par David Mills Il y a 11 années
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we need to ensure letters are being picked up
19 July - Coverage from the Bucks Herald which suggests that the Gatehouse Road and Buckingham Street applications will go before Aylesbury Vale District Council’s “planning committee” in August. The article does not refer to the applications being taken to the Strategic Development Control Committee, nor are specific dates given
We are under contract at Hinckley to take a new 57K store. We had hoped to walk away from it but at present the developer and Council are seeking to tie us in to delivery.
At this time we are looking at ways to extract ourselves although it remains possible that we will remain committed. Our Board would like us to withdraw but we must work within the constraints of the contract we have.
This scheme is a priority for the Council and they are pushing hard to ensure the contract delivers and the community interest remains strong. So be aware that there is a every likelihood of significant adverse PR around this message and ensure any comms are referred back to Richard Harris, me or CT as it could undermine our contract negotiations.
19 July - Large amount of coverage from various papers from the opening of the Pioneer Square development, including pictures of 23 Pioneer Regiment, the ribbon cutting and positive quotes from Tony Douglas (local trader), Cllr Norman Bolster, Cllr Lawrie Stratford and Lt Col Clouston as well as voxpops from shoppers. The new parking arrangements are described as a “windfall” for local traders and shoppers.
· Multi-page picture splash of the opening ceremony from the Oxford Mail.
· Sainsbury’s press adverts promoting the new town centre store.
· Comment piece about the opening of Bicester’s new town centre, which describes the excitement as “infectious” and the opening as “ well worth the wait”.
· A letter from John Leverton (a Hunt Close resident who has been a serial complainer about the development) who regards the design of the development (specifically the car park) as “architectural vandalism”.
· A letter from Norman MacRae (local resident) about the newly refurbished Bicester Tesco store which he describes as “simply amazing”. Mr MacRae also believes the new Sainsbury’s store will also “take a chunk out of Bicester Village”
26 July: Press coverage for Week 30 includes:
· A six-month trial introducing a 50p for 3 hours car parking has started in Buckingham’s Cornwall Meadow car park. The introduction of the trial follows extensive consultation with the Buckingham Traders’ Association and town and district councillors.
· The trial has attracted letters from local residents noting that Bicester has free parking, but AVDC has ended the “last vestiges” of free parking in Buckingham and this would lead to decline in footfall in the town.
· An editorial on the six-month trial in Buckingham refers to the Bicester town centre redevelopment and how the town has “never had it so good”.
· An independent newsagents based on Market Hill in Buckingham has closed. The owner, Roger Tappin, notes that when Tesco came to town “it changed the whole shape of Buckingham”.
18 July: Our contractual obligations are:
“…To pay to the Council the Park Improvement Contribution and Public Art Contribution prior to Commencement of Development of the GE Site Development”, where the ‘Public Art Contribution’ is
“…the sum of Seventy Thousand Pounds (£70,000) for the provision of a public art installation within the vicinity of the GE Site”.
The Council’s obligations are:
“…The Council covenants to include a Sainsbury’s representative in the decision making process relating to expenditure of the Public Art Contribution including inviting a representative to all relevant meetings, conferences and discussions and forwarding copies of all relevant correspondence, minutes and emails to the Sainsbury’s representative”
SSL, Leicester Council's Town Planning team and Piara Singh Clair, Assistant City Mayor for Culture, have met and agreed the following :
1. The Council (public arts team) will complete a brief for the public art in draft next week. This will include a written outline for the art piece, building on the Bulb/Globe theme which was identified through the recent community consultation as the preferred theme. Some examples of similar art pieces from around the world will be included. The images sent by Keith Vaz’s offices will be used to supplement this (excluding the elephants). The brief will also include the budget site constraints and timeline. The parties will agree the brief before proceeding further.
2. The Council will identify potential artists - the preferred material is metal – polished steel has been discussed and this will be considered in more detail as part of the brief. Examples of preferred artists work will be made available.
