There are plans for development for the land formerly used by the company Norgren. This discussion topic was started over a year ago and has attracted a number of comments and interesting debate. Please read the original discussion topic(s) below and add your opinion so that we can get a wide range an optinion as possible relating to the proposed supermarket development proposals.
DISCUSSION UPATE
Ainscough Strategic Land are starting a consultation next week (week beginning 5th December 2010) about possible future development on the greenfield site around Norgren. This is the same piece of land that Stratford District Council consulted on last year. The majority of people who responded were against the development. The proposals then were for over 200 new homes, a supermarket and possibly a new medical centre.
Whichever way this consultation goes it won’t be the end of the debate. The District Council are continuing to look at housing numbers for the area and are looking again at the plans they brought forward last year.
Please read on and continue to leave your thoughts on this topic below...
The coalition Government is also about to bring in a new law (the Decentralisation and Localism Bill) which will give a lot more power to local councils to decide what development they want.
Potential development around Norgren is an emotive subject. Shipston now has almost twice the number of houses it had in 1981. Many people think that we have enough for now, and that more would increase the risk of flooding, lead to more traffic problems and that there aren’t enough local jobs to support the new housing.
The potential supermarket is more complicated. There are real fears that a supermarket would impact on the independent shops in the town centre, potentially leading to closures. There are a lot of people in Shipston who feel that the two Co-Ops are expensive, with limited ranges and stay this way because they have no real competition. (Updated item taken from Town Councillor Philip Vial's Blog: www.philipvial.org)
Below is the initial topic we raised for disucssion on 3rd March 2010...
Stratford District Council have come up with the plan to put a superstore on the Norgren site, Campden Road. At 2500 sq. metres, the superstore would be 25% larger than the Tesco at Stow. It is believed that a store this size will threaten our butchers, bakers, greengrocer, the Delhi, Co-op, Somerfield and more! What are your thoughts on the matter? Read on and add your comments...
The plan for the superstore is detailed in a report from the Stratford District Council called the 'Draft Core Stratgey of the Local Development Framework'. This document is more than 100 pages long that looks at changes in the whole of Stratford district over the next 15 years. There is a copy of this report in the library and also a copy on the district council webste www.stratford.gov.uk
The plans for Shipston include 250 new houses between the Norgren factory site and the existing houses on Campden Road, some business units and a new medical centre.
April 2012 Minutes
Comments
Perhaps we need to embrace change and encourage investment in shipston and the town centre and encourage a greater diversity through business initiatives and competitive business rates? perhaps pedestrianising the town centre?
I realise these are difficult times, however when things stand still, they end up going backwards!
However I personally would prefer to see Pettipher's become a small supermarket (express size) but also see a larger out of town store built, as I consider this would provide some balance in that a store at the Pettipher's site would catch passing traffic (given its prominent A3400 location) and draw them into the town for small items, whereas the larger store would serve residents weekly shopping needs instead of them leaking out to larger towns.
However I do not consider (or ever have) that a supermarket at the Pettipher's site would be the answer to the towns current poor consumer choice in terms of weekly food shopping.
When I met with ASL last week I told them that from their development (if it were ever given permission) I consider the best comunity benefit that could derive from their scheme would be a riverside park, as I feel this would attract people to the town from outside and since it would be so close to the town centre it would help balance any impact caused by a larger supermarket outside of the town centre.
Stow and Moreton are slightly different from Shipston in that they are proper cotswold towns and attract tourists and whilst Shipston has attempted this in many ways, it simply isn't going to compete surrounded by the Cotswold's and Shakespeare Country, however making something of the riverside and having a proper park for the town in my opinion would go a long way to improving the appeal of our town.
The number of times I've been asked by passers by if there is a park or picnic area?
Shipston is a town not a village and will continue to grow as a town. I have lived here all my life and also watched shops come and go
I would like to know with planning permission now granted on the pettifers site and a rumoured food express store being built there,how much of an affect that will have on the community.
A damn site more than a tesco on the outskirts of the town as moreton and stow have proven I am also not single minded enough to know that it is not just a supermarket that is being proposed but it will also be a case of compromise with other issues.
With the high school and junior school thriving academically surely it would be easier to apply for grants to build a sixth form
And as the town grows which it will do irrespective of what happens there will be a need to expand the school
Which will be a hurdle at some point that will be non negotiable
As a lifelong resident who worked for a local architectural practice for 17 years before starting my own practice 4 years ago, I have seen Shipston grow at the fastest rate of any town in the district and whilst I am naturally pro-development because of my career, unfortunately in Shipston’s case its development has not always been to the benefit of its long term residents.
We have seen large industrial employers up sticks and leave town, leaving behind houses instead of employment land, our consumer choice has diminished (anyone remember Greenway Stores or the shop on the corner of Watery Lane) and our schools are oversubscribed with people who have grown up here not even sure if their children will get a place in their local school.
In light of the current substantial proposals pushed at our town I say enough is enough and I’m drawing a line in the sand, Shipston has severe problems that need fixing and whilst I appreciate that there is a large amount of support for a new supermarket that would go some way towards solving our lack of consumer choice, we should not just accept what is being pushed at us as from these developments and I believe that Shipston can get a much better deal that will make serious inroads to fixing Shipston’s underlying problems.
