Saffron Walden Business Forum Updates from the SWBF

Rumours and Misconceptions

The Business Forum would like to clarify some misconceptions that appear to be doing the rounds in Saffron Walden about their involvement with Sainsbury and the proposed store development in Thaxted Road.

In light of the development plans, the Business Forum requested consultation from the local business community on their views on whether this was a good thing or bad thing for the town. Nobody responded to repeated requests for a response through the press.

Following the lack of response, the Business Forum concluded that the best course of action was to engage with Sainsbury's to find out what proposals could be put forward to mitigate any damage to the town centre caused by such a development.

At no point have the Business Forum supported the proposals, in fact, a letter was sent to the Uttlesford District Planning Officer confirming that we would be unable to support any developments which potentially harmed the viability of the town centre and this remains our view.

Sainsbury's have engaged with us on a number of seperate occasions to discuss possible concessions in the event that a planning application was approved but it has always been understood that these options are not in return for support for the project and it has been sensible to be talking to any business that wishes to settle within Saffron Walden's boundaries.

Sainsbury's have been completely open with us in their discussions and we have had an opportunity to directly address concerns raised by retailers and recieve feedback from them on this.

As a result of recent developments from the Save Saffron Walden Town Centre group, the Business Forum is taking a vote on whether to publicly support this initiative following such a large number of businesses lending their backing.

Business Forum Meeting 3rd December Parish Rooms Saffron Walden

Have your say on Tesco and Sainsbury’s expansion

 

The proposed huge development of a new Sainsbury’s on Thaxted Road and expansion plans by Tesco on Radwinter Road will be debated at the forthcoming public meeting of the Saffron Walden Business Forum. The meting will take place 6 – 7.30pm on Thursday 3^rd December and will be held in the St Mary’s Parish Rooms, adjacent to St Mary’s Church (pedestrian access from either Museum Street or Castle Street ).  Comments on the Sainsbury’s planning application need to have been received by the District Council by 10 December, so this will be one of the last chances for business owners to air their views.

 

There will also be reports on the Saffron Walden Loyalty card scheme and a chance to get up to date with how businesses are offering a parking refund to help promote the town in the run up to Christmas.

 

Most importantly, though, this is a chance for all business people to get together to network and to plan for the future.

Saffron Walden is great!

Every year the local businesses of Saffron Walden dig deep into their pockets to help fund the types of events that the people of Saffron Walden can take pride in their town over. The Saffron Walden Carnival, The Round Table Fireworks Display and our local footy team, all sponsored by our local business community and made possible through the generous donations and sponsorships that they make.

This is because, unlike the Directors and corporate team players in the national chains, we went to school here, our children go to school here, we watch and enjoy the fireworks, we play in the local rugby teams, the football teams, as businesses and as individuals we see the value of our contributions and benefit from the improved quality of life we have in our area.

Whilst other towns similar in size to Saffron Walden such as Royston have rows of empty shops and Huntingdon’s front page news story last week was “Empty shops create fire hazard” Saffron Walden has escaped relatively unscathed by the harder times we find ourselves in.

We don’t have a disproportionately high number of charity shops in our town, we have a few, but no more or less than anywhere else and better that than empty shops with nobody shopping in them at all. Landlords like to offer their properties to charities as it allows them to avoid paying business rates on their empty properties, but generally under license or short term lease so that when a full rent paying tenant comes along they can move in with minimal fuss.

Saffron Walden’s streets have been noticeably bustling in recent weeks, and rightly so with the fantastic variety of shops on offer. It’s taken years for the town to build up with the businesses we see today, but the town faces a very serious threat, one that could see fewer people in our streets and some of our best local businesses close.

Think back only a few years and remember the business names that are no longer with us today, these businesses closed for one simple reason, we stopped shopping in them.

Whilst the expansion of a new improved Tesco may seem initially attractive, it’s dismissive of the knock on effects that drawing more shoppers away from our town centre can cause, so one person might not notice a clothes shop here or there closing, but they will miss the huge contribution local businesses make to their immediate community.

