I was blissfully unaware of this furore until an outbreak of flyposting in Marple last weekend and, as a result, I was unfortunately among the 23,500 Marple residents who did not attend the Area Committee meeting on 26th July. I have spent some time reading the posts in the hope of establishing the facts but they seem rather difficult to find. At the moment they seem to consist of the fact that CAMSAC are considering the sale of land. Other than that there is much speculation and guesswork amounting to a protest against we know not whom in respect of their proposals for we know not what.
The particular targets seem to be supermarkets in general and that bete noire of the chattering classes, Tesco, in particular.
It would be interesting to know what proportion of the household expenditure of Marple people is actually spent in Marple. I suspect that it is a small fraction, the reason being that there isn’t a decent supermarket in the town and people prefer to travel to Hazel Grove, Poynton, Stockport, Romiley, or Glossop, depending on their preferred supplier, most of which are better served. As far as shopping mileage is concerned the impact of a new supermarket in Marple would be to reduce mine by 500 miles p.a. There only needs to be 1000 other Marple residents in the same situation, and there would be a reduction of half a million miles.
While the prospect of a supermarket is at present unpalatable to some, including, no doubt, some who do not have a vested interest, this might well change as the decline in our standard of living gathers pace and private transport becomes more of a luxury than it is now. It is not unrealistic to envisage circumstances where any community of our size would be grateful to have within its boundaries a means of meeting its needs and ,while it appears that our elected representatives will for now prevent such a development, this is a democracy and they would no doubt bend with the wind. Let’s hope that when times get really bad Aldi, Lidl, or Netto will be prepared to come to the rescue.
Comparisons have been made between the potential site on Hibbert Lane and Tesco’s Portwood store but it seems ridiculous to suggest that they would consider a “superstore” in a suburb (aka”village”) of this size. They would be far more likely to build a more modest store and retain the ability to extend it if, and when, its value to local people has been established .Reference has been made to the rather industrial architecture of Tesco Glossop and Whalley Bridge. Again that is unthinkable and I am sure that any supermarket that might win the day would adopt a faux rural design to please the villagers.
While on the subject of Tesco, we should bear in mind that, over the past 30 years, they have been one of the most successful of British companies and most of the people in this country will have benefited from their enterprise in some way. They have been a significant constituent of most pension funds and one of the few consistent contributors to those funds. They employ almost half a million people. They contribute a proportion of their pre tax profit to charity. Their innovations in marketing and technology have been of great benefit to consumers. They made the first online shopping transaction in the world in 1984. The introduction of Tesco own brand products covering three quality ranges and several product categories, together with its intense competition with other supermarket chains has had a helpfull impact on the CPI and their overseas operations result in a significant contribution to our balance of payment.
With regard to the recent posts regarding the posting of notices. All the ones that I saw were flyposting which, without a permit, is illegal under the Highways Act 1980, the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, the Anti–social Behaviour Act 2003 and the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005. Marple-in-Action are ill advised to associate the name with them, something which would no doubt be confirmed by any Community Support Officer.
Finally there is much sound debate and common sense displayed in the posts on this thread but, sprinkled among it there is some pure nastiness from those determined to display their ignorance and obsession. With friends like them Marple-in-Action cannot afford too many enemies
Just for the record, I have no connection with the college, with Tesco, or with any other supermarket and my car is blue, not red!