3. The Council has asked Piara to speak with Keith Vaz to identify a meeting date in the next two/three weeks where Council and Sainsbury leads can meet. At this meeting agree the main elements of the brief will be agreed including timescales and potentially the artists.
4. The final decision on what the art will be will be decided by the Council and Sainsbury's.
In order to avoid any confusion as to who is 'on point' for this I can confirm that Matt Nicholson from the town planning team will assume responsibility for seeing this through. It is a s.106 obligation and it therefore should sit in this team. This will be communicated to the project team.
4 August: To date we have completed the following on community initiatives:
- £250 Food donation to LifeLine Food Bank at Sainsburys Northfield
- £250 Donation to Birmingham Childrens Hospital collection run by the Sainsburys Longbridge Staff
To Be Complete
- St Columbus School - 52m of new fencing to be installed
- South Birmingham Youth Homeless Charity - fully landscape premises, decorate fences throughout, redec security grids + gate, install new security lights, 2No new signs, repair gate, new furniture to chill out room. Date for Completion 9/8
- Birmingham Autism Charity - complete fit out of new charity shop unit - supply signage, gondola, stud walls, counters, kitchen units, paint walls, mannequins. Date for completion 9/8 ongoing...Store to launch 28/8 with JS
18 July: MP and Councillors witness progress on Sainsbury’s Longbridge
Birmingham Northfield’s MP Richard Burden and Longbridge ward councillors Andy Cartwright, Ian Cruise, Jess Phillips, and Chairman of Northfield District Committee Councillor Peter Griffiths had a chance to tour the upcoming Sainsbury’s foodstore in Longbridge and see the progress for themselves.
The special guests joined Andy White and Tom Kirby, Sainsbury’s store manager and project manager respectively, and St. Modwen’s Senior Development Surveyors, Mike Murray and Mark Watkins.
Once completed in September, Sainsbury’s will provide Longbridge’s residents with a wide range of popular food and non-food items, a customer café, a delicatessen, fresh meat and fish counters, and pizza and hot food counters. With a 50,000 sq ft sales area, Sainsbury’s will be the anchor store and the biggest retailer in the new Longbridge Town Centre.
Mark Watkins, senior development surveyor at St. Modwen said: “Sainsbury’s is the flagship store of the new £70 million pound town centre development at Longbridge. Alongside other retailers, it is adding to the vision to create a community-focussed development, with new employment and facilities for local people.
“We’re really pleased to see the fit out activities progressing and look forward to working with Sainsbury’s throughout its launch programme of events and in the lead up to the opening of the town centre in late autumn.”
Richard Burden says: “The announcement of 320 new jobs at Sainsbury’s in Longbridge is a big step in the site’s redevelopment. It’s the start of a brand new town centre that will attract more investment and more visitors, and create important jobs in the area.
“Whilst the new Sainsbury’s and the town centre are hugely exciting - we also need jobs and long-term growth at Longbridge that go beyond retail and hospitality. We need to invest in the area’s long term future to reflect its strategic significance and importance as a designated ITEC park.
“I hope the opening of the Sainsbury’s store will be a milestone in the area’s long term growth, and part of the area’s climb to a new future.”
The store’s recruitment drive is continuing, and vacancies such as general assistants and cashiers will be uploaded onto www.sainsburys.co.uk/recruitment from now until the store opens.
Andy White, Sainsbury’s Store Manager says: “We’ve recruited over 70 colleagues so far, and are looking forward to seeing more applications as we progress towards the store opening.”
For further enquiries regarding recruitment, please call the Sainsbury’s recruitment line 0845 602 3860. For queries regarding the ongoing construction programme, please call Joyce Yip on Sainsbury’s freephone: 0800 975 5299.
26 July: Kent and Sussex Courier report that residents have called on the Council for a relief road to be built ahead of the town centre redevelopment.
