Rise up Newcastle Emlyn!

[Action Man]

I trust that the author of the following letter won't mind me posting
it here.
Tim

Letter in Carmarthen Journal 17th Feb 2010

--- Dismay at store plan ---

I READ with dismay in the Carmarthen Journal that a large supermarket
is coming to Newcastle Emlyn.
It is well documented that large supermarkets cause the death of town
centres. Please go and look at Llanelli town centre to see an example
of a dying urban centre.
Visit Llandeilo and Narberth to see the thriving communities where
locally-owned businesses make these towns attractive to visitors and
ensure diversity of choice and economic opportunity for residents and
visitors alike.
Carmarthenshire Council has sanctioned the demise of Llanelli town; I
beg the residents of Newcastle Emlyn to rise up and take control of
their own town before it is too late.
There are no more jobs, no more shoppers; this will merely shift
trade from small, locally-owned shops which benefit the local economy
to distantly-owned large businesses with little interest in the local
economy.

Tegwen Burns
Avalon Court, Kidwelly

[Dic Dastardly]

Here is a reply I sent earlier today.

Dear Editor

Tegwen Burns (letter 17 February) rightly points to what has happened
to the town centre in Llanelli as an example of how Carmarthenshire’s
approach to planning is laying waste to our towns.

In Newcastle Emlyn we are now trying to fight off the second
application to build a supermarket in the middle of our town. The
applicant says that the new store would achieve a turnover of around
£11.8 million per year, and he and the planners expect half of that
business to come from existing shops in the area. They both remain
silent on what effect this would have on jobs.

The Welsh Assembly Government’s policy is that major new retail
developments should not undermine the viability or vitality of
existing town centres, and the “One Wales, One Planet” sets out a
vision of sustainable communities. But the county’s planners seem
determined to plough on with their rather different vision of large
prestige developments which destroy local enterprise and drain money
from our economy back across the Severn Bridge.

We all know that supermarkets have massive advantages over smaller
shops as it is, but what many people will not realise is how our
county council makes sure that the dice are loaded against local
businesses. Supermarket car parks are free, but thanks to our council,
you now have to pay 60p to park in the main car park in Newcastle
Emlyn if you want to post a letter and buy a newspaper and a loaf of
bread.

The major supermarkets average sales of £11,156 per square metre per
year, but if any smaller shops trade at a fraction of that level, the
County’s planners say they are “over-trading” to justify bringing in a
supermarket.

Two years ago, the Planning Inspectorate in England rejected a
proposed Tesco development in Sheringham, Norfolk. The difference
there was that the local planning authority and the county council
backed their local communities, whereas in Carmarthenshire it seems
that we end up with the planners, developers and big companies on one
side, and local people and businesses on the other all too often.

Yours, etc.