The Tesco exhibition - feedback
Thank you to everyone who took the time to talk to us before and after they visited the Tesco exhibition at the Eyre Court Hotel yesterday (Friday) and today (Saturday) and thanks to Temptations for letting us have space in their restaurant for the 2 days.
Feedback on the comments made to SU4S during the Tesco exhibition will appear here after it ends as will feedback after the Sainsbury's exhibition at the end of the month.
You can hand in your questionnaire or leave comments over the next few days at Steve's Print and Byrne-Jones in Fore Street or the Starboard Pets in Queen Street.
Your feedback is just as important to us as it is to Tesco so please make contact with us, whether you are for or against or undecided by what you have seen. We will be making a report of feedback we have received both from Tesco and Sainsbury's which will be sent to Tesco, Sainsbury's, Seaton Town Council, East Devon District Council and others to keep them informed of what the people of Seaton are thinking - and expecting - from them.
posted by Anonymous @ 4:42 pm
19 Comments:
After visiting the exhibition I was very dissapointed to learn that the holiday camp site will remain as their plans only showed phase one of the plan, the supermarket/petrol station etc on asking about the closure of the swimming pool and gym I was told that Hollybush were given the option to keep that and the camp open but declined? and also the council were informed and asked about keeping the pool and gym but also declined ! I don't blame Tesco for their closure I think we are blaming them for too much! Also whilst at the exhibition one of the tesco staff asked a lady could she help and the lady shouted at her NO there is nothing Tesco can do for Seaton, why go to the exhibition if you are going to be rude and not listen to what they have to say. I think the pans look good and the sooner they start the better!
Thought there would be some SU4S at Eyre Court! Where were you?
Didn't see any feedback forms, so I'll make mine here:
Firstly; Tesco's webcomic (at www.tesco-seaton.co.uk) starts with an untruth; "An area of currently unusable land in Seaton...". Presumably this unusable bit of land in that bit of land being used, quite positively, quite successfully, and quite within the law as a holiday camp. Yes, any new development (even a new holiday camp) would first have to raise the land level, but that doesn't mean that an existing development could not continue operating quite lawfully as it is.
Secondly; Given that Tesco only actually has a real proposal for the store and ancilary features we must regard the rest of their pretty pictures as nothing more than "conceptual". This means two things: The facilities that might be of real benefit to Seaton, such as the visitors centre, are not actually part of Tesco's committment to any new development as they are not part of the initial planning proposal: Also, the development of the remaining land (the bulk of the regeneration area) would be at the wim of any future developer and may not be so "pretty". Given the current economic climate that may well mean having a derelict holiday camp at the centre of Seaton for years to come which even the proposed riverside development would struggle to hide.
Let's hope that Sainsbury's can come up with something better. And, if you don't want Sainsbury's either then how about persuading the local shopkeepers to come up with a coherent strategy to offer a better service to Seaton's residents and visitors, actual and potential, such as being open on Saturday's as in most towns.
Keep up this valuable blog!
Sorry you didn't find us, anonymous 5.14. We were around all the time that Tesco's consultation exercise took place.
SU4S were allowed by Tesco to keep a count of people going into the exhibition at Eyre Court, and at first let us hand out our questionaires as well. They later asked us to leave the premises. We were then at both entrances, in the street (despite the weather) handing out our questionaires to people as they came out. We had initially given them to people on their way in, but Tesco representatives asked us not to. Perhaps they didn't like the questions we were asking.
We also were available in Temptations cafe on both days to listen to people's comments, and collect the feedback forms.
Thank you very much to all the volunteers who helped throughout both days.
We shall be asking the same questions of Sainsburys during their consultation days. Please get in touch if you want to help in any way.
Am I the only one who finds some of the positive things people are saying here a bit strange or am I just paranoid. I saw lots of stand up for seaton people in town and went into temptations to tell them what i thought.
I cannot see how a Tesco store can bring regeneration to the town. There is nothing else on offer or have I missed something.
Also i dont think there will be a derilict holiday camp i think Tesco will pull it down so that they hope that people will forget it was there but we wont.
with one days profits Tesco could make that whole site something that people would think wow but they wont they just want to have their shop and go
if Tesco had not bought the Holiday Village it would not be closing. They had no need to buy it since they are only interested in developing a supermarket and petrol station and don't need the holiday village land to do that. Therefore they can't expect much goodwill in Seaton.
EDDC may or may not have been offered an option to keep the pool but they are not going to do anything for Seaton, they want to see housing on the land.
No one shouted at Tesco staff when I was there but I imagine the lady had hoped to see something constructive from Tesco after all their claims of wanting to "regenerate" Seaton. Rather disappointing not to find that. No excuse for shouting but you can understand the frustration.