The article includes a quote from Kent County Council explaining that the town centre regeneration has a different set of objectives, focusing on better management of the current road network.
17 July: Letter sent to Steve Humphrey at Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council ahead of the Cabinet meeting later in July
With our existing store firmly established in the town centre, Sainsbury’s is already an integral part of the town and wishes to remain as such. However, our existing store has been trading since 1982 and although it has benefitted from an extension and some internal refurbishments, the store is small and dated in terms of its design and operation. The site is also constrained given the store’s proximity to Beales and the Angel Centre.
We therefore wish to have a better offer and trading presence, creating a draw for people to shop locally and visit the town centre. Our proposals would regenerate a key part of the town centre, providing better shopping and leisure facilities, as well as significant environmental improvements such as new areas of public realm to make it a real destination.
This is an exciting opportunity to improve the town centre’s retail offer and could act as a catalyst for further regeneration. It is clear that we need to improve the attractiveness of Tonbridge as a shopping destination given that it faces competition from towns such as Sittingbourne, Tunbridge Wells and Sevenoaks.
Our investment would help to achieve this by improving not only supermarket shopping choice, but also through the introduction of new comparison retail units which will complement and reinforce the town centre’s retail offer and act as a real draw for shoppers and visitors. Furthermore, an exciting element of our plans which we believe would be a popular and welcomed addition to the town centre would be a new cinema, a significant leisure attraction for the town.
New cafes and restaurants would help to breathe new life and activity into this part of the town centre. We propose to open up the area behind the High Street to create vibrant public realm connecting the new development with the main thoroughfare. In this way, we hope to promote and encourage activity in this part of the town.
Our plans focus around the aspiration to improve consumer choice in Tonbridge to make it a more attractive and desirable place to visit. This would encourage more people to shop and spend leisure time in the town, as well as strengthening existing links with the town centre to ensure that Tonbridge as a whole benefits from these proposals.
A major benefit in its own right would be the significant number of jobs created, not only through the additional retail and leisure facilities, but also through the number of jobs created throughout the construction works.
19 July - piece in the express and star by Helen brown. it notes that work on the 65 million pound store could begin layer this year. 90k sq ft store will create 190 new jobs. Also Attwoid building redevelopment will create 22 new homes and offices and a cafe/restaurant.
August: Minor variations have gone back into planning. A spokesperson said: We have submitted a planning application for some very minor amendments to the Raglan Street scheme, which include proposals for the roofline being simplified and alterations to the use of materials and glazing."
9 August: Campaigners against plans for a Sainsbury’s in Northwood have hardened their tactics and declared ‘no compromise, total victory’. Save Our Northwood has committed itself to stop the plan to build a store on land occupied by shops and land in Station Approach, as well as rejecting the suggestion of a compromise with the supermarket giant.
http://www.uxbridgegazette.co.uk/west-london-news/local-uxbridge-news/2013/08/07/no-compromise-in-battle-against-sainsbury-s-113046-33698356/
27 June: Letter to local councillors.
Sainsbury’s currently operates 5 supermarkets and Local stores in the Borough employing approximately 750 local people. Since 2005, we have donated £908,777 of sporting equipment to schools and clubs in the borough via our Active Kids scheme which allows shoppers to turn vouchers into sports equipment, coaching and activities.
As you may be aware, we will be submitting plans for a new Sainsbury’s store in Sutton town centre as part of the Sutton North Central regeneration project which is being led by developers, LXB. This development will create 500 jobs, 140 new homes, a hotel and a new public plaza. Sainsbury’s involvement in the scheme alone will create around 400 full and part time jobs.
As part of our plans in Sutton, we have undertaken a comprehensive programme of consultation with the local community and local community groups.
22 July: Reassure Cllrs that we want to work with them, and how we can contribute to the local comunity - jobs, local charity, heart of the community. Attending is Gavin Stollar (CEO of LXB) and 6 cllrs
Background: The proposals have been subject to extensive consultation and have changed significantly throughout that process, including making the development car free, the retention of Victorian frontages along the High Street, reducing the size of the retail unit and improving the relationship of the development site with neighbouring Abney Park cemetery.
