Tescopoly

[treeve]

Tescos have increased their plans for development of their already massive site at Ponsandane. This follows the intentions of Sainsburys in their offer to purchase the site of the Heliport, following their intention to close or move to another site, Newquay or St Just. It is my understanding that Penzance Chamber of Commerce supports the Sainsbury campaign but is uncertain as to the Tesco plans. It has already been voiced that the Helicopter move is 'bad for the town' and in tandem with the perceived public opinion and its results on the Harbour development and Ferry, will mean a 'last man to leave Penzance will turn out the lights'. All of this pear shaped doom and gloom, bears no relation to the reality.
It is all very well to insist that certain factions are supporting Penzance, when the reality is that they are combining to destroy what Penzance (and area) has. In fact NONE of the money spent in any of the multinational stores has any benefit to the town, it goes straight into private coffers. It can be argued that a certain impact can be made in employment, but at the cost of local shops. This is the same area geographically in which Marks and Spencers was denied an opening when the Wharfhouse scheme was originally mooted ( I handled the scheme); in that case it is generally and widely held that the store improves local trade. It was to be in the town, not outside of the town, as now.
Below, I will copy across from the coments in the album on Ponsandane Brook. I am ever mindful of the Chuck Berry song ... He got what he wanted, but he lost what he had'. ...

 

[treeve]

treeve:
Our brooks are fast disappearing into pipes and being covered/hidden with bypasses.
It used to be one of my most pleasant days out, to walk in the countryside and to walk by these brooks.
This is one of a few true stretches of running water that is visible.
A supermarket appears to have been given the go-ahead to case this beautiful natural river in pipes.​

 

[treeve]

caspar : Supermarkets? Supervandals.

 

[treeve]

ronnie
To all of you out there who totally oppose this act of corporate vandalism......
This is not a fait accompli.
Planning permission has NOT been granted to Tesco and I implore you all to visit Penwith's website on Planning and Building Control .
It clearly lists areas where "PROPOSALS FOR DEVELOPMENT WHICH WOULD RESULT IN THE LOSS OF,OR HAVE AN ADVERSE EFFECT ON,THE LOCAL ENVIRONMENTAL VALUE OF THE FOLLOWING OPEN AREAS WILL NOT BE PERMITTED" and lo and behold,halfway down that list is Ponsandane Field.
Elsewhere Penwith describe this field thus:
"This attractive open area at the eastern entrance of the town provides a significant green space between commercial and residential development and contributes to the break between the built up area of Penzance and Gulval.
This designation also links the Lescudjack Hill-Trythogga-Trannack open area through to Eastern Green."

For God's Sake ,don't sit back and let this vile,unscrupulous company get away with it.
Get up to Penwith Council and register your opposition before it's too late.
Ronnie.

 

[treeve]

treeve:
Thank you - this needs more attention and clarification; the number of applications is frightening, especially in the light of Caroline Passingham's letter to The Cornishman.
http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/news...l/article.html
We need the application reference in order to make an official protest.

Right, first solid intentions came about in April
http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/news...l/article.html
What is the BIGGEST joke of all is that they state that people want to shop in Penzance. Like, are we stupid? The shopping is proposed to be in Tescos, which is in DIRECT competion and destruction of Penzance and its Chamber of Commerce. Instead of money circulating in Penzance, it just filters off into a giant multinational corporation and disappears forever as far as this town is concerned.
In a nutshell Tescos are greedy and destructive.

 

[treeve]

sparky :
apparently they are building around the brook (which is my understanding) and they are just expanding the car park, this is called progress.
Were there any objections to the by pass being built?

 

[treeve]

ronnie:
Hi.What a response.OK . I simply googled "Ponsandane Field" and the 5th website down was
"TV-14 Penwith District Council" Sustainable development policy."
I trawled through it - there are 38 pages- but the significant ones that I have quoted are pages 6
and 8.
Specifically 7.3.10 POLICY TV-2 on page 8.
Hope this is clear as I'm no computer whizz kid but so glad you are out there .

