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Stand Up For Seaton (SU4S)

Community Action for Seaton's Regeneration Area, 80% owned by Tesco - a floodplain on a World Heritage site bordered by nature reserves, tidal river, the sea and the unspoilt town. SU4S is a state of mind - no members, no structure, no politics. SU4S has objected to 2 planning applications by Tesco, including one for a massive superstore/dot com distribution centre which led to the recent closure on the site of 400 tourist beds with the loss of 150 jobs,a gym and pool - all used by locals.

Sunday, August 31, 2008

light relief for the blog episode 2




ht: gocomics

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Confused over donations? You're not alone!

Banksy's secret costs Labour dear

Sketch for Essex Road is a canvas depicting two children pledging allegiance to a Tesco carrier bag hoisted on a flagpole.
Another version of the image was eventually painted on the side of a pharmacy in Islington, north London.

Full story here

We first aired this pic back in oh March 08....



But apparently it's now covered in perspex and the carrier bag has been painted out... oooh get you PR/censorship

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Friday, August 29, 2008

Supermarkets - good thing or bad thing in rural areas?

The latest edition of "Fieldwork" - the magazine for the Campaign to Protect Rural England has some interesting things to say about supermarkets. Bear in mind Seaton is considered rural. This is just a selection of things they say, for the full article, see end of this post.

The Rural Shops Alliance has estimated that there are only 12,000 rural shops left and these are closing at a rate of 300 a year. Between 2000 and 2007 the "Big 4" supermarkets saw a 38% increase in their UK sales area.

Market shares of different supermarkets are as follows:
Tesco 31.2%
Asda 16.8%
Sainsbury 15.9%
Morrisons 11.4%
Co-op and Somerfield 7.9%
Waitrose 3.9%
Aldi 2.9%
Lidl 2.3%
iceland 1.7%.

They go on to say more supermarkets result in fewer independent shops. The town of Fakenham in Norfolk lost 64% of its convenience stores and Warminster 75% after a superstore opened. The New Economics Foundation found that local outlets were replaced by national chains and the distinctive character and identity of town centres is being lost through growing homogenisation.

Local auctioneers, abbatoirs, wholesalers, distributors and retailers aer all at risk as small businesses and farms are taken over, merged or bought out. During a two-year period following the opening of 93 superstores, the net job loss in food retainling alone averaged 270 jobs within a ten-mile radius of each superstore opened. These figures do not include florists, clothes shops and newsagents, which would have been badly affected too.

In Saxmundham, planning permission for a superstore was refused, mainly because of Suffold Coastal District Council's proactive retailing policy. The Council commissioned consultants who concluded that there was no retailing need for a large new superstore.

They continue to say that shoppers want local food but typically only 1-2% of supermarkets' turnover comes from locally produced food. According to one survey in 2007, 57% of people buy local food in order to support local businesses, while 51% of respondents do so to support the local economy. The figures support this stand: money spent locally in independent shops is then re-spent three times before it leaves the area, while over 90% of money spent in a supermarket leaves the area immediately.

Source:Fieldwork, Campaign to Protect Rural England, September 2008, page 16.

Proposal for eco-town abandoned

Proposals for an 8,000-home eco-town at a greenfield site in Cambridgeshire have been abandoned after supermarket giant Tesco pulled out.

The controversial development at Hanley Grange, near the A11 and Duxford, was one of 15 carbon neutral towns picked by the government earlier this year.

The scheme's other main landowner, the charity Wellcome Trust, pulled out in July.

Tesco said it had not ruled out future development of the land.


More here

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Monday, August 25, 2008

Seaton Carnival President resigns over Tesco sponsorship

For those of you who do not get the Midweek Herald delivered to your door, Seaton Carnival President, Barbara Dearden-Potter, says this week that she has resigned her post as she disagrees with the Carnival Committee accepting £1,000 in sponsorship from Tesco "at this sensitive time for the town". See article here.

It would appear that she had been unaware of the deal until details appeared in the press last week.

It's not just Tesco, of course

Just so that people understand that it isn't just Tesco which is featured on this site it should be pointed out that the Tescopoly site (here) details two places in South West England where Sainsbury have upset the local populace. Of the 22 places in the south-west reporting difficulties with supermarkets, 20 of them are Tesco but 2 of them are Sainsbury: Saltash, where it is said that they want to build on a sports field and Bishopston near Bristol where it is said they want to add to the 9 supermarkets already in the locality.

We do know that Sainsbury's has been talking to local community groups and to Seaton Town Council but we do not yet know what they have in mind (if anything) for Seaton - but when we do, you can be sure we will let you know!

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Anagrams

A few anagrams for you:

"Every little helps" = the live prey tells, let tills serve hype
"Sainsburys" = is run by ass, is run by SAS

Amazing what you can find on the net

Light relief for the blog



more at this page


HT:Boy on a stick and slither
and bOING bOING

Friday, August 22, 2008

Advertising is....

