

I would remind you that Stokes Croft and Montpelier are both designated Conservation areas, both defined by their independent local businessesand by their alternative culture, characteristics which are treasured to the extent that Stokes Croft now defines itself as “Bristol’s Cultural Quarter”. The proposed incursion of a ubiquitous supermarket chain represents the very antithesis of our Community’s aspirations.

It falls to you today, councillors, to decide where you stand. The incredibly hard working and diligent No Tesco campaigners have given you sufficient reasons to back the aspirations of our communityand to refuse Tesco’s application. It is up to you now to make your choice.

There is a clear change in the way the political wind is blowing.

I quote from Our own Government.’s Community and Local Govt. website, published on Dec. 6th, just two days ago : http://www.communities.gov.uk/news/corporate/1788684

Eric Pickles, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, said :

“For far too long local people have had too little say over a planning system that has imposed bureaucratic decisions by distant officials in Whitehall and the town hall. We need to change things so there is more people-planning and less politician-planning, so there is more direct democracy and less bureaucracy in the system. These reforms will become the building blocks of the Big Society.”

Greg Clark, Minister for Planning and Decentralisation, added:

“Most people love where they live, yet the planning system has given them almost no say on how their neighbourhood develops. The Coalition Government will revolutionise the planning process by taking power away from officials and putting it into the hands of those who know most about their neighbourhood – local people themselves. This will be a huge opportunity for communities to exercise genuine influence over what their home town should look like in the future. It will create the freedom and the incentives for those places that want to grow, to do so, and to reap the benefits. ”

Our own Central Government has finally recognised the failure of our planning system to deliver decisions that make sense, and will soon cede decision making to local community groups.

I urge you to heed the winds of change, indeed to be in the vanguard of this change. Take courage, back the local community and refuse to allow any supermarket chain into our community, by all means possible.

Unfortunately, our councillors were not listening…were not listening to the people who elect them to act in their interests. The meeting ended in uproar. Cries of “Shame” rang around the room, and severl people were physically ejected by security, including Mr. Chalkley.

Stokes Croft has been blighted by poor planning decisions for decades. This is another of these, and clearly calls into question the legitimacy of the planners and our Councillors to act on our behalf.

Our Central Government is on the verge of publishing a new Localism Bill, which is at the heart of the Coalition’s new shiny plans for Mr. Cameron’s Big Society. Perhaps this decision will be the catalyst that kickstarts the process whereby our local areas demand real autonomy.

http://www.communities.gov.uk/news/corporate/1788684

As Claire Milne writes on the bottom of all her e-mails:

“Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day I can hear her breathing”
Arundhati Roy

Human Tesco lorry highlights madness of proposed deliveries in Stokes Croft
1 December 2010

At 2pm today over 40 campaigners formed a human Tesco delivery lorry on Stokes Croft in order to highlight the dangerous number of deliveries that will block a busy road, cycle path and bus stop if the proposed Tesco store gets planning permission next week [1].

• Tesco would require a staggering 42 weekly deliveries potentially obstructing a main route into the city for 28 hours – at times the store manager often cannot predict – putting the safety of the local community seriously at risk

[2].

The Council’s planning team are refusing to assess the impact of such deliveries because they say it is not relevant to these applications. But the Government’s Planning Inspectorate, the final authority on this says otherwise. The demonstration today is vital to make sure the Councillors, who will ultimately make the planning decision on the case, have the correct facts and are not swayed by the inaccuracies and misinformation of Bristol City Council’s planning team.

Claire Milne, local resident and spokes person for NO Tesco in Stokes Croft said,
“We’re blocking the road for exactly the same period as a Tesco delivery lorry; this will legally be happening every day if the store goes ahead. Bristol City Council’s planning team are completely misinformed when they say that the impact of deliveries are not relevant to the application. These are real lives at stake – its about time Tesco and our Council’s planning officers took responsibility for this.”

For more information and interviews please contact Claire Milne: 07824 878904
Image use please credit: Mark Simmons Photography

[1] Councillors will meet again at 2pm on Wednesday 8 December at the Council House to decide whether Tesco can open on Cheltenham Road.

[2] Tesco would require six lorries to deliver within a six hour period every day, blocking this main route into the city, a cycle path and a bus stop, for up to 40 minutes a time. This totals a staggering 42 weekly deliveries potentially obstructing the road for 28 hours – at times the store manager often cannot predict. And if that isn’t dangerous enough, the extremely narrow Picton Lane will be used for thecollection of refuse and recycling.
These are the statistics from the planning application for the Mill Road store in Cambridge
that is incredibly similar to the one proposed.
The proposed location is simply not an appropriate site for a store like Tesco which requires a high volume of deliveries and collections made in large vehicles and involving metal cages that would cross the pavement and cycle lane for prolonged periods of time. The vehicles would unload across a cycle path, immediately next to a bus stop and two busy crossroads with pedestrian crossings and in an area where cyclists, school children and people with limited mobility are likely to be particularly concentrated. The threats to public and highway safety are significant and it is inconceivable that no assessment has been made.

The owner of a cycle repair workshop based on Picton Lane said, “I’m disgusted that a Tesco is being built here, I pay my business rates and no one consulted me or any of the residents and businesses on Picton Lane. The volume of traffic is already far beyond that which the lane is designed for and there have already been several accidents. Every day there I see near misses and only a couple of years ago a resident was seriously injured by a car.”

images ©Mark Simmons