Even if this web site is not up to the minute,surely Penwith can not back track on their commitment to preserving what little is left of the once beautiful entrance to Penzance.
OK .Hope this helps as I feel so strongly about it.
Ronnie

 

[treeve]

treeve:
The Policies have now been appended to Cornwall Council
http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/local_pla...ext/text06.htm
http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/local_pla...ext/text07.htm
There, then, is no room for manoeuvre, except in the definition of terminology.

So - the question remains .. What income has Penzance drawn out of the growing tescopoly? Like many multinationals and chains, the process is 'bigger gets more custom to pay for the bigger'. Unfortunately like so many, there is a false logic about it all. This is a direct fight with Sainsbury when taking over the heliport, in September. It all has its limits. The money is not there, unless it is only to drive the income for the banks, increasing debts and hardships, to 'keep up with the Jones's'. People can only consume so much in a week. With Tesco Policy as it is, it will not encourage more shoppers, having already near destroyed Penzance's shops and then after leaving the town, to open another store in town. What we need are real shops. The destruction of Penzance's shops encourages many to shop online or to visit another town that does have shops. Ultimately though, this is down to Cornwall County and their Planning policy. Financial giants will always be greedy, always they will show disregard for matters of real value. The question is has Cornwall County divested itself of all of real value? I have heard before of the fear of Penzance becoming a ghost town, if there is any single cause that I could consider is Tesco's policy of expansionism. Local shops, local suppliers, local buyers or Multinational selling lord knows what depleteing Penzance, sucking it dry.

 

[treeve]

tabtab13:
It's a bit late in the evening for me to get my head around exactly what is happening here, so I'll need to read up tomorrow. Have I got this right - Tesco are planning to destroy more green areas to enlarge their car park area as they see Sainsbury's as a threat when/if they open a store at the heliport site? Surely any sane council would not allow this? If shoppers can't park in the existing space at Tesco's, then they can go and park at either Sainsbury's or Morrison's and shop there. It's called healthy competition and in the best interest of the shoppers themselves. For Heaven's sake - do we really need more concrete car parks? I have made my feelings quite clear in other parts of this site on the subject of the stranglehold Tesco has not just down here, but up country as well. I remember as a child the drive into PZ through Long Rock and Eastern Green - these days it's just like one big industrial estate as it is. Let the fight begin - we need more green spaces, not less of them.

 

[treeve]

treeve:
@tabtab13 - I quite agree; From Long Rock to Penzance is nothing less than HIDEOUS. A complete sprawl without any consideration whatsoever for the visual impact, nor for the human being. It has all been done with one object in mind. Money. Be honest, any development is being applied for the purposes of increasing income on the part of these large businesses, consideration of the 'public' is ONLY related to what income they can squeeze out of the public. These stores, as convenient as they are, are actually destroying the life blood of the town, as well as our couyntryside. This is another step along the route I have seen growing for so long, that gradually the very thing that attracts will be destroyed by so-called progress.

 

[treeve]

BayOfPlenty:
As always, the developers will utter the magic word "jobs" and Hey Presto! Naturally, as little mention as possible of the fact that the vast majority of said jobs will be part-time. I notice this particular application involves the creation of a "wetlands area" in the Penzance end of the field - so, that'll be a pond then? I fail to see any argument for a town of this size having three supermarkets within a mile; oh, hang on, I'm forgetting Tesco are promising a cafe (I can only assume they're expecting it to fare better than the one they removed from the existing store)... Penzance being so desperately short of cafes, this has to be the ace up their sleeve. I've no axe to grind with Tesco per se, I simply feel that this proposal is inappropriate and unnecessary.

 

[tabtab13]

I'm sure accountants play their part, but in the sense of minimising Tesco's tax liability on their vast profits as much as it is possible. You can't really blame them, it's their job. I personally feel it's the Fat Cats in upper management who are responsible for what's happening having chosen sales instead of banking for their careers. Can't help but think the word 'progress' should have a new dictionary definition to reflect the times we live in. In simple terms, it use to mean for the better, etc and now it seems to mean for the worse. I am feeling particularly cynical today ....

