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Residents band together to fight Waitrose plans
The residents of six flats directly above where the new Waitrose supermarket in Gerrards Cross is due to be built have hit out at the plans.
People who live in Oakridge House in Station Road have joined together to object to the controversial scheme, which will see a 13,500 sq ft store built directly underneath them.
They have become the latest group of residents to vent their anger at the plan, and have written to South Bucks District Council (SBDC) individually to express their concerns.
However, they feel that their views have so far been ignored and are now concerned that permission will be granted to the supermarket despite their objections.
One resident of the flat, who has asked not to be named, said: "Our feelings on this issue have not been taken into account at all. We are going to be living above this shop but we do not feel that we have been listened to. Our quality of life will be badly affected while the shop is being built and after it has opened because of huge increases in noise and traffic that it will bring."
The group wrote to SBDC in December outlining their main objections to the scheme, which include the parking and traffic problems the supermarket will cause, risk of property damage and noise disruption.
Another resident said: "I cannot understand the need for a fourth supermarket in this village. We already have Fisher's, Marks and Spencer and a huge Tesco on the way, so why do we possibly need another one? It's madness. They are trying to make huge sections of this village into conservation areas but there is just constant development going on here and the character of the village is changing beyond recognition.
"We are so angry about this because it seems that the plans are being rushed through without any proper consultation with residents. The so-called 'independent' studies done on noise and traffic have been done by the developer, so how can they be unbiased studies. It is an outrageous situation."
The plans are to be discussed at a forthcoming meeting of SBDC's planning committee.
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13,000 square feet doesn't exactly represent a superstore - it's probably more like a medium sized shop.
I love the comment about "noise disruption" - whatever that is - (surely by disrupting noise, you create silence?).
Forgive me, but isn't the site already next to a busy railway line taking trains into Central London. Perhaps the current trains are totally silent, powered by fresh air and release the scent of bluebells as they pass? If this is the case I can certainly see how adding a supermarket to the mix will impact on quality of life.
Supermarkets are a way of life and are needed by everyone. The residents should at least be grateful that they will eventually have a Waitrose shop and not a nasty European discounter.
Thanks Bob.
You live there then!
idiot!
Sam, I hardly think it's fair to label someone an idiot just because they have an opinion that is different to yours. Perhaps I live locally, perhaps not - I guess you'll never know.
The point is, progress is sometimes painful. The railway line I mentioned earlier is noisy, but it offers an easy method of travelling into London. People would complain if they could not do this. In the same way, a new supermarket would enables people to buy decent food in a convenient way. People would also complain if they were not able to do this. It is correct that a community need is met. Wherever the shop is built, somebody will have to live next to it!
What really winds me up is people labelling the whole thing as an "outrageous situation" (quoted from article). I respectfully disagree - Zimbabwe is an outrageous situation, childhood obesity is an outrageous situation; The building of a shop is just progress.
I should perhaps add that I live in an apartment block which contained a vacant, ground floor retail unit when I moved in, but shortly after was bought by a major supermarket and turned into an "express" store. At first I too was "outraged" but now have nothing but praise for the way the shop is managed with due consideration to residents in the building. Oh, and it's pretty convenient for a bit of shopping as well...
s Tesco's not enough "Progress" for Bob? G.X. had a fish mongers as well as 2 x butchers / 2 x green grocers / 2 x small local supermarkets when I 1st moved into the area. Now we are set to have 4 x Supermarkets, 3 x of which are large multi national chains. I think the point Sam and the unnamed residents are trying to make, is that for those residents living in the flats directly affected - as they will be literally surrounded on all sides by the building of both the store and the accompanying flats - the long term length of disruption during and after all of that will severely affect their quality of life and as such they have EVERY right to protest against the dubious speed with which this latest 'outrage' is being pushed through.
Why is it that people throw around suggestions that supermarkets are evil and greengrocers and fishmongers are the traditional backbone of the high street? If they are so good, why haven't people continued to support them?
Personally, I don't have the time to go to seventeen different shops for the component parts of my food shopping. Additionally, I don't in any way believe that these greengrocers or butchers offer better choice or value. Okay, so a butcher may have cut and trimmed my joint of meat by hand in front of me, but can I be sure the chiller cabinet in his shop hasn't been switched off overnight to save money?
