BILL WIGGIN MP

I think Mr. Walton sums up the situation very well, except that in the case of my wife and myself we do still shop for food in Ledbury, often in the town-centre shops as we do not wish to spend money on travelling, and will continue to do so for the quality which they provide. I have already commented in support of the Tesco application, and while Ledbury might not need two superstores two would be better than none and a Sainsbury’s would introduce greater variety and more competition. Most of the town-centre shops are high-end or specialist outlets anyway and should not suffer from the arrival of a superstore, and the food shops there now already have to compete with two supermarkets and seem to be surviving. We think a lot of the opposition is unnecessarily alarmist and wish to express our support for the plan.

I too am for a new store, I don’t care which one it is, but for the same reasons as I stated when you asked this same question about Tesco’s. Ledbury does not have supply what I need for my children or myself. It lacks clothes for my children, and even a pair of socks is not available. Lacks clothes for myself. The food choice is not what it should be either. I will state it again, I do NOT use the local high street for the simple reasons, they either don’t sell what I need or they are too highly priced, and in this day and age I need to look after the pennies for the pounds to look after themselves. I present like a lot of others in the town travel out of Ledbury to get my shopping and clothes etc. And despite some of those who are opposed saying that makes sense, it actually does, as even with petrol costs its worth my travel out of town to get the cheaper range of food and clothes that I need. I also feel that the local traders, do themselves no justice by ridiculing the same people they want to entice through their doors.
I also support the Sainsbury’s bid because of the chance that we may just get some fuel at a decent price. This is an essential part of living in a town like Ledbury as we have to travel for so many reasons other then shopping, for instance, hospital appointments, work, and entertainment. We are not all on high incomes, like yourself, most of us have to live on a budget, and Ledbury lacks big time in that department for those hard working families and those who are on benefits.

I have lived in Ledbury all my life but work out of town, therefore the only free time I have to shop is on a weekend. I do not have time or the spare capital to shop locally, therefore like many people in the town I need the option of a one stop shop. I’m sorry but the current Tesco is inadequate in size, the car park is always full, the shelves are poorly stocked, the queues and isles are crowded, and the variety is poor. Therefore I now late night shop in Gloucester Brockworth store where none of the above apply, whilst I’m there I refuel at their petrol station and so do not consider Ledbury as an option. We need to move the times, there is a young, vibrant commuter population to this town which want change. How can it be that a town the size of Ledbury still has no men’s clothing retailer.
We thought Homebase would be the end of small independent shops, it has been anything but and Rodways would continue trading but for the ill health of the owner.
The noisy minority are being overheard in this town as they were with the housing debate.

I have absolutely no faith in our town councillors as they are not speaking up for the majority of what Ledbury people actually want… this has been shown recently on the amount of councillors abstaining from the town council meeting over the Tesco proposals…..I think this action was very very disappointing and makes me question why I even bother to vote!!!!

I know a new Sainsburys petrol station and supermarket would benefit Ledbury, competition is healthy for both business and the consumer especially in these austere times.

Each week I have to go to Malvern as Morrison’s have a much greater selection of food etc, every time I have been there of late I have seen at least three to four people from Ledbury doing their weekly shop!!! (and this is at different times each week!!!!!)

Surely we have a right to choice, and hopefully this time our town council DO listen to the majority voice of Ledbury !!!

Mr Wiggin below are the reasons I feel Ledbury is crying out for a bigger and better shopping experience with more affordable choice for the residents who are struggling to make ends meet on limited budgets in these trying economic times.
1. Local choice – Residents of Ledbury and the surrounding villages are currently visiting places such as Hereford and Gloucester to do their main food shop. By offering better product choice it would save people travelling to neighbouring towns. The size of the proposed store has been carefully considered to give local residents the opportunity to stay in Ledbury for their main food shopping, saving travel time and fuel costs as well as reducing carbon emissions.