 

[treeve]

Wetlands area to the west of the site? A few years back it was wetlands from Marazion to Penzance. Is it any wonder that wildlife is under threat? In my memory it was declared as official policy to screen Gulval from the highway. Lines of trees were proposed. It was also decreed that the approach to Penzance was to be limited zone for industrial sites. It has all been eroded by greed and insensitivity. It is all very well standing there rattling on about progress when standing in a pile of garbage (visual), it all too easily conjures up the picture of decay and degradation of Cat's Cradle. This is not New York, with its preserved fine buildings, lost in a forest of skyscrapers, glass and flyovers.

 

[Halfhidden]

Thought this might help? Here's the Tesco plan showing the existing store and the extension around it. The car park at either side of Tesco will be used to extend the store and the Ponsandane will be the overflow car park.

 

[tabtab13]

Dear Tesco,

Don't try and fob us off with a pitiful amount of 'green plans' in your proposal hoping that will satisfy the local community. This looks to be twice the size of the existing area you have at the moment. And a concrete car parking area that's almost twice the size of the store.

And as BoP guessed correctly, new wetlands area my backside - IT'S A POND.

 

[Halfhidden]

Don't want to burst any balloons here, but if the people of Penzance and beyound really didn't want this extension Tesco wouldn't develop it. Also if Tesco was just developing this land to add to it's portfolio rather than servicing the town then the shoppers would simply not use the store and their investment would be wasted.
What I'm saying is that Tesco is reacting to the growth of the town and has legitimate rights to develop the land. My main concern was the brook but that will remain the untouched.
The population of the area is growing and therefore one would expect the supermarkets to do the same. I have no personal preference to Tesco as I shop in Morrison's and Lidle... but I do welcome the extra choice.

 

[tabtab13]

I tend to disagree, I'm afraid - it's a pre-emptive strike as one of the other big players (Sainsbury's) are coming to town. If the new Tesco PZ store loses money after all the new building and trade goes elsewhere, it's a very tiny financial blip as far as their coffers go. Anyone know if Tesco was involved in bidding for the heliport site? That's another strategy they have, buy plots of land and then leave them empty - purely to stop their competitors getting their hands on them.

 

[Halfhidden]

Ok... thought I posted this but didn't.
I don't think that this is a pre-emptive strike as we posted news on Tesco development back in 2008 on this site. The reason for the post was that I already had informationo that Tesco planned to develop the area back in 2006, in fact they have owned Ponsendane for some years now. As far as I'm aware the problem has been over the brook and a deal was eventually struck.
The wetlands have been moved yes but surely they are now the responsibility of Tesco to maintain this land to the satisfaction of the public... what maintenance has Cornwall Council done over the years to the brook and wetlands to help sustain wildlife?

 

[tabtab13]

Ah - ok HH, I must admit I didn't know the plans went back that far. I just get irate seeing green areas concreted over - especially when it comes to the large supermarket chains and I still feel that Tesco's are the worst offenders when it comes to that.

 

[Halfhidden]

Sorry been out working and left the pc on and logged in. @tabtab13 I agree Tesco has been reported to be aggressive with competitors and allegedly bully local councils to get planning permission. But on this occasion I think the town will benefit, the brook will benefit and the wetlands (although moved) will still get better attention than they do right now. I'm talking from memory rather than fact when I say that the local council have done very little with the brook for far too long. I tried to take a walk down there a few years ago and couldn't make my way through to the other side.
The Tesco plans are still at consultation at the moment and I'm pretty sure that they would be delighted to hear from one or two members from our site that could guide and advise them on the area.
I know I sound like a salesman for Tesco... I'm not! I really do believe that in this instance we all get something out of the development. Sure Tesco is in it for the money, but it is still one of the smaller supermarkets we have in town. A worse plan would be to abandon the extension and close the store and build elsewhere in the town. This is what happened in St Austell and that was truly unforgivable of Tesco.
The Barn Club has now closed down and the future of the land is unclear. Most likely it will be developed into a housing estate to extend Fox's Field so even more families will move to the area increasing the need for bigger and better facilities.
I understand the frustrations everyone has mentioned in this thread and respect their points of view... but from what I can see from the available plans and proposals Ponsendane will eventually prosper.