Supermarkets (well, the good ones at least) train their staff to butcher or fishmonger's standards these days anyway, operating on a greater economy of scale and therefore offering better value and greater choice. Because they operate larger numbers of outlets, they cannot afford to compromise their reputations by cutting corners. Whenever I hear people banging on about how great it was to have nice little greengrocers and butchers, I hear the voice of someone who is afraid of change; supermarkets have been taking over towns and villages up and down the country for the last fifteen years - this isn't anything new! If anything, Gerrard's Cross has been lucky to escape the attentions of the big chains for so long. If people in Gerrard's Cross don't want supermarkets, then fine - don't have them. But I would like to suggest that in return you also stay in your tiny-minded village and not jump in your cars to use other surrounding supermarkets in nearby towns when it pleases you. Let's see how long before you get bored of the choice of products available to you in your village then.
NO one ever said Supermarkets were "evil" ! and I never said having green grocers & fish mongers were the backbone of anything, although I DID use & support them when they existed ! I was just demonstrating that we've already had a lot of so called "progress" in G.X. and a 4th supermarket wasn't neccesarily the way to go even further along that road. I didn't 'bang on' about how great it was to have those independant stores either and I am NOT afraid of change ! Nor is it "fine" not to have these supermarkets - THAT'S THE POINT - we have no choice ! and objected as a village 92% against Tesco, but we're still getting it, because we were over ridden by Goverment - so please don't be so ignorant as to call us "small minded" nortell me where I can or can not shop !!!
I understand your point. However, I will re-phrase mine.
You claim that 92% of the village is opposed to Tesco - understandable given the construction problems. However, I doubt very much that Tesco would progress with building a store if they truly felt that only 8% of it's catchment were willing to shop there. My point is, no matter how many people shout the word "outrage" at the plans there will still be a queue of hundreds outside the shop on opening day. The same will inevitably be true of the Waitrose shop. Even those living above the proposed new Waitrose will find it difficult not to shop there once it is opened.
It is very easy to throw around accusations of council's behaving inappropriately and rushing plans through without proper consultation whenever a supermarket scheme is concerned. I find it amusing that it always seems a different story when the council is considering a house extention or other domestic planning application. In these cases, they are often instead accused of taking too long! You can't have it both ways!
Oh, and the comment about GX having "4 supermarkets"? How funny! Fishers is no more than a convenience store, without doubt ripe for a national chain acquisition in the near future; the Marks & Spencer Simply Food is not a full size supermarket either. I state once more that the Tesco and Waitrose schemes are not in any way superstores, so I guess GX isn't going to be the new retail metropolis that everyone seems to fear after all. The developers of Westfield London can sleep easily. Maybe the "character" of GX village is safe after all. Phew...
I do not "claim" that 92% of the "village" is opposed to Tesco - a survey of residents was conducted prior to the desicion being given Govt approval - and those results published in this newspaper showed that we were 92% against the development - that is a fact, not a claim. Tesco clearly didn't give a stuff whether we wanted their store or not - because I'm sure you're right, residents will shop there once it finally opens its doors 5yrs late despite the seemingly endless inconvenience in the mean time. Once again you are ignoring the fact that the Waitrose proposal was far more than a supermarket store, it was a massive flat development that would have considerably reduced the quality of living for residents of the exisitng appartments - which is where one of the original contributors 'Sam' was coming from in his objection. I'm sure Fishers would be delighted - NOT - to hear you deride them as nothing more than a "convenience store", how incredibly rude of you to dismiss them so lightly. And as for M & S, given it's a an "M & S Food" branch, no matter what it's size, I fail to see how it can be classed as anything other than a supermarket - perhaps you'd be happier if I refered to it as minimarket instead ? I never called any of the four developments "superstores" I just don't believe our interests would be best served by having 4 x medium sized food shops - is that a more acceptable term to you ? - in such a small village.
At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter what the residents do or don't want anymore does it? It's all about back-handers, brown envelopes, and zaNu Lie-bore's attempt at destroyoing everything English and traditional to expand the Urban sprawl from London. You only have to look at what is left of Burtley Wood to realize that!!
Welcome Waitrose. All the supermarkets in Gerrards Cross should now send their Fruit & Veg waste to a bioprocessing site (smelling of lavender) nearby on a daily basis. The electricity generated should not only run the stores but also the road lights of Gerrards Cross and any excess to local schools.