I appreciate that there is also a large anti-supermarket movement and we cannot ignore people’s opinions, however what is quite clear is that the developers are not going to go away and Shipston will have to take its share of new housing for the district and my intensions are to find the common ground and evolve plans for Shipston that are acceptable to residents, councillors, planners and the developers.
Cala Homes and Ainscough Strategic Land have both told me that they are not liaising with one another, I personally suspect that they are in cahoots, but if they are not we certainly need to get them talking as the Norgren site and the ASL land should be developed in unison not as 2 separate sites, so that they have cohesion and form.
With local elections due in May there is little point in our current Town Council engaging with developers, but I implore the new Council to enter into immediate discussions with all developers to establish their intensions and mediate between developers and residents to steer these applications for the good of the town.
Fellow Shipston’ers we have the power! These current planning applications will not succeed at local level and will be refused, but similarly they will not just go away and we should all unite to constructively combine our passions and send a clear and concise message to developers, councillors and planners as to what it is Shipston wants and needs!
My vision of Shipston resulting from these developments is strictly personal to me and I unlike the developers am not dictating what should happen, but for what it brings to the debate (you may/may not agree with all of my points) I have listed what I consider are achievable goals derived from these developments and what we should all attempt to steer the developers towards:
• A sixth form for the High School, built where the old Swimming Pool stood.
• A supermarket, to be built on the Norgren site or ASL land.
• It should be made clear to ASL that the density of development on the land they have an interest in should be much lower than currently proposed, but in appreciation of their efforts and for working with the town (provided they do?) a proportion of the site (to make the development worthwhile) should be permitted, provided they are committed to contributing towards the other points listed herein. The remainder of the site should be landscaped. Potentially the site could have larger (more expensive) homes to lessen their number and whilst I appreciate that “Social” housing is normally priority these days (but this would be on adjoining Norgren site) equally Shipston has not had any substantial executive homes built and it is the occupants of such houses who are industry leaders and employers and I think Shipston would benefit from encouraging such people to make Shipston their home.
• There should be no industrial units built this end of town just housing (there is currently proposed 10,000sq ft on the Cala Homes, Norgren site application). Instead the developers will have to pay contributory funds to an account that can be drawn upon by companies who want to build on the existing industrial estate at Tilemans Lane. This could potentially half the cost of building units (for example) for start up companies who would be attracted to the town by low cost industrial units, injecting a badly needed boost to our towns sorry looking industrial estate.
• A riverside footpath, Park with communal recreation space. For a town the size of Shipston not to have such a space is in my opinion fundamentally one of the main reasons we suffer from a lack of drawing people in from surrounding larger towns and with this facility so close to the town I truly believe that this would go some way to negating any potential negative effect resulting from an out of town supermarket. The river is a vastly underappreciate d and untapped potential for the town, it is after all Shipston “ON” Stour.
I sincerely hope that the above is a call to action and makes people on both sides appreciate where we stand as a town and what potential we can squeeze out of this and that we should be working together instead of against one another, which is exactly what the developers want. If however we stand together they know they will have to work much harder and give up more to get the developments they want and this will benefit us all.
Mark Stephen Wildish March 2012
20 Ashgrove, Shipston on Stour
Quoting Lucy.:
A beautiful, quaint, old sheep town will lose it's identity and become historically dead.
Local, honest businesses are at risk. There is no local justification for this planning other than apparant convenience.
This is a damaging and costly proposal. Poor Shipston.
Quoting Jeremy Johnson:
Quoting bill shepherd:
Shipston is such a special place - there are so few of them left in this country. We are so lucky to live here.
Picture the following scene - everyone driving or being driven to a store on the edge of town and our beautiful town centre being slowly but surely closed down. Do we really want Shipston to become another soulless and heartless town like those we read about every week, with all their associated problems? Please - if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Why - most of the UK have access to multiple outlets to shop for food and get petrol,sadly we do not.
.How can a larger store ruin our town when it has already been ruined by those who go out of town to do thier shopping.
Why should those without thier own transport have to cope with the limited range our 2 co ops have room to stock?
Also our 2 co ops can only just cope with the amount of customers they have now,so any more houses will only bring yet more people who will shop out of town,thereby adding to our town being ruined.We need to join the 21st century.
I couldn't agree more. The majority of Shipston want the foodstore and the petrol station. However, in previous consultations, the pro-supermarket people haven't voiced their concerns. They just assume that it's going to happen. If people don't fill in a consultation form, the council will once again say the majority don't want it. There is a box at the Sheldon Bosley Hub next week for people to submit their support and they can also do it online at www.shipstonforward.co.uk using the feedback form link. If we don't all voice our opinions, then we won't get the supermarket we need.
Quoting Steve:
600 PLUS Shipston people on Facebook want a decent foodstore. So Shipston councillors do your job and look after the majority in Shipston.
Quoting bill shepherd:
No wonder we have obesity when shoppers complain about pushing a trolley to their cars.
Katty see the tescopoly.org.uk site ... this story ends with a dead town
The local shops have been devastated and the town is fighting for its life. Be warned there is a very good chance you will lose what you have.
If you want to know how Tesco and other behave it is all on www.tescopoly.org
There it shows what happens when the supermarket comes and also how to defend yourselves
Don't forget after shopping in your supermarket you might fancy a walk around town and a coffee and a paper and a browse in the local shops and and good chat with the locals but they may not be there
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