2. Employment – The new Sainsbury’s store in Ledbury will create up to 220 full and part-time job opportunities.

3. The Future – Cater to an ever increasing population of Ledbury and its surrounding area (7% growth as per Herefordshires County Council 2009 figures)

4. Bring much needed extra trade to Ledbury High street.

Supermarkets get the blame for boarded-up market towns, you only have to look at shops that are shutting down..what will become of them, ok you have to “spend” £50 to get 5p off a litre in Tesco / Sainsburys with Parkway garage selling petrol at £133.9 a litre in comparsion to Tesco Gloucester £135.9 .. where is the difference. The people that want it are never going to shop in town, then there are the people backing on to it, will they like the prospect of light / noise pollution? how will this affect housing prices for home owners. I ask you to visit either the COOP or Tesco past 7pm at nite and see how busy they are? someone somewhere will put this through but tell this to people who may lose jobs in the COOP the butchers..it will happen? but will you let it happen..cheap food, clothes and animal welfare at least the COOP is mostly fairtrade. Tesco moved in many years ago but Sainsbury, perhaps Morrisons are waiting in the wings to tap into this corner of the country. Downing Street’s been taking notice of the financial difficulties facing many of our market towns.

David Cameron asked the TV retail guru Mary Portas, to investigate and come up with some solutions??? does he live in the real world?

The supermarkets have been quick to reject suggestions that their aggressive expansion and price discounting are to blame for some of our boarded-up market towns.

Mr Wiggin. I am in full support of having a large Sainburys. More choice and a petrol station. There are alot of people who catch the bus to go to hereford or Gloucester to get their shopping in a big store so it would help those. The smaller shops in Ledbury moan with regards to having a big store but yesterday and today cos the fair is in town a large selection are closed so where do people go then. Out of town or tesco. It would be good for the local people with employment. i think you should ask the people what they want and the majority would say a bigger supermarket.

I am all for a new supermarket, i have to go to hereford or malvern to get more choice. If you live in hereford you can get much cheaper deals and why shouldnt ledbury families/people get the same, Baby products and clothing is very poor, cant get school uniform here at all (apart from the logo items). Ledbury needs this supermarket, it will bring more people into the area. Mother and child parking in ledbury tescos only has 7 spaces and these are normally used when ever i go there! My husband shops in morrisons in tewkes – he works in the area, and he can bring home a better wider choice of goods.

I am very much behind the idea of a larger supermarket in Ledbury as I too have to travel to Hereford to do my shopping to gain the best choice and prices.
I do hope that the voices of the actual residents of Ledbury are heard in this as with the Tesco plans it seems that out of town tourists opinions are valued greater than the people who matter most.

Mr Wiggin. Please don’t be influenced by the small-minded NIMBYs in the town. Some people here automatically oppose everything – housebuilding, cycle tracks, OAP care homes (yes, they even wasted public money on an referendum opposing the excellent Orchard Lane care home extension), you name it, they oppose it. They really just need to stand back, wake up and smell the flowers. Ledbury’s High Street offers a diverse range of niche shops which really aren’t threatened by Sainsburys and Tescos. Indeed, the opposite may be true. If the supermarkets move three hundred metres to the Retail Park on the bypass, it will take a lot of traffic out of the town, making the high street an even more pleasant place to linger, and increasing the critical mass of Ledbury as a shopping destination. Ledbury doesn’t need to fade into obscurity as a dead dormitory town – it needs to grow and thrive. We need the jobs that a strong retail park will secure, and we also need greater shopping choices if we are to stop people driving out to the county towns for their big weekly shop, taking their cash elsewhere.

