Call to Action – Help your Gloucester Road Traders Please!

The planning meeting to determine the Sainsbury’s application on the Memorial Ground Bristol is set for 16th January 2013 (planning committee meeting 6pm Council House).

Traders & Residents Against Sainsbury’s Horfield (TRASH) believe that the proposed Sainsbury’s, which would have a retail space larger than Tesco’s Eastville, will be harmful to the local area by:

Destroying the vitality and viability of the Gloucester Road and the livelihoods of local traders and businesses (estimated loss of £7.7 million of retail expenditure annually)

Significantly increasing traffic congestion on ‘at capacity’ junctions and roads, creating further exceedances in air pollution limits (The Committee for Medical Aspects of Air Pollution (COMEAP) estimate the national mortality burden for air pollution to be 29,000 deaths per year)

Causing a significant loss of amenity to local residents from noise and light pollution. If permitted there will be traffic moving in to and out of the development 7 days a week rather than the current average of two days a week. Moreover the traffic will be continuous for about 16 hours a day and not for a few hours on a match day.

The Council commissioned an independent report by GVA Grimley on the impact on the Gloucester Road which was written in July 2012 but only made public in November. The headlines to note from this report are:

  • a predicted 19% drop in turnover for convenience (ie food) goods by 2017
  • negative effects on the existing small supermarkets, co-op and Sainsbury’s; the possible closures of which will reduce footfall and thus expenditure across the whole of the Gloucester Road
  • the conclusion that,

‘We consider that the negative aspects of the proposed development are likely to outweigh the positive factors and we consider that it will have a negative adverse impact on the vitality and viability of Gloucester road town centre, which could be expected to bring about a potential loss of retailers and some decline in footfall’

TRASH have also raised serious concerns about inaccuracies within Sainsbury’s air quality assessments (now on the third revision). Neither are they satisfied with the extent of available traffic data or assumptions about the Gloucester Road being able to withstand the impact that such a large ‘out of town centre’ supermarket will have. This latest planning delay is due to ongoing discussions between the applicant and the Council’s highways team and the possible need for further air quality modelling.

It must not be forgotten that the Memorial Ground was given to the people of Horfield in memory of Bristol’s rugby players who lost their lives fighting in WWI, and we do not believe that turning a sports pitch into a supermarket is a fitting way to commemorate 100 years since the outbreak of the Great War.

If the land is truly redundant for sports then it should be only appropriated for the benefit of the local community.

What you can do:  Write to your local Bishopston councillors: Bev Knott and David Willingham; c/o Liberal Democrat Group Office, Room 206, The Council House, College Green, Bristol BS1 5TR or email: bev.knott@bristol.gov.uk or david.willingham@bristol.gov.uk

Write to the planning officer: Peter Westbury, Development Management, Brunel House, St George’s Road Bristol, BS1 5UY or email: development.management@bristol.gov.uk Please visit www.TRASHorfield.wordpress.com for further information and updates, there are also suggested templates for you to use to object on this website.

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