The proposals seek to remove a privately run car park and car wash, as well as poor quality buildings and retain and refurbish 193-201 Stoke Newington High Street with a mixed use scheme (56% residential, 27% retail and 17% open space).
The developer is not proposing to move any existing trees and as part of the S106c is committed to providing a capital contribution to Abney Park Cemetery of £100,000 as well as giving over a strip of land, previously raised as important by some members of the local community.
In respect of the retail element of the proposals, it is worth noting that the local business association, Stoke Newington Business Association has not objected to the proposals. In fact, there were many local businesses that actively supported the previous proposals (which were recommended for approval by Hackney Council’s planning officers) by writing to the Council. In addition, ‘Invest in Hackney’ and the Council’s regeneration department has welcomed the proposals, recognising the contribution this development can make to the area in increasing footfall along the High Street and the wider economic benefits it could bring.
The Council's own Retail & Leisure study found that more than half of the main food shopping activity undertaken by respondents living around the Stoke Newington area was directed to facilities outside the area. One of the main benefits of the proposals is the creation of 'linked trips' between it and other businesses. i.e. customers visiting the Sainsbury's store would also visit other facilities in the area, particuarly as most shoppers will travel to the store by foot.
Stoke Newington Business Association; recommended for approval by Hackney Council’s planning officers) by writing to the Council. In addition, ‘Invest in Hackney’ and the Council’s regeneration department has welcomed the proposals. The development will create 200 jobs, targeted at Hackney’s young unemployed people and the long-term unemployed. Levels of unemployment in Hackney are above the London average and the wider area of Stoke Newington is in the top 20% most deprived areas in England. These proposals could make a real difference to tackling unemployment in the borough.
9 August: Campaigners consider legal challenge after unpopular Sainsbury’s planning proposals in Stoke Newington are passed (08/08/13)
Only five out of nine of the council’s planning committee participated in determining the application and those present voted four to one in support. Outraged campaigners are now planning their next move and are considering a legal challenge.
http://www.hackneygazette.co.uk/news/devastated_campaigners_consider_legal_challenge_after_unpopular_sainsbury_s_planning_proposals_in_stokie_are_passed_1_2324756
Mobilise supporters
Need case studies and borough map that highlights jobs, charity of the year, Active Kids etc
8 July: Email from GKA - I went to Eastbourne on Saturday to observe the protest against Sainsbury’s. The MP was there from around 10am, with the majority of people arriving around 10.30am with just under half carrying umbrellas for the photo / protest “Sainsbury’s, don’t rain on our parade”. By 10.50am, there were around 100 people there, with 35-40 holding umbrellas for the photo. I would suggest that approximately 20 people just happened to be in the area rather than making a dedicated trip to the protest.
The MP was leading the campaign and was saying similar things to what was published in the BBC coverage, which you can watch on YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fprv-Nqw4vw -
Everyone seemed to know each other, to the point that three separate people approached me when I was sat outside the coffee shop on the opposite side of the road before the event and asked if I knew what was going on. When I walked over to where everyone was congregating for the photo, one or two people commented that they thought Sainsbury’s was watching what was going on and that they hoped we got the picture that the store is not wanted.
One key thing that I picked up on from overhearing conversations was that there was some confusion about the size of the store, with people thinking it is going to be a supermarket – perhaps something to make clear next time we are approached for a press statement. From the conversations I overheard, there seemed to be a general acceptance that the shop would open regardless to the protest.
26 July: To briefly summarise, the Facebook group are hoping that the following chain of events will happen:
1) The council deny the request to remove the covenant because The Drive is valued as a pub by the community
2) the current owners decide they can't work within the requirement and so decide to sell the building
3) the community make a bid to buy the pub and the property company decide to accept that bid
4) in these circumstances, the building would have to remain as a pub, however there would be space for other community uses (meeting rooms, gallery etc.)
