A proposal to build an out of town supermarket for a discount chain has sparked a debate over whether improving access to cheaper food should be placed over environmental concerns and residents’ amenity.
While residents of the Aiskew and Leeming Bar area have voiced contrasting views over Morbaine Limited’s ambition to build a store with a 20,000sq ft retail area on a greenfield site off Bedale Road, its plan to build a drive-through coffee shop beside it has received little support from the community.
The developer says if approved, its proposal would see some residents stopping travelling further afield to do their weekly food shop, while increasing consumer choice and creating up to 60 full and part-time jobs.
The proposal highlights how the nearest existing discount foodstore provision in the wider area is located around 12 kilometres away from Bedale, in Northallerton.
The scheme is being examined by North Yorkshire Council planning officers amid mounting concerns nationally over the cost impact on people with limited incomes of shopping at supermarket-run convenience stores.
A recent study by ESA Retail showed that goods in Tesco Express stores were 10.4 per cent higher than in larger Tesco shops.
Earlier this summer the Chancellor of the Exchequer was warned by consumer group Which? that introducing a voluntary price cap scheme “won’t touch the sides” without measures to make small grocery stores more affordable for low-income households.
In letters of support for the proposal to the council, some residents said the proposed supermarket would aid “people struggling to support their families on a restricted budget have no option but travel out of the district to shop” as well as older people.
Another resident wrote: “As a Bedale resident of 14 years I have constantly been frustrated that I have to travel a significant distance to do a food shop.
“While I accept the Co-Op in the town centre is a reasonable sized supermarket and is within walking distance, it is very expensive when compared with discount supermarkets and not viable for a family shop.”
Aiskew Leeming Bar Parish Council said while it supported the supermarket plan there was already a drive-thru coffee outlet “very close by”.
However, the proposal has attracted numerous letters of objection, some of which point towards the traffic it would generate and the five food stores established in the Bedale and Leeming Bar area, which include two Co-op stores and a Nisa store that sells Co-op goods.
Objectors have claimed the development would reverse environmental improvements introduced to the area with the Bedale bypass and aggravate road safety concerns.
One resident wrote: “There are sufficient shopping facilities which already exist, both in Bedale town centre and in the motorway service station area which exists, opposite this proposed site.”
Another objector added: “Are we not to be encouraged to keep our high streets alive? Taking customers away from the supermarkets and independent food stores on Bedale high street will have a significant impact on the footfall of these longstanding businesses.”
Be the first to comment