...well, as a commenter said, put in a word you like. By a strange coincidence here's one from Wednesday's Times (yes I'm only just catching up with the news).
Tesco slammed over 'unfair' food adverts
(click for full article)

Tesco has been rapped by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for promotions that used an "unfair" selection of goods to claim that a trolley of shopping at its supermarkets was significantly cheaper than rivals, Asda and Wm Morrison.





HT Timesonline

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Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Qu'ils mangent de la brioche...

In a breathtaking PR exercise, a well known store has laid out its environmental credentials in yesterday's View from tesco Seaton.
The £1000? Well it's been in the carnival committee pot for some time now so it isn't worth commenting on...what is interesting is the perception of "sponsorship" that you might get about the carnival...well fair enough, but perception is a double edged sword for some....for example, if you're a member of a committee that takes a financial contribution from a company or individual, it is fairly obvious that you are looking after the interests of your organisation, in return, you gratefully acknowledge the benefactor..who gets what exactly?
Of course, if you were also say, a councillor with a remit to be unbiassed in your outlook, the perception works that you were somehow involved with said grateful recipient/organisation, and it could be seen that you have compromised that unbiassed opinion you were democratically elected to hold...and hell yes, I was elected for having an opinion about getting the right deal for Seaton****...but it doesn't mean I get involved with financial transactions that could make right-minded members of the public think I somehow "done-a-deal", however innocent or arms-length they might be.

And in the end, my real topic of this post isn't about prejudicial interest at all, but with the PR dogsTesco spin machine effort about "environmental issues"...hmmm, some carnival procession floats are incredible efforts, but from a creative point of view and, unfortunately, from an environmental impact point of view...so when I hear that £1000 has been donated to help stage said "best ever" bread and circus event, I am left somewhat bemused at the juxtaposition of it all;0)


****those with an axe to grind would do well to remember that SU4S is a conceptual platform, not an organisation (as verifed by the local government watchdogs), and I still haven't been invited to any secret meetings of it...poo, I must roll the trouser leg up higher or summat:-)

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Tuesday, August 19, 2008

The effects of flooding and climate change

This is what council officials in Ireland had to say about the floods they had a few days ago, when an underpass in the city ended up under 20 ft of water.

"We have to realise that it appears that torrential rain is going to occur on a more regular basis - the weekend was no freak occurrence.

"This means we have to introduce measures to adapt to this situation. New strategies are needed to ensure that flash flooding is minimised and that a co-ordinated emergency strategy is in place to cope with the consequences of flooding," he said.

"I urge the Executive to get to grips with the twin issues of improving our response to flooding and adapting our environmental and planning strategies to deal with increased rain in the future."

This applies to floodplains and monsoon drains too of course.

Monday, August 18, 2008

Green Supermarket (2)

Another item on how supermarkets are attempting to turn themselves green here.

All these new initiatives just in time to bring them all together on the World Heritage Jurassic Coast in Seaton - aren't we the lucky ones ..... perhaps ...... not.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Sainsbury paints itself green with wooden store in Dartmouth

Sainsbury opened their new store in Dartmouth last week with a lot of publicity about the "green-ness" of it - see link here and here.

Tesco says that it plans to open four "green" stores this year, though it doesn't mention what percentage of new stores this represents.

Saturday, August 16, 2008

British seaside holidays massive increase

Todays Guardian:

The British seaside is seeing record numbers of bookings: Brighton is up 70%, Bournemouth 20% and Eastbourne 66%. It goes on to say: "The Brits are taking abother look at holidaying at home because of the economic climate. Visitors are booking more add-ons with their hotels - theme parks, theatre and music tickets."

Campsites (tents) have seen bookings up 10% this year. Asda reported that its stores in seaside towns were trading "phenominally well".

Seaton beach has been busier than ever before in the last couple of weeks, the Lyme Bay holiday village is completely full this week and has had to put some over-booked customers with local bed and breakfast businesses according to a b and b owner who took some of the overspill.

And what happens next? Tesco closes down the holiday village, the nursery, the pool and the gym in January 2009. What does it replace them with? er, pass .....

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Excellent letter in View from Seaton

Excellent letter from the "Man from Musbury" in this week's View from Seaton. Keep them coming Mr Lee - we need more people like you questioning exactly what is going on and examining statements that people make and words that don't turn into actions. Keep them coming!

Saturday, August 09, 2008

You're never too old....

For those who live or work in a care home...take heed

See here

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Thursday, August 07, 2008

Cheaper UK holidays enjoying a boom

According to the BBC (this article was about camping but could have been about any cheaper holiday in the UK): "The price of the euro and increased security checks at airports has probably put more people off travelling abroad, Mr Harper-Smith said. "Petrol has gone through the roof and people want to go closer to home and get something more affordable," he said."People are used to going away more than once a year and now, of course, it's that much more expensive and everyone is watching the pennies.

What a pity then that a holiday village which even now is 80% occupied should have to close down and be demolished just when it could have been exactly what was needed. Not to mention that the town will lose its gym and pool too.

Come on, Tesco - show that you have a heart (and a good business head - we are talking about making money here, too!).