Mary Portas will be giving evidence at a one-off session with the Communities and Local Government Select Committee on Monday 2nd September. The focus is on the performance of the Government in implementing her earlier review, but we should be prepared for her to reference Albert Parade as a case study.
28 June: We thought the conversation was useful and I hope you both have a better understanding of the positive role we want to play in Albert Parade. We understand the concerns of some local traders and residents about having a new convenience store nearby and we want to do everything we can to reassure them that we can be a positive addition to the area.
Please see below a draft list of ways in which we can work with you and local residents to make a positive difference in Albert Parade, which we trust you will keep in confidence for now:
Prior to opening:
• Attending a public meeting(s) to answer questions and reassure people;
• Hosting visits to other Sainsbury’s Locals in similar sites in the South East;
• Sainsbury’s and our fitting out contractor will support a local group/charity with funds, labour or equipment;
Once open:
• Jobs: a typical Sainsbury’s Local will create around 25 jobs (mix of part time and full time). We can set a recruitment radius to ensure the colleagues live in the local area, and we can also work with partners such as Job Centre Plus and Remploy to recruit people who face barriers to work.
• Charities and Community Groups: Each of our stores partners a local charity for which they raise awareness and funds throughout the course of the year. This is nominated by customers and colleagues. Our supermarket in the Arndale Centre raised over £2,300 for Beachy Head Chaplaincy last year and has selected RNLI Eastbourne for the coming year. Our stores in Eastbourne raised over £7,000 for Comic Relief on Red Nose Day. We are also able to support community groups in various ways such as donating raffle prizes, or refreshments for events.
• Keep Albert Parade Special: We want to ensure that Albert Parade continues to thrive as a destination for local residents to come and shop. If appropriate, our future Store Manager could attend and support the meetings for the group, and potentially sponsor events along the parade to drive footfall.
• Active Kids: We have donated over £1.8 million worth of equipment and experiences to schools and clubs in East Sussex LEA since Active Kids launched in 2005. Having a store in Albert Parade would enable residents to collect more vouchers to donate to local schools.
• Food donations/food drives: We work hard to reduce food waste. However, we encourage our stores to donate surplus food to local food donation partners. We also encourage stores to hold food drives, to help support food donation partners with longer life products.
• Parking: We would be very happy for local residents to use our car park (for a limited amount of time) to park so that they can visit all of the shops in Albert Parade. It would not have to be exclusively for our customers.
• Delivery times: We can agree mutually convenient delivery times to the store, to minimise danger for school children (i.e. agree not to deliver between 8 and 9am, or 2.30 – 3.30pm)
• Any other: We are open to suggestions – if you think of anything, please let us know and we will give it our consideration.
• Nearly one in three people opened up the email - a benchmark of 15% is generally considered to be a good open rate (which shows that the email subject line/headline was a good teaser for people to click and find out more).
• Over 185 people clicked on the email and visited our website (1.85%). The industry average for click-throughs is around 0.53%
• I have asked Local Dialogue/Pete Chan for a Google Analytics report so we can see if there was a spike on the website and people’s behaviour when visiting the site.
The question for us is has this translated into an increase in inbound calls/leads?
Royal Mail former mail centre site at Bromley by Bow for a major East London distirbution hub. Details of the talks are emerging because Greenhills have lodged a modification of site he S106 for B8 use.
B8 use would provide some 375 new jobs. It is a 185,000 sq ft buiding held by Royal Mail on a lease which expires in 2022. The Universities Superannuation Fund owns the majority of the site.
Buiding was constructed in 2002 and can be extended by an extra 40,000 sq ft. DTZ and Capita Symonds are the advisers.
