Tomorrow, the council’s planning committee will hear Tesco’s planning application to expand its floorspace, deferred from last month.
It’s pretty much an open-and-shut case. The town council is happy with the proposal. County officers are recommending approval. The public is voting for Tesco's with its feet. The Free Press' (unrepresentative) online poll suggested three out of four felt Tesco was good for Rhuthun/Ruthin.
However, watch this site for news of what may just be the first retail casualty in Rhuthun/Ruthin, post-Tesco.
Objectors claim that the Tesco enlargement will have a detrimental and threatening impact on the vitality of the town. Council officers state that, if at all, the impact will be small scale & short term, that vacant units in the town couldn’t accommodate the proposed increase in floorspace, and Tesco will increase choice of comparison-type goods.
Who’s right? There’s already a marked downturn in trade at Rhuthun/Ruthin’s Somerfield and larger Co-op. Businesses over the summer were clearly unhappy at the paucity of trade in the town, post-Tesco.
Short term changes there may be, but it’s likely to be a couple of years before any Tesco side effects are fully felt within the town centre. If you read some of the anti-supermarket literature, you’ll appreciate that there’s a large body of evidence to suggest that, in the longer term, promises of more choice and more jobs are hollow (though they would say that, wouldn’t they). We’ve said it before, if our councillors want to enrich our towns, they will need to support them. Is increasing comparison and other sales at Tesco likely to do that? If they approve the Tesco enlargement, what measures can they take to protect and enhance the town centre?
Weighed against all this, though, is the fact that no one, for or against Tesco’s, can deny its popularity in Rhuthun/Ruthin. It seems this is the future people want.
Regarding the proposed extension, here are the statistics:
It’s pretty much an open-and-shut case. The town council is happy with the proposal. County officers are recommending approval. The public is voting for Tesco's with its feet. The Free Press' (unrepresentative) online poll suggested three out of four felt Tesco was good for Rhuthun/Ruthin.
However, watch this site for news of what may just be the first retail casualty in Rhuthun/Ruthin, post-Tesco.
Objectors claim that the Tesco enlargement will have a detrimental and threatening impact on the vitality of the town. Council officers state that, if at all, the impact will be small scale & short term, that vacant units in the town couldn’t accommodate the proposed increase in floorspace, and Tesco will increase choice of comparison-type goods.
Who’s right? There’s already a marked downturn in trade at Rhuthun/Ruthin’s Somerfield and larger Co-op. Businesses over the summer were clearly unhappy at the paucity of trade in the town, post-Tesco.
Short term changes there may be, but it’s likely to be a couple of years before any Tesco side effects are fully felt within the town centre. If you read some of the anti-supermarket literature, you’ll appreciate that there’s a large body of evidence to suggest that, in the longer term, promises of more choice and more jobs are hollow (though they would say that, wouldn’t they). We’ve said it before, if our councillors want to enrich our towns, they will need to support them. Is increasing comparison and other sales at Tesco likely to do that? If they approve the Tesco enlargement, what measures can they take to protect and enhance the town centre?
Weighed against all this, though, is the fact that no one, for or against Tesco’s, can deny its popularity in Rhuthun/Ruthin. It seems this is the future people want.
Regarding the proposed extension, here are the statistics:
| Existing floorspace |
| ||
| Extension requested | 4,126 m2 | ||
| Extension comprising: | |||
| Sales floorspace | 2,902m2 | ||
| Ancillary bulk store | 978m2 | ||
| Office accommodation | 246m2 | ||
| Comparison sales area increase | From 824m2 to 1016m2 (total Comparison = 35% of space) |
Tags:
Tesco