Transition Team add to Llandeilo debate

The following letter has been sent by the team from 'Transition Town Llandeilo' to the Carmarthen Journal as part of the continued debate about the planned Sainsbury's supermarket in the Tywi Valley town -
We, of Transition Town/Tref Trawsnewid Llandeilo welcome Llandeilo Town Council’s initiative in calling a public meeting on October 5 to discuss the Sainsbury’s proposal to build one of its stores on the outskirts of the town.
We are pleased to discover that Sainsbury’s appears now to have reversed its earlier refusal to attend such public events.
As the Carmarthen Journal’s letter page records, the proposed supermarket has stimulated a broad range of opinions and it is right that they should all receive a fair hearing.
This was our motivation in organising the first event, which crammed the meeting room in August and spawned the Save Llandeilo’s Future campaign group.
The Transition initiative is a rapidly growing worldwide network of local communities started just five years ago.
We share the concerns of many that the proposed development would adversely affect traffic through Rhosmaen Street, adding to the already excessive levels of pollution, increase flood risks, and that the promised jobs will offer no net increase as local, established small businesses are forced to fold.
In addition, we seek to draw attention to the longer-term consequences for a society which has become largely dependent on a small number of for-profit global corporations.
They are addicted to the use of fossil fuels for most of what they produce and distribute and we consume - not least our food.
Amongst the effects of this system of production, which has come to dominate our lives in the last 30 years or so, we are already experiencing the early stages of increasingly extreme weather conditions associated with climate change.
And, as the worst economic contraction in at least 60 years bears down upon us all, reducing real incomes, closing services such as the five day centres for the elderly, and threatening jobs and pensions, we are all forced to seek ways to reduce our spending, so it is no surprise that many find the short term promise of cheaper food and fuel attractive.
But this, we argue, can offer no solution.
It can only add to the pressure on farmers to reduce prices, and for wages to be reduced as competition for a declining market intensifies.
Instead of continuing to rely on supermarkets and agribusinesses that increasingly control food production, our mission is to look to the longer term, involving the whole community in developing alternatives, building upon the vibrant local economy of small and medium producers so as to reduce food miles and the use of fossil fuel based fertilisers..
We look forward to the broadest discussion of alternative ways forward for our communities.
Letter signed by Gerry Gold, Steve Brown, Patricia Dodd Racer, Anson Allen, Tony Graf, Colin Foster, Katka Dvorakova, John Gaffney, Jessica Wecker.
www.transitiontownllandeilo.org.uk