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BOGOFS PO Box 241 82 Colston Street Bristol BS1 5BB |
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Media We have been receiving a healthy amount of media interest in our cause which we have summarised below and provided links to the sources where possible. Bristol Stories Gloucester Road - A short film by Paddy Uglow http://www.bristolstories.org/play.php?story=63 N.B You will need QuickTime in order to view this clip. This is available as a free download for Mac and PC from www.apple.com/quicktime/download/. Please note that you may be required to restart your system after installation. Bristol Evening Post, pg 2 Thursday 29th November 2007 SUPERMARKET PLANS ARE RUN OFF THE ROAD 3 readers have commented on this story. Campaigners are celebrating after a scheme for a new supermarket on Gloucester Road was turned down by planners. The first hour of last night's development control committee was also largely taken up with opponents speaking against the proposal after they packed into the council chamber at the Council House. Many of them were members of Bishopston Opposing Glut of Supermarkets (Bogofs), who wanted to make their voices heard despite council officers recommending that the scheme should be refused. In the end, the decision to follow that recommendation was supported by 10 votes to one, a move met with a round of applause and cheering. The only councillor to vote against was Labour's Charlie Price. Afterwards, Tricia Thorpe of Bogofs said: "We are very pleased. For a lot of us it's been 18 months of very hard work and we mobilised vast numbers of the public. "But Storegap may be back with an appeal, so it's not yet over." John Whittaker, of the agents acting for Storegap, said he did not want to comment on the result or whether an appeal would be lodged. At the start of the meeting he said the application was an "exceptional opportunity" to improve one of the city's main shopping centres, with a supermarket creating about 120 new jobs. Four new business units would support a further 20 jobs. But local resident Andy Degg said there were already enough superstores, while Ric Brice said there was concern about the impact on existing shops. Mr Brice said: "If this is allowed, local shops would slowly but inevitably close." Brian Nash, also of Bogofs, said Gloucester Road was already overcrowded with traffic and a new store would only bring in more traffic, adding to the delays and hold-ups currently experienced. He said there would also be problems with parking and pollution. Mike Sansom, a parent governor at Ashley Down Infant School, also said the extra traffic would hit moves to encourage more children to cycle to school. Planning officer Dan Stone said there were about 15 businesses already on the site, employing 49 people, and the city needed to hang on to its industrial land. Loss of employment, the impact on traffic and noise, especially from deliveries, were all given as reasons to reject the plan and councillors said the site was inappropriate for such a scheme. A plan by Tesco to expand its Golden Hill store was deferred by the committee to allow time for further negotiations over planning agreements. The scheme had been recommended for refusal by planning officers but councillors said they wanted discussions to be completed before making a decision. Tesco wants to increase the shop floor area by almost half and be allowed to sell goods other than food and convenience items. It also wants to revamp the car park and delivery yard. BBC Website, 29 November 2007 SUPERMARKET PROPOSAL THROWN OUT Plans for a second Sainsbury's supermarket on the Gloucester Road in north Bristol have been rejected. More than 4,500 residents in Bishopston and Horfield signed a petition and 850 people wrote to the city council against the proposal. Resident Liz Igoe said: "People have come together from the community to preserve this unique shopping street." Developer Storegap said it would look at the council's reasons for refusal and review its scheme. The petition was organised by a group calling itself Bishopston Opposing Glut of Supermarkets (Bogofs). Although there are currently 10 supermarkets within a two-mile radius of the proposed site between Gloucester Road and Ashley Down, Storegap said supermarkets and independent shops "could exist happily alongside one another". Managing director Tony Cook said: "There's no doubt Bogofs' campaign has been a success. "I think I've got plenty to work on, in perhaps adapting the scheme and addressing the concerns that were given."Bristol Evening Post, Thursday September 19th, 2007 FURY AT BACKING FOR SUPERSTORE Campaigners have rubbished claims by an independent report that small shops will not be hampered by a new Sainsbury's store in Gloucester Road.They have criticised the results of the retail study, which examined the need for a new supermarket in an area already cluttered with eight inside a 1.5-mile radius. The report, by Clifton-based DFDS Consulting Group, concludes that opening a store in Merton Road could have a positive impact on Gloucester Road's trade rather than damaging the livelihoods of nearby independent shops. However, the report found that, statistically, there is no demand for more supermarket floor space along the street. Campaign group Bishopston Opposing Glut Of Supermarkets (Bogofs) has criticised some of the findings of the report. A spokesman for the group said: "We agree that Sainsbury's has failed to prove a quantitative need for the proposed store on the Ashley Vale site. "This is supported by the recent DTZ Citywide retail study which also found no need, on a city-wide basis, for additional food shopping floor space until after 2021." The report said there was a demand for the supermarket based on a questionnaire filled in by residents living in and around Gloucester Road. The results revealed that the majority of those surveyed travelled elsewhere for their main food shop to Tesco in Eastville and Golden Hill or Waitrose in Henleaze. But the spokesman for Bogofs said: "We disagree with part of the report which claims that there is the qualitative need for another supermarket. "This seems to fly in the face of the DTZ retail study 'Healthcheck', which found that Gloucester Road was both currently vital and viable and as such a 'destination centre'. "This is due, as the report states, to the choice offered by the 'independent and eclectic mix of traders' which should be 'encouraged and preserved to maintain the current character'. "This character is under constant erosion from the larger chains which are already very well represented in the local area. "Our own research shows that most Gloucester Road shoppers when asked, do not want, or need, another supermarket and reveals a real desire to see more protection of great, independent high streets like Gloucester Road." Plans for a 1,858 square metre food store behind the A38 Gloucester Road, extending from Merton Road to Ashley Down Road, will decided next month. Bogofs has collected more than 3,000 names on a petition against the supermarket. The retail planning report will be taken into consideration as part of the planning application. The report, prepared by DPDS and based on a retail survey carried out by White Young Green last year, advises Bristol City Council's planning officers to support the store on retail planning policy grounds. Tony Cook, spokesman for developer Storegap Commercial Limited, was pleased with the report. He said: "The report supports our belief that the proposed development will be beneficial to the vitality and viability of the northern part of Gloucester Road." Bristol Evening Post, Page 2, Thursday June 22nd, 2006 WE DON'T WANT YOUR SUPERMARKET HERE Opponents of a new supermarket in Bishopston could call for shoppers to boycott existing shops run by chains like Tesco and Sainsbury. They say the move could convince planning officers that there is no need for the proposed supermarket between Ashley Down Road and Gloucester Road. Last night about 80 people packed into a small art studio in Derby Road, bishopston, to here about the campaign to stop the new store being built... BOGOFS Reaction: Regarding the very welcome coverage of our recent meeting in the Bristol Evening Post (22/06/2006), we have a clarification to make. The possibility of urging shoppers not to shop in the "other supermarkets on Gloucester Road" was indeed put forward at the meeting, as were many other ideas. However, this was not suggested by any of the founders of BOGOFS. It was one of the many comments at a lively and interesting public meeting. For the record: BOGOFS do not endorse this as a plan of action, nor in the future. One of the principle reasons for holding a meeting such as this is to hear views of as many people as possible and we intend to continue to do so. Bristol Evening Post, Page 1, Friday June 16th, 2006 SITTING ON A GOLDMINE A businessman who owns a access lane could be sitting on a fortune - due to plans for a controversial new supermarket. Tim Franklin, the owner of Tim Franklin Pool and Snooker Services, is responsible for the lane at the back of a row of shops, which he says will cut through the proposed store. And he could be sitting on a fortune after a local agent revealed that the land could be worth up to one-third of the price of the land needed for the multimillion pound development... |
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