Please support a Sainsburys supermarket with a petrol station – it’s a quality brand – just what Ledbury needs. We currently travel to Ross or Malvern to do our weekly shop because of lack of affordable choice. Ledbury needs to move with the times – the time is for Sainsburys in Ledbury

I was opposed to the proposed Tescos store and I am opposed to the Sainsburys for many of the same reasons, as I don’t think there is much difference between the two. I don’t feel any need to travel anywhere else to do my weekly shop even though both of us work and have a young family. I shop at either Tesco or the Co-op (which I prefer because it is fair trade and the most ethical of all the big supermarkets) and also use high street shops and the Saturday market. I think for a town this size the balance between the supermarkets and the high street shops is perfect and the proximity between them makes it easy to use both regularly. Neither Tesco or the Co-op are ever full when I go there and I can always park easily.
I live near to the proposed development on Victoria Road and I think that one or two giant new supermarkets would cause a huge increase in light pollution and traffic/ noise pollution in what is currently a fairly quiet and peaceful part of town.
I accept that because I live in a small town I might choose to travel occasionally to much bigger towns like Malvern or to Hereford for extras like clothes or just for a change of scene. I hope you will oppose this application because I think that if you care about this very special and unique small town you will want to safeguard it against giant supermarkets that only drain profit away from local businesses and producers.

I am completely in favour of a new Sainsbury in the town.
Presently I have to travel to Malvern or Hereford to do my main food shopping as Tesco/CO-OP prices are too high and variety in Ledbury are just not enough.
The petrol station will be a huge bonus – for far too long we have been at the mercy of the homend garage with it’s vastly inflated prices. Currently I make sure to fill my car out of town too when I shop.
The Sainsbury plan is far superior to the Tesco one – we would gain an extra supermarket rather than just increase the size of an existing one and won’t end up with an empty retail space, as would be the case if Tesco’s application were to go ahead.
I never shop in the town centre due to the high parking charges and difficulty finding spaces.
I really think that this proposal will bring people to Ledbury rather than take them away from the town. For people like me who never shop in town, it is far more likely to make me use the high street, as I am not going to drive to Malvern/Hereford for the things I buy outside the supermarket if I don’t have to travel there for groceries.

I have mixed feelings about an out of town supermarket, as I am a trader but also I have family to cater for. From a traders point of view I feel that it will take trade away from our lovely town centre, I feel that very few of the shoppers who may visit the out of town store will then venture into the town. So it will result in shop closures and I know that our shop would probably not survive

I feed a family of 6 without the use of a large supermarket and our family income is well below the national average so I cannot really understand why people are arguing that more food choices are required. Ledbury meets all my food needs, but saying that none of my family have any special dietary requirements.

I understand that Ledbury lacks affordable children’s clothing and also men’s clothing in general but this is not something I buy every week (income does not allow me to do so) so I dont mind travelling to Hereford to buy clothing every once in a while.

The additional petrol station I feel would be a benefit to the town as there is only one petrol station within Ledbury town centre.

The same arguements against Tesco apply to Sainbury’s and should not be treated any differently. We need to encourage Tesco to look at their current site to investigate what improvements could be made to the existing store.

Dont let Ledbury become a victim of out of town developements.

Could I just add that, as far as petrol prices go, I think it is important to recognise that supermarket petrol prices are not consistent nationwide, nor are they necessarily the cheapest in their area. Sainsbury’s “Sainsbury’s Ledbury” website states that their aim is for the petrol price to be “competitive locally”. How local would be interesting to know. Certainly we can NOT expect a Sainsbury’s in Ledbury to offer fuel at the same price as Sainsbury’s in Cheltenham since they are more than likely to use only the Jet station in the Homend and the Gulf station at Parkway as a reference.

I think it’s interesting to look at http://www.petrolprices.com. Although you have to register to get useful information, it shows that Parkway is very competitive for unleaded compared to other stations within 20 miles (the same price as Sainsbury’s at Gloucester Quays), and also very competitive within 15 miles for diesel (the same price as Morrisons in Malvern).

Cheltenham, however, is an anomaly! Prices in Cheltenham for fuel are ridiculously low relative to other towns and cities nearby.

What is interesting from that site too is that the two Sainsbury’s stores in Gloucester charge different prices.

Dear Sir, Madam

I would like to register my support for an intended new Sainsbury’s supermarket that is proposed in Ledbury.

