Download the lovewadebridge.com poster

We've been very busy over the weekend putting up posters for the public meeting this Thursday 3 June at 6pm in Wadebridge Town Hall.

If you'd like to put up a poster yourself you can download one here.

Please tell everyone you know about the meeting.

Planning expert Stephen Gill will be there to advise us on future strategy. Mr Gill is the former director of planning and development at West Devon Borough Council.

Last year he helped a protest group like ours fight off a similar proposal for an out-of-town Sainsbury's superstore in Tavistock.

On Atlantic FM

In Stephen's absence, Jerry has just been interviewed for Atlantic FM to be broadcast sometime over the weekend. The gist of the conversation was about the three pronged attack by the supermarkets, what we are doing about it, and the meeting next Thursday.

Funny business at Cornwall Council

All very confusing. 3000 people sign a petition asking Cornwall Council not to help an out-of-town Sainsbury's come to Wadebridge, and now the Council announces that they it is doing just that. And it seems that, like us, the first some Cornwall Councillors heard about the decision was via a press release. Also odd that the rumoured inflated price that has been offered depends on Cornwall Council giving Sainsbury's planning permission, when the planning rules suggest that such developments should no longer be allowed. Looks like some possible tension between the Council's left hand and right hand here.

Come to the public meeting - Thursday 3rd June 6 pm, Wadebridge Town Hall

There will another public meeting at Wadebridge Town Hall at 6.00 pm on Thursday 3^rd June to discuss the supermarkets’ plans. The meeting will be chaired by Councillor Jeremy Rowe.

At our last public meeting there was overwhelming opposition to more out-of-town supermarkets coming to Wadebridge. At this meeting we will discuss in more detail how to protect the town. We want people to come along to hear what we face and what we can do about it. The planning applications run into thousands of pages and most people won’t take the time to read them. So our planning consultant will present them to us and so that we can have an informed discussion of their implications.

We have commissioned Stephen Gill, a leading chartered planning consultant, to guide and advise us. Mr. Gill is the former director of planning and development at West Devon Borough Council. Last year he successfully helped fight off a similar proposal for an out-of-town Sainsbury's superstore in Tavistock. Some people feel that these companies are so powerful that at least one of them will succeed in coming. But the tide has turned in national planning policy so that Wadebridge is now able to protect itself from the negative impact of the out-of-town superstores on the town centre.

Wadebridge Store Wars - the movie?

If this was a film about a small town under siege from commercial giants you'd say that the writers had got rather carried away and that the script just wasn't plausible. But it's true. We now have a pincer movement from THREE huge out-of-town superstore developments. Tesco too has announced its plans to add some 20,000 square feet to its store. So we can now look forward to over 75,000 square feet of new out-of-town retail space, over 10 square feet per man, woman, child and dog in the town. Fortunately the tide has turned in the planning rules so that it really is possible to stop developments like this now, and we are determined to do so.