In The Press

Ashtead Tesco campaigners claim supermarket’s parking data is flawed

Leatherhead Advertiser

Friday, May 25, 2012
CAMPAIGNERS claim Tesco underestimates parking requirements at a planned store in Ashtead.

Save Ashtead’s Village Environment (Save) carried out a survey at the Ashtead Peace Memorial Hall and Grove Road car parks for 20 weekdays in March.

Save campaign members in the Ashtead Peace Memorial Hall car park. Photo by Kenn Jordan

And a report, compiled by the group during the four-week period, has found there were eight times when 75 or more of the 84 short-stay spaces were occupied.

Michael Butler, who helped compile the report, said: “The counts have shown the car park is full when there are large events at the hall already, without a store.

“The count shows that Tesco’s assertions are just incorrect.

“We hope firstly that the planners take a good look at this then start seriously questioning the numbers put forward by Tesco.

“If that causes Tesco to rethink their numbers then that’s fine. Their numbers at the minute don’t have credibility, the counts prove it.”

The count, carried out by volunteers from March 5 to March 30 inclusive, also found there were only seven mornings when there were sufficient short-stay spaces to meet Tesco’s own figure of 43 spaces for peak morning customer parking demand.

The counts at Grove Road showed peak occupancy was 20 spaces filled, but Save says the remaining 26 spaces would not be enough to fit the overflow from the APMH car park.

And campaigners insist the problem could be even worse, as they believe Tesco’s figures for parking underestimate demand…

READ FULL STORY HERE>

Campaigners submit objections to Ashtead Tesco

Your Local Guardian

By Hardeep Matharu

11:50am Saturday 7th April 2012

Campaigners battling Tesco’s plans to open a Metro in Ashtead have submitted their objections to Mole Valley Council.

SAVE Ashtead’s Village Environment campaigning group (SAVE) does not oppose having a Tesco on The Street, Ashtead, but believes a lack of parking for shoppers will cause a “parking crisis in the village” and negatively affect the existing car parking spaces in the town.

But Simon Petar, Corporate Affairs Manager at Tesco, said the company has demonstrated there would be sufficient parking spaces available in Ashtead for Tesco users in all situations, including on the store’s busiest days, and that it had reached its conclusions using the maximum parking standards required for food retail stores.

He said Tesco’s most recent proposal for the store in February took into account residents’ initial concerns and included a number of changes.

At 684 sqm, it would be a basket-only store with just a front-entrance and 9-10 per cent smaller than previously proposed.

The store would provide off-site parking for staff, arranged through a private provider, and nine on-site parking spaces for residents of the flats which would be built above the shop.

Quentin Armitage, spokesman for SAVE, said: “Tesco has under-estimated the parking need by over 50 per cent and more than 80 additional spaces would approximately be needed to meet the parking need of a store of this size, notwithstanding the fact that this would be a basket only store.”

READ FULL STORY HERE>

Tesco’s “Green” Claims Lack Validity

By Barrie Mould

Managing Consultant at Independent Consultant
Visiting Professor at University of Brighton

From 12th to 18th March 2012, Tesco are the headline sponsor of “Climate Change Week” and claim to be seriously concerned about climate change and environmental sustainability issues. Yet Tesco’s current proposal for a store and housing in Ashtead fails to achieve Mole Valley’s required building sustainability standards.

MVDC require new dwellings to meet a national standard known as the Code for Sustainable Homes at Code 3 level (on a scale of 1 – 6, with 1 being the lowest). Code level 3 has been a statutory minimum requirement for public sector housing for a number of years and for all new housing in Mole Valley since late 2009.

AIn 2013 the minimum standard is to be increased to Code level 4 and in 2016, to Code level 6. The majority of recent new housing development in Mole Valley has achieved Code level 3, so why should Tesco’s come in with a sub-standard proposal now (the flats above the store only just achieve Code level 2)?

Within a few years the proposed new flats will be dinosaurs in development terms, and a legacy far from the high green standards that Tesco’s claim to hold.

The proposal for the new store itself is a backwards step as well. The store building standard is something known as BREEAM (a nationally recognised standard produced by the Building Research Establishment). MVDC require developments to achieve a “very good” rating, Tesco’s current proposal achieves a “good” rating.

Tesco and its development consultants know how to do much better – some of their new stores achieve the top level standard of “excellent”. So why are they proposing to give Ashtead less than the best they know how to do?

The answer is that the site is not big enough to do this for a store of the size that is proposed! There is thus a fairly obvious point that MVDC should be making to them – the application should be for a smaller store that can be designed to achieve BREEAM “very good” standard as a minimum. Only if Tesco accept this will any of their “green” claims have any validity.

Please help us to put pressure on Tesco and MVDC to think long term and implement the minimum sustainability standards required by Mole Valley’s well established policy.