Living in or around Saffron Walden is all about what is on offer on our doorsteps, be it cleaner air, greener surroundings and variety in general, your local businesses need your support to maintain and support the things we take for granted. If you only currently shop at Tesco mainly, treat yourself to a change once a month and try the variety of things on offer in our town centre you’ll feel good for the walk, might bump into friends and can always wind up in one of our many coffee shops for a rest afterwards.

Sure you might not earn club card points, (we’re working on our own rewards scheme though) but we all deserve a break from the monotony of supermarket shopping once in a while and you might just like it.

So lets drop the tit-for-tat debate over whether or not a Sainsbury’s will force Tesco to stop ripping us Waldenites off, or whether or not we’ll get another coffee shop in another far flung corner of town and give some support to those who risk their homes and their kids inheritance to bring us the shops and services that so many of us take for granted.

If town doesn’t have enough provision for the disabled, or the infirm, stop beating up the local businesses, don’t take your custom elsewhere; help us petition for better parking provision, or more short stay zones.

The business forum has already discussed with the parking partnership the prospect of trialling various parking incentives and although early days, our views are being recognised. We recently discussed the prospect of petitioning for 10 minute stopping zones around town allowing people to “pop in” for something and we need the vocal support of the community at large in order to be noticed.

We’re creating a shoppers loyalty card scheme for all of our local retailers to participate in, rewarding our customers for returning to our businesses and showing a commitment to buy local.

It’s very easy for a few naysayers to pen a letter to the local press and have their views taken as a representative view, but in reality, since most of us are busy living our lives we don’t have the time to join the debate, I urge every local business owner to join our forum and that alone would be a unilateral act of support.

A small band of local businesses, with growing numbers are working hard to keep Saffron Walden on-track and with a positive outlook and a can-do attitude we will achieve our goals.

Sainsburys Saffron Walden Exhibition

Today (15th October) and tomorrow, Sainburys are running their public consultation on their proposals for the development of the Granite site in Thaxted road as a new Sainsbury store.

The consultation is being held at the Town Hall and is open until 6pm on both days, we're encouraging everyone who can to go and have a look at their proposals and complete a questionnaire.

The website for the consultation can be found at http://www.sainsburys-saffronwalden.co.uk

New Sainsburys Proposals Announced.

Sainsburys have announced proposals to sight a new supermarket store on the Thaxted Road (Granite Site) development in Saffron Walden.

Views have been mixed, speaking on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire this morning, Chairman of the forum Richard Swain raised some of the concerns that are facing local retailers. "We need to know more about what Sainsbury's are proposing but as the SWBF obviously our interests are to promote the vibrancy of the business community that we already have and we don't want to see anything developed that could possibly impact that".

He questioned Robert Oxley Regional Development Executive of Sainsbury's about whether they planned to stick to grocery sales or looking to branch out to other lines that would compete with the independant retailers in town and what they could do to encourage shoppers into the town to see what is on offer in the town centre.

Said Robert "Sainsbury's is primarily a food offer there would be general merchandise as with all supermarkets." he went on to say that "the way Sainsbury's like to work is to work with the trading community by being a strong part of the town centre management setup to contribute to financial resource and expertise and working with local traders to ensure that we don't compete on key things".

Richard was encouraged by Roberts comments on Sainsbury's approach in wanting to contribute to the local community rather than just taking away from it, however it remains to be seen what proposals Sainsbury's put forward that reflect this.

Saffron Walden is already a vibrant local economy which is why Sainsbury have been attracted to the region, it's a credit to the independent retailers that have worked hard to create that marketplace.

Once Sainsbury's have formally published their full proposals, the business forum will be canvassing it's membership for their views on the development but what do you think now? The forum is interested to hear more views on the subject.

Some comments have already been voiced on the current state of the town centre being "dire" the business forum and it's members don't believe that his is an accurate reflection of the current state of our high street, with the town recently attracting a number of national retailers in clothing and food and along with the wealth of local retailers offering access to quality butchers, clothing stores, coffee shops, television and audio, home furnishings and much more with access to most high street banks and ample parking.