The annoucnement went well and resulting press was largely netural. The plan is to meet with the Council week commencing 22nd July and then seek a further meeting in Jan to tell them about SSL future plans
22 July: Paul Green emailed Richard Cohen. Also, SSL are finalising draft of a note on site security and will be sending Richard Cohen at East Devon a letter.
22 July: On the point that Andrew Wood was making regarding total space developed and triggering the rail infrastructure he is only right in that we have implemented the reserved matters consent that was granted in 2011 but he has wrongly assumed that this is the trigger point.
The trigger for the rail head is 'first occupation'. So whilst we have implemented the scheme, so long as we do not occupy the site we do not trigger the railhead.
Assuming phase 2 is developed and occupied we would then have to go back with a new reserved matters application correspondingly smaller to remain within 50k sqm.
26 July: Paul Vickary spoke to Angie Hurran, Clerk of Broadclyst Parish Council re site security and next steps. We recieved an email after an ingress of travellers came into the parish and illegally camped in a supermarket car park.
The Clerk was reassured that thesecurity issue is being taken seriously but there is a danger that the site could be occupied at some point soon.
Exhiibiton held on 12 and 13 July with over 200 attendees. Estimated 63% support, 28% support elements, and 9% do not
19 July - A SUPERMARKET chain which wants to open a new store in the centre of York is making a second bid for planning approval.
In May, City of York Council turned down an original proposal by Sainsbury’s to fit a new shopfront to Queen’s House, at the foot of Micklegate, and install a cash machine.
Planning officials said the scheme would damage the appearance of the historic building.
The firm has now submitted a new application for the changes it wants to make to the building so a Sainsbury’s Local store can open, with a decision expected to be made next month.
It has already secured a licence for the premises from the council.
If the alterations are given the go-ahead, the existing timber shopfront would be replaced, with Sainsbury’s saying it would be “sensitive” to the area and the surrounding buildings.
Sainsbury’s said the scheme would improve disabled access to the store and help shoppers move around without obstacles.
“The proposals will ensure the retail unit functions well and adds to the overall quality of the area,” said the planning application.
“There will be minimal changes to the shopfront and it will be of a traditional design and scale which reflects the character of Micklegate.
“There will be no significant adverse impact on the character and appearance of the conservation area, the building or the street scene.”
If given the go ahead, Sainsbury’s said its Micklegate store would create 25 jobs andwould hope the business would be open in autumn.
It would be the fifth local supermarket to open in the city-centre in the space of three years, following the arrival of Tesco outlets in Goodramgate, Ousegate and Piccadilly and a new Morrisons M local store in Spurriergate.
North Yorkshire Police had objected to Sainsbury’s applying to sell alcohol between 9am and 9pm every day because of crime and antisocial behaviour concerns, but a council licensing hearing ruled this could be allowed under strict conditions
• As you know, we own the freehold on the former Bradford & Bingley HQ in Bingley, the Dorridge of the north in many ways
• We have been claiming rate relief on that building by storing material for a charity, so essentially getting charity rates on it (20% of the headline rate)
• There has been longstanding suspicion that we have been doing nothing of the sort and that in addition to screwing them over with the promise of a store and leaving them with a decaying concrete monolith in their centre, we also haven’t even had the decency to pay rates.
• Bradford Council have now had a freedom of information request relating to the charity status we claim for this building. They have told us this, but will answer the question they have been asked within 28 days (i.e. towards the end of August)
• Danielle Rayner from Estates is the expert on this, Rupert Casstles tells me, and will be sorting out a note on the true position (from whence we can work out if there is practical mitigation measures or simply public relations mitigation measures we need to sort)
19 July - Email contact with Sophie Copeman at Dorridge Infant and Junior School re: commencing hoarding artwork project in October 2013
19 July - will be notifying councilors and Caroline Spelman MP by email next week re: the trial pit digging on 29th July. Next week we will also be preparing the briefing letter to councilors for the Planning Committee meeting, the date for which will be announced in the next two weeks.