Tesco puts forward smaller store for Ashtead

By Guy Martin
January 06, 2012

TESCO is set to submit plans for a smaller store in Ashtead after failing to solve parking issues with the site to allow it to build a larger supermarket.

The company was given permission to build a 750sq-m store in The Street in 2010 by a government planning inspector despite opposition to the size from villagers, some 6,000 of whom signed petitions.

But the inspector laid down a condition for parking problems in the area to be resolved first. He ruled that building could not start until Mole Valley District Council had found a new venue for 74 long-term spaces currently in the Ashtead Peace Memorial Hall car park, behind the proposed supermarket.

Those spaces would be needed for shoppers but longer-term parking is also required for people using the hall and other facilities in the village.

READ FULL STORY HERE>

Tesco reveals plans for Metro store in Ashtead

6 comments

This is Surrey Today

Monday, December 26, 2011
TESCO has unveiled plans for a smaller store in Ashtead than originally intended, following concerted action by campaigners.

On Tuesday, the supermarket giant announced fresh proposals for a store on empty land it owns at 53 to 57, The Street.

Campaigners opposed two previous plans on the site but Tesco won planning permission for a 750 square metre store following a public inquiry last August.

However, permission was granted on condition that 74 long-term parking spaces at Ashtead Peace Memorial Hall (APMH) were relocated by Mole Valley District Council to allow 181 short-stay parking spaces at the store.

After lobbying by Ashtead Residents’ Association and campaign group Save Our Village Environment (SAVE), the council said it would not move spaces without a mandate from residents.

READ FULL STORY HERE>

{ 6 comments }

Surrey Tories refuse debate on On-Street Parking charges !!

March 22, 2011 by Chris Townsend

At today’s Surrey County Council meeting, 2 motions were put forward – one by the Independent/RA group and one by the Liberal Democrat group – asking that the Council debate the issue of On-Street Parking charges as proposed by the Conservative Administration. Both motions were refused that debate by all Conservative Councillors present – voting being 46 against the motions with 23 for the motions.

The Tory Administration claimed that consultation was ongoing and now was not the time for a debate. Any ideas on the best way forward to implement these charges would be considered for each Borough/District. It was pointed out that over 30,000 signatures had now been received through various petitions across the whole of Surrey stating their opposition to what is being proposed…

READ FULL NEWS ARTICLE HERE>

3,917 sign Keep Ashtead Meter Free Petition

4 comments

Left to Right - Jackie Quinn, Judy Smale, Cllr. Chris Hunt, Gillian Russell & Richard Elphick with the KAMF petition, March 28th 2011 plus other Ashtead traders. Pictures by Kenn Jordan

By Cllr Chris Hunt | cllr.hunt@molevalley.gov.uk

Thank you to everyone who has signed the petition – 3,917 as of yesterday. That is more people than replied to the Tesco questionnaire I think!

By lobbying and with constructive ideas, and backing up the arguments with the sheer strength of public feeling in Ashtead, we have already got a concession from Surrey County Council – they say they will allow the first half hour parking FREE. As the spaces are currently available for free parking for half an hour anyway, that is a good first concession. We are now seeking the financial details to see whether with 30 mins free anyway whether it will be viable to install any meters in Ashtead.

One of the idea I have suggested is that SCC have several floors of a multi-storey car park in Kingston, which they use for their council officers during the week and are available for shoppers at weekends. If those spaces were available for shoppers – or council employees – at the standard hourly rate there (C£2 per hour; it is central Kingston!) then the County could generate lots of money and not put at risk any local businesses. Await their response….but hope this shows we are not just protesting, but trying to help them solve the problem.

Thank you to all shopkeepers who hosted the petition, and of course to SAVE and all residents who have signed it – fantastic, thanks.

Chris Hunt

{ 4 comments }

Mole Valley residents stand firm in parking fees opposition

This is Surrey Today

By Lauren Everitt Lauren.Everitt@EssnMedia.co.uk

TOWNS and villages are standing united in their campaign against new charges for on-street parking.

Surrey County Council wants to introduce meters for short-term parking spaces at ten locations across Mole Valley by November.

But more than 1,800 people have already signed a county-wide petition against the plans.

District Councillor Caroline Salmon, who owns The Wow Gallery in Dorking, set up the online petition.

She said: “Anyone who doesn’t want to pay 70p or 50p per half hour for currently free one-hour parking places and who believes, like I do, that this proposal will seriously effect the vitality and viability of our towns and villages, should sign the petition as soon as possible.

“This impacts on Wow, but also in every High Street across Surrey, and it will impact negatively on trade.”

Separate petitions are also running at shops in Ashtead and Bookham.

READ FULL STORY HERE>