28 within five miles - Too many supermarkets? Or just super?

The ongoing feud between the supermarket giants has been fierce for years. Now it seems that even the smallest suburban town is becoming the battleground.

Westhoughton sits between Wigan and Bolton, five miles from each town. For the last 10 years, both a Co-op Late Shop as well as a Food Market has served it.

Some Westhoughton residents, or ‘kaew-yeds’ (pronounced ‘cow-yeds’) as they are locally known, have voiced their frustration over the Co-op’s “monopoly” over the food sector in the town.

Despite these claims, Westhoughton could be said to have a wide range of choice of supermarkets.

As seen in the accompanying map, within five miles of Westhoughton, there are 27 supermarkets, 28 including the new Sainsbury’s, which is set to be open by late 2009.

This does not include the many corner shops and newsagents where everyday groceries can be bought.

For 10 years Save Westhoughton Act Now (SWAN) has been fending off development of the green areas of the town.

Councillor David Chadwick, who will become Westhoughton’s mayor on May 1, is the chairman of the organisation.

Cllr Chadwick, who is also the leader of Westhoughton Town Council said that SWAN’s reputation preceded itself. He said: “People perceive SWAN to be against all building. We aren’t against all building, we just want to protect the green areas around the town, although latterly we’ve started to protect one or two more brownfield sites. Brownfield sites are obviously harder to defend. We’re still fortunate in that we’ve still got three areas that are green belt.

“SWAN is a very thoughtful organisation, we don’t object to things that are within the planning guidelines. The thing with planning applications is that people get very emotive. What we try to do is to take a step back and try to think about what it might be that we can put up a reasonable argument to try and defeat that planning application,” he added.

Although SWAN didn’t challenge Tesco when they applied to build a store on Manchester Road, some locals petitioned against it. But when Sainsbury’s applied to build a supermarket in Westhoughton Town Centre, SWAN objected to the plans.

Sainsbury’s have applied to build the store where Westhoughton Cricket Club currently is, on Cricketer’s Way. The club have found an alternative ground.

The SWAN website states: “The cricket club recently invested in the existing clubhouse and facilities, however, we understand a substantial offer has been made for the site by the retail giant. A new cricket club will offer the promise of improved sporting facilities and benefits to local clubs”.

Cllr Chadwick said: “I believe that it is the wrong size supermarket in the wrong location. I, and SWAN objected to the Sainsbury’s development being in that location. We don’t object to a supermarket per se. What you’ve got is a cricket field, which is reputed to be one of the best in the Bolton League, we try to defend it. We defended it previously against housing but obviously it proved a little more difficult. We believe that some of the arguments that were put up were flawed. If you put a supermarket there, it cannot fail to have an effect on the town centre”.

Cllr Chadwick said that some of the planning councillors did not take evidence against the plans seriously. “I was disappointed in the that some of the planning councillors were very dismissive of the Environment Agency’s report which said that there was a significant flood risk”, he said.

One of the arguments that Sainsbury’s put forward to convince residents was that it would be an eco-friendly store, and presented plans to place three wind turbines to partially power the store. The future mayor of Westhoughton said that the proposals were unworkable.

He said: “The other thing was about the carbon footprint. We said that if Sainsbury’s were trying to reduce their carbon footprint for Westhoughton resident, why did they send consultation information out to Hindley, Atherton, Tyldesley and other parts of Bolton. Clearly they’re intending to get more people into Westhoughton. That brings more cars and more congestion.

“I have a friend who is very knowledgeable about these kinds of things, he works in petrol-chemicals. He doesn’t believe that three or four wind turbines will have any significant impact on the energy consumption of the store. I think it’s just a sop to the green lobby. I could be wrong, but as I say, my friend is pretty clued up on these things,” he said.

According to the Bolton Council Planning website, there were almost 500 consultation letters sent out to nearby residents. Of the 492 letters, there were 26 official responses to the plans; 24 against and two in favour with two petitions handed in.

One of the main arguments against the plans is that the supermarket should have been built on a nearby site, which has since been redeveloped. Cllr Chadwick agreed with the argument, but also saw the lighter side of Sainsbury’s actions. He said: “When the original plans went in for Pavilion Square, the houses were meant to be a supermarket. Sainsbury’s were one of the companies who were asked whether they would be interested in it, and they said no. But what happened was that the Co-op decided that they would build one nearby. Here we are a couple of years later and Sainsbury’s say: “can we build a supermarket?” It’s quite ironic in that respect.”