Jump to content
IGNORED

I Got A Reply From Bristol Council About Sainsburys!


TSG

Recommended Posts

Thank you for taking the time to contact me regarding the refusal of the Sainsburys application at Ashton Gate last week. I'm sorry that you are disappointed in the Committee's decision. Such matters are complex and it was after careful consideration of a number of factors that I took the decision to vote against the proposal. I realise that I am unlikely to convince you that I was right, but I feel that I must respond to some of the issues that have been repeatedly raised. 1)There were two seperate applications examined that night with wholly different impacts on the local community. The first was, in our view, acceptable, the second less so. 2) I'm aware that investment and jobs are needed in the area. However, this is not an argument for any investment at any price. Moreover, a supermarket is clearly not the sole form of investment or employment opportunity possible on this site. 3) It was established early on that the link between the supermarket and the stadium (ie the supermarket as an "enabling development", like the proposed housing surrounding the future stadium site) was very weak. The question that we were being asked was therefore whether a Sainbsurys in that location was acceptable. We were not being asked whether we supported the new football staduim (which has already been granted permission) 4) I was unhappy about the Sainsburys proposal for several reasonss. Primarily I felt it failed to adhere to the Local Plan with regard to the development of an out of town shopping centre. Questions were asked about the reliability of the retail survey in particular which we did not feel were satisfactorily answered - we were told several times that the consultant simply "didn't know". This left us in doubt over the accuracy of the projected impact on local shopping areas. There were also significant concerns about transport links, air quality and increases in traffic. I would like to assure you that I did indeed go into the meeting with an open mind (starting off actually leaning towards approval) but that on the evidence presented did not feel that I could approve the application. Best wishes

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...