Why Llandeilo should say No to Sainsbury's

Brewer Simon Buckley, of Evan-Evans in Llandeilo, gives his views on the current debate about whether Sainsbury's should be allowed to build a supermarket on the outskirts of the historic town -
Are the people of Llandeilo going to roll over and let the town be destroyed by a major development that will increase pollution, and destroy generational family businesses that are trading in the town?
The simple answer is yes; if we do not oppose the proposed development. I am not against Sainsbury's as a retailer, but I am opposed to Sainsbury's in Llandeilo.
Why are the people of Llandeilo lulled into the false belief that Sainsbury's will be the company that brings us cheap everything?
We live in an agricultural community.
The farmers have been outspoken critics of the supermarkets, and yet we have heard nothing from them over the proposed development in Llandeilo.
Nor have we had any professional guidance from our town council, whom it appears are offering no lead on this.
On their website, they boast 'no shopping Malls here!’.
And what about our Chamber of trade? It appears that they have supported the proposed development.
Whatever the reality of individual groups positions are, the town as we know it will change for the worse.
We now need the people of Llandeilo to voice their opposition to the proposed development.
Many people think it is too late to voice their opinion and to stand up to the super-smooth marketing machine of Sainsbury's and its developers.
The simplistic view - that diesel will be cheaper, that milk will be sourced from local herds and that there will be net job gains - is fanciful nonsense.
The brutal truth is that shops will close and people will lose their jobs.
Sainsbury's won't worry about Dai Jones!
What there will be is a very wealthy landowner, a site that is dedicated for the creation of industrial jobs lost to retailing, and a direct increase in flooding, car-based pollution, and transient supermarket customers who will never come into town centre.
It’s time to stand up and be counted or face the consequences of a town destroyed by commercialism on a grand scale.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Simon, we have seen and heard it all before. Look at how Tesco bulldozed its way into Carmarthen. Look at what happened in Llanelli when Tesco moved in and then when they left. Llandeilo is a place many of my friends visit when they come to Wales. The reason? It is quaint, unspoilt, full of family owned shops. You only have to look at the success of Ludlow to realise that the slow town movement works and attracts visitors from far and wide. As always it will be apathy, greed and corruption, which triumphs in Llandeilo. It seems that anyone that opposes the CCC planning decisions (see Jacqui thompson) or questions the morals of consortium land owners made up of serving councillors and executive board members is called a conspiracy theorist. Let's see how much the Journal covers this. Well done Robert for continuing to produce and host good journalistic articles.
5 August 2011 at 15:55
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