Response to South Wales Guardian re Sainsbury's
Llandeilo businessman, brewer and pub owner Simon Buckley has written the following letter to the Ammanford-based South Wales Guardian about the current debate about the planned Sainsbury’s superstore for Llandeilo -
I read with interest your leader (comment and opinion) column where you suggested that the generational planning decision of whether to grant Sainsbury’s planning or not in Llandeilo should be considered in the light of moving on.
Moving on infers that we should lower our ideals and standards and accept any development, at any costs.
I am delighted that Llandeilo is no Ammanford.
The problems that the community of Ammanford is now suffering with the lack of choice of shops and traffic gridlock as a result of the massive Tesco development is a very good reason for us not to move on as you suggest.
The development is not for Llandeilo either under the guise of Tesco, Sainsbury’s or any other massive retailer.
Llandeilo is a market town that is now internationally recognised as a quality holiday destination, a place rated as one of the Top 10 coolest place in the UK.
A recent street survey of visitors showed that the reason people travelled to Llandeilo at the weekend was to come to a town that was not spoilt by high street development.
All this makes Llandeilo a special place, where property prices remain high, because people want to come here.
Social commentators should understand the total extent of their comments before making them, and one thing is for sure that were the retailers of Llandeilo not forward thinking they would not have achieved the levels of excellence that they have.
For many of them, they have invested their life savings in their businesses, and they now more than ever need the support of our Carmarthenshire County Council.
We need an alternative plan to this ill-conceived superstore that will destroy Llandeilo, the environs, and the very reason that people come to Llandeilo.
The only people seen to support the proposal in the media is your newspaper and a Llandybie resident, neither of whom will be affected by the traffic, pollution, or gridlock that will follow.
Simon Buckley
Chief Executive, Evan-Evans Brewery, Rhosmaen Street, Llandeilo.
See earlier post below -
I read with interest your leader (comment and opinion) column where you suggested that the generational planning decision of whether to grant Sainsbury’s planning or not in Llandeilo should be considered in the light of moving on.
Moving on infers that we should lower our ideals and standards and accept any development, at any costs.
I am delighted that Llandeilo is no Ammanford.
The problems that the community of Ammanford is now suffering with the lack of choice of shops and traffic gridlock as a result of the massive Tesco development is a very good reason for us not to move on as you suggest.
The development is not for Llandeilo either under the guise of Tesco, Sainsbury’s or any other massive retailer.
Llandeilo is a market town that is now internationally recognised as a quality holiday destination, a place rated as one of the Top 10 coolest place in the UK.
A recent street survey of visitors showed that the reason people travelled to Llandeilo at the weekend was to come to a town that was not spoilt by high street development.
All this makes Llandeilo a special place, where property prices remain high, because people want to come here.
Social commentators should understand the total extent of their comments before making them, and one thing is for sure that were the retailers of Llandeilo not forward thinking they would not have achieved the levels of excellence that they have.
For many of them, they have invested their life savings in their businesses, and they now more than ever need the support of our Carmarthenshire County Council.
We need an alternative plan to this ill-conceived superstore that will destroy Llandeilo, the environs, and the very reason that people come to Llandeilo.
The only people seen to support the proposal in the media is your newspaper and a Llandybie resident, neither of whom will be affected by the traffic, pollution, or gridlock that will follow.
Simon Buckley
Chief Executive, Evan-Evans Brewery, Rhosmaen Street, Llandeilo.
See earlier post below -
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