Tesco For Little Lever Good or Bad

The big question in Little Lever at the moment is YES or NO to a Tesco Superstore on the site of the former Pennine Pets formally Bradley Mill where our Little Lever Arch came from.

Will it be beneficial to Little Lever or will it be the final nail in the coffin of a village community which is already struggling?

It is not going to be an easy one to answer and the community seems to be divided does it move forward and take the risk or stay as we are hope for the best.

The land was granted Planning permission in 2007 when I was the Chairman of the Council's Planning Committee which has now lapsed under the 4 year rule, however the Housing Developer has applied for an extension of time on the planning consent. The Council to date has not given a decision despite going beyond the deadline date set by Council Policy.

No matter what we think, (the community) what gets built, Houses or Superstore it will be determinned by a series of events.

• Planning Permission
• The right financial agreement on the table
• Mark Seddon the owner of the current site signing any such deal

A Public Meeting has been arranged for Wednesday 16th February 2011 @ 7-30pm in Hardy Hall on Church Street, Little Lever at which the owner of the site along with the Agents for Tesco and Opposition groups along with Supporters have been invited to discuss this very interesting issue.

Over the next few days I will be uploading information from the various sides of the argument in order that people can have some understanding on this issue. I will try to be neutral giving balanced comments. Anyone who wishes to make a point can do so by emailing me sean.hornby@live.co.uk

Updated information following the meeting at Hardy Hall on Wednesday 16th February 2011

Sean Hornby opened the meeting by thanking people for attending. He started off by stating some facts on how we know about the proposed development. A few listed as:

• Talks are taking place and have been for some time and are in a pretty advanced stage with the council and others.

• A telephone call that Sean Hornby has had from one of the major developers who is hoping to purchase the site from the owner subject to planning permission.

• Letters from an agent in Merseyside seeking to purchase curtain properties on Ainsworth Road!

This went onto if this was a good or a bad thing for Little Lever:

• Will it create Jobs for Little Lever People or will it be people from other areas?

• Will it destroy the already failing village centre?

• Will a development of a large supermarket be the final nail in the coffin for the struggling centre of the village or will it be its saviour?

Sean mentioned the plus and minuses some important that was mentioned were:

• That this could create more jobs.

• Increased traffic problems.

• There could be improvements to the junction of Lever Street and Ainsworth Road which are much needed but don’t be fooled, simple traffic lights on this junction if a major supermarket comes will not be the answer.

• A roundabout could be installed but this is likely to cost £1/4 million to do.

• It would greatly improve the site which currently is a eye sore and a disgrace.

Paul Richardson who runs the village tea rooms with his wife Kath was next to speak regarding information about speculation of what size we could be looking at if this plan goes ahead, also he obtained some figures from Bolton Council about the level of traffic that passes through Little Lever and mentioned that at peak time 17.00 till 18.00 approx 444 vehicles enter to and from the vicinity of the junction. It was also brought to our attention of the level of traffic Kwik Saves brought at Longcauseway at the same time which was 668. Then figures from a traffic survey carried out by Wainhomes in 2008 to see the impact of the junction in rush hour traffic was in total AM 1366 and PM 1710 vehicles.

Kristy Atkinson a member of the community then spoke whilst Tracey Mortimer did a powerpoint presentation of what they felt the effect of a supermarket would do to our village and the community and raised some interesting points from concerned members of the public that she had spoken to.

The meeting then went to debate where some interesting views and ideas were raised on what we can do next if we want to object to a proposal of a supermarket to go ahead. Noted below are people’s views and fear’s and ideas:

A member of the community brought to our attention that it wasn’t just 15 and 17 Ainsworth Road that had been approached but all the houses on that side of the street, with a letter which this community member kindly produced and let us read, clearly stating that a agent representing a supermarket is thinking of making them an offer for their property. I must stress that at this stage this is not a compulsory purchase yet! And councillor Mary Woodward Promised to Neil Robinson another concerned member who clearly was upset about this proposal and stated that this is not just a house it was his home, if it gets to that stage she would personally make sure that his house would not be subject to compulsory purchase!

Councillor Mary Woodward who is on the planning committee along with Councillor Tony Connell confirmed that once an agent has approached and gone through the planning permission stage a formal meeting will be arranged to let the whole of Little Lever aware of plans. A member of the community said along with many that agreed that it is when it is at this stage it is too late. Sean Hornby went on to say we need to act now and make our objections known before it gets to this stage and used the greenbelt land for the proposed traveller’s site as an example, in which many people in the room totally agreed.

A spokesman for Wainehomes mentioned Planning permission was granted in 2007 for Wainhomes to build 88 homes on this site plus give money to Bolton Council for affordable housing. If housing was built on the land this would bring 88 families into the village which is extra trade. Wainhomes mentioned last night that they still would like to go ahead with these plans but are aware that a supermarket has approached Mark Seddon with a substantial offer and more than their proposed offer.

Rees Gibbon the landlord of the Jolly Carter spoke. He has lived in this village for over 30 years and he mentioned about how important the village and the community spirit was to him. He went on to say that more people should make more of an effort to use the village and increase the trade of the businesses within it. In his opinion a supermarket will finish off the village and clearly objected a NO! To the proposal.

The Owner of Premier spoke; He said he has seen the consequences the impact of the Tesco has had in Cheetham hill it is now a ghost town and has not created any extra jobs as they advertised internally. One member of the public disagreed with this.

Councillor Mary Woodward spoke and said that the meeting (16/02/11) clearly showed that the community of Little Lever was not interested about what happens on the Pennine Pet site due to the amount of people that turned up. Steve Hoyle replied that Tracey Mortimer and Kristy Atkinson had organised the meeting and the advertising from this came out of our pockets we reached just a portion of the community to raise awareness in the best way we could by putting flyers around many shops, Libraries, community centres, churches etc. A community member stated that she spent some time walking through the village one day this week and spoke to people she knows and were still unaware of what was happening as some people don’t look in shop windows and if they had known about it a bit earlier they would of come along.

What we do next... well we have had some good suggestions brought to us and we are now in the process of getting together to see what the best course of action to take next. One being that the Little Lever action group want to get involved and will support us with spreading the awareness of this proposal and any other suggestions made in the near future.

A big thank you goes out to Wainhomes, Sean Hornby, Paul Richardson, Kristy Atkinson and Tracey Mortimer who gave up their time freely to contribute to the meeting, also a big thank you to Steve Hoyle for letting us use Hardy Hall