I heard somebody complain that someone from Tesco had been very rude to her. Perhaps tempers were getting frayed because neither side were getting what they wanted out of the conversation.
We asked Melanie Chiswell why Tesco took up their option to buy the holiday camp, since they have no plans to develop it themselves, but simply to look for other developers to come in.
(Apparently when they bought the Blue Waters site last year, they also had an option to buy Lyme Bay Holiday Village.)
She told two of us, in the hearing of others, that if they hadn't bought it, Sainsburys would have done!
The Tescos plans looked very much like the very badly though out Liatris plans! Tescos in Seaton would give them a monopoly in the area and that is not good.The store size is far too big for Seaton. Raising the land level by landfill is not acceptable either. Who trusts Tescos anyway with their track record of ruining communities and towns all over Britain. I do not believe any of their plans or promises. Any other store but Tescos please!
Raising the land level is essential if any new development is to get planning permission. So, unless you prefer a derelict wasteland for years to come then the land must be raised. There is only really one option: Bring in many tons of spoil over a long period, clogging up the roads and generally annoying people. Sadly the spoil can't be brought in by train, thanks to Dr Beeching. Neither can it be landed by ship as only the smallest boats can put into Axmouth. Excavating from part of the site to raise the land level on other parts and forming a new water body either leaves you with a muddy pool where you once had valuable building land or with a potential marina. However, a marina that isn't accessible by boats aint a lot of use to anyone. Building a breakwater out to sea, digging through the shingle bank and creating a new harbour may be a tad more than even Tesco's are willing to tackle. Very nice for Seaton, and probably just what we need, but whose going to stump up the cash?
Interesting that Tim Robinson, from Tesco, is quoted in the Midweek Herald as saying that we can have either a supermarket or regeneration.
Hmmm!
What tosh that the land is unuseable unless it is raised! Beautiful parkland, sports facilities, an extension to the wetlands with walks and paths, a bird sanctuary - basically you can put anything that isn't residential or a nightclub, bars or hotels on a floodplain anywhere in the country without raising any of it an inch and you can do that today.
Tesco knew what they were buying and all the problems it had and the buyer should beware.
They should ask Liatris for their money back as what they bought wasn't of merchantable quality - and Tesco should know how that law works!
well spotted kestrel, that would suggest Tesco, with a seat on the "regeneration board" are in it for their own benefit. Words like "community" and "consultation" must be just words used as a means to their end not ones with real substance
the obvious use for the land is to keep the holiday village. Existing uses can continue without raising the land.
Until the owners saw a profit to be made from selling the land their head office were happy to talk of increasing occupancy and making profits. Then they saw an opportunity to get residential planning permission. Suddenly it was no advertising, no investment and claims of no profits. Still had high occupany though.
The holiday village is fully booked for Christmas and New Year - nearly 500 people. Today I saw people walking down from it to town - I passed in the car and saw about 20 of them in a couple of minutes.
I can think of at least half a dozen shops that will close when it goes.
Yes it's odd that people claim the "holiday camps are dead" yet Butlins and Warners seem to reinvent themselves and in these credit-crunch times, stand to do well over the next couple of years
Meanwhile Tesco own a site they could "reinvent" and make some money...where would those tourists shop?
I wouldn't accept that Tesco isn't a holiday operator either, it does lots of things that are not "core" business, in fact, it's talking about extending its banking/finance market...now!
C'mon Tesco, reinvent that holiday camp as a holiday destination and score lots of brownie points as well as signalling a new market focus!
Without a proper tourist base, what would you have? Oh another store and locals...quite a few know what a Tesco looks like, there's one in every town!
Be bold Tesco, you do it in finance, do it in tourism!
Can someone explain something to me? Seaton needs a Tesco store because we all leave town to shop. But presumably we all leave town to shop in Tesco at Axminster or Tesco at Honiton because the only other shops we have are Waitrose (expensive) or Lidl (and most people would shop at a Lidl and another supermarket or just Lidl). So we get a store and shop here and Axminster and Honiton have less shoppers which can't be good for Axminster or Honiton Tesco stores.
its quite clear that nobody really wants a tesco as it will suck the life out of seaton and all the high street shops can close, they can't compete with tesco prices! But while everyone is busy moaning and complaining about this what is actually being done about it? Not much....its not by doing nothing that something will happen. Lets get together some sort of structured system and try to beat tesco at there own game. SU4S is all very well but there is no true structure...if we do this properly maybe we can win.
Tesco will kill seaton and its community life....we can't complain and then accept cheques for the carnival from them!
There plans are so vague and riduculous, what are they actually going to bring...a lot of dust, noise and mess for years and then a great big over-sized superstore.
Can't wait!!!
theres no planning application when that goes in thats when the excrement hits the ventilation system
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