Big debate set for Thursday in Llandeilo

It's the big debate in Llandeilo - Sainsbury's : Yes or No?
Now there's a public meeting on the horizon as the arguments for and against Sainsbury's building a supermarket in Llandeilo gather momentum.
I am grateful to Gerry Gold, of Transition Town Llandeilo, for the following information on a public meeting which is being billed as -
The first assembly of the people of Llandeilo and the Towy Valley.
It is being held at 7:30 pm on Thursday July 21 upstairs at The Angel, Rhosmaen Street, Llandeilo.
Sainsbury's planning application for its proposed new supermarket on the A40 just outside Llandeilo was submitted on July 4. The deadline for comments is July 25.
Sainsbury’s say that 600 of the 800 people who visited their brief exhibition in Rhosmaen Street are in favour of their plans for a new supermarket, but the exhibition and associated publicity didn’t address many of the questions people have been asking.
JBP, Sainsbury’s PR company, say ‘public meetings are never the most productive forum for resolving issues’.
Gerry Gold says -
We beg to differ!
We think that a meeting open to all local people and organisations will give everyone – including Sainsbury’s if they choose to come - the opportunity to raise anything that concerns them and hear many different points of view.
At the very least, together we can influence the planning process to ensure the best future for the town, its people, and the environment.
We look forward to seeing and hearing from you at the assembly.
Here are some of the pros and cons in the argument.
Bring your own to the meeting.
For
There could be as many as 200 jobs.
Extra competition means lower prices for food and fuel.
There’ll be less distance to travel for the weekly shop.
A new supermarket will attract many people to the local small shops in Llandeilo.
A new supermarket will stimulate the local economy.
Sainsbury's will be a medium-sized store, with not very much room for "non-food" goods so, they argue, it will not compete with many other traders in the town.
Sainsbury’s intends to seek local sources for its produce.
Sainsbury's say it takes environmental issues seriously, and aims to be environmentally responsible in the way its business is run. The retailer also wants to make it easy for customers to be environmentally responsible. It opened a carbon-negative extension to its Durham store in 2010.
Against
Supermarkets are competing for a declining market so the ‘new’ and mostly part-time jobs will just be transferred from elsewhere.
Food prices are soaring more rapidly in the UK than anywhere else in Europe and supermarkets which control 75% of grocery sales have been blamed for the difference.
There could be more than 100 deliveries a month from Bristol adding to the passage of large trucks through Rhosmaen Street which already experiences pollution levels above national limits.
Parking in Llandeilo is already difficult and people who’ve tried the walk from the Beechwood site say it’s much too far.
Sainsbury’s exists to make a profit from its operation. This will be drained from the local economy and distributed to shareholders. 25.99% of shares are held by the Qatar Investment Authority.
Supermarkets encourage customers to purchase whatever they need whilst they are inside the doors. The effect of this will be to take trade away from butchers, bakers, delicatessens, "pinc", the off licence, the petrol station, the chemists, CK's, and the Co-op, to name but a few.
Sainsbury’s business model requires it to force down the prices it pays to suppliers. Locally sourced food will be trucked to Bristol for packaging and trucked back.
Sainsbury’s doesn’t intend to use the show-piece technologies it has used elsewhere to green its image in the Llandeilo store.

Transition Town Llandeilo contact details: Gerry Gold, 01558 668895 info@transitiontownllandeilo.org.uk