I have been a resident of this town for all of my life and have witnessed change and seen the population grow and there is now an undoubted need for a new supermarket, the demands of the people in Ledbury and the surrounding communities have simply outstripped the choices that the current Tesco store offer – Ledbury is a growing town and with another possible 800 more houses being built and potentially another 2500+ residents living here we have to be able to offer the affordable choice that residents both old and new will demand without the need to leave the town to do a substantial food shop every week.

How can the possibilities of some 220 new full and part time positions of employment be ignored too? There are some within this area who question just what kind of person would want to be working for such an organisation but I can assure you that there are many, many people in Ledbury who would be only too glad to take up a position of employment within a new supermarket – We are in a period of economic difficulty and yet Ledbury has a unique opportunity to welcome a major retailer and that in itself is surely a vote of confidence within the area being shown by Sainsbury’s, a move not just to benefit the town of Ledbury itself but to include all of the surrounding local communities as well, what a fantastic chance for Herefordshire to put itself on the map with a positive pin and be seen as forward thinking and understanding when it comes to helping provide employment etc.
I urge all members of the planning committee to view this fantastic proposal and application with favour, Ledbury can move into the 21st Century without harming our heritage and it can embrace a major new retailer that offers affordability and choice without its local population having to migrate every weekend to the likes of Hereford, Gloucester, Malvern & Worcester in search of choice at affordable prices and of course cheaper fuel, let us not forget that for decades now Ledbury has never had the luxury of a petrol station that offers fuel at competitive prices, a luxury that many take for granted.

Thank you for your time in reading of my support and once again I urge you and your fellow councillors to view with favour and understand just what, at times has become a silent majority within Ledbury, actually do want within our town – a supermarket that is large enough to cope with the demands of its residents and community and one that helps and encourages the younger generation to stay within its boundaries, we must not forget that the younger generation are the future of Ledbury.

All for healthy competition…NOT ON TOP OF A RESIDENTIAL AREA…

Although neither of the Supermarkets in Ledbury are entirely satisfactory, they are not large enough to seriously affect local businesses. The proposed new store would be, given it’s easier acess from the surrounding area. The site itself is unsuitable foer the additional traffic such a store would generate and would detract enormously to the benefits of the Countryside Park located opposite. Access to this is not easier now and the increased traffic on the roundabout would make the crossing impossible, particularly for people with young children and the elderly.

Finally, I have a personal interest as I live in Massey Road and the proposed access for delivery vehicles etc. is now located almost opposite the end of our Road. In our deeds there is a clause, fairly standared I imagine, that makes it illegal to carry out any activity which creates a nuisance for our neighbours.I can’t imagine anything we could do which would have the horrendous effect of lorries making deliveries day and night with the accompanying noise and fumes, nor the deterioration of the local environment caused by a petrol station practically on our doorstep.

I fully support a Sainsburys being built. I have lived in Ledbury all my life and struggle with the lack of choice Ledbury currently has on offer. This town has grown in population immensely in past years but nothing else has, offering very little to local residents. I have a young family, and alongside work and cost of fuel, I am finding it more and more difficult to leave the town to do my weekly shop.

The fact is the supermarkets in Ledbury and the high street shops are inadequate for my own and many other local families’ needs and budget and due to lack of choice and selection, cost and often empty shelves when there are good offers on has angered me for years. Why should I have to pay more due to the town where I live and grew up just because I cannot spare the time, or money on fuel to travel out of Ledbury? I count every single penny I earn and spend! I have to! And feel so disheartened living in Ledbury when I cannot buy the goods I need at short notice or have to pay much higher prices just because I am unable to spare the time and money on fuel to travel to Malvern, Hereford or Worcester. A Sainsburys would transform this town and many life’s of its residents, older and younger, offering the residents greater choice on their family shop at a lower price.

We deserve the same choices on fuel prices too as the price at ledbury garage is always significantly higher than others in the surrounding area.

Yes Ledbury is a lovely market town that attracts many tourists but I am confident a new supermarket would free up local residents time and money which, in turn, may well be spent on their local high street instead of at another such as Malvern, Hereford or Worcester