We’ve received the following email from a chap called Chris Sanders in Hertfordshire, which we publish with his agreement:
Hi,
I was looking at your onlinefocus.org web site the other day about information on the Asda store you have in Rayleigh. Asda are proposing to build an edge of centre store (36,000 sqft) in Ware in Hertfordshire. I am against the proposal since I think it will severely impact the trade in Ware town centre. The store will be situated 500m from the town centre, car parking (290 spaces) will be beneath the store and you will enter it via a travelator which I think will discourage people from going into town.I would like to hear about your experiences with the Asda store. How big is the store? How close to the town? how many parking spaces and employees does it have? Would you say it is a good neighbour? I see that you have reported issues with loss of trade can you elaborate on that and also out of hours deliveries. The proposed store is surrounded by residential properties and we feel this will have a serious impact on our lives especially with out of hour deliveries and traffic congestion.
Kind Regards,
Dr Chris Sanders
Anybody want to leave some comments???
By the way, you can see what Dr Sanders is concerned about here.
I’m surprised no one’s commented here.
Personally speaking, I have had no terrible experiences relating to Asda’s directly although I do know a lot of people are not happy about the delivery lorry situation.
I’ll let others speak that know more about this… but there definitely are concerns.
I think that there is plenty of information on this site about the Asda store and how they operate, posted by people who are more directly affected. It doesn’t really affect me directly, but I was against the development of the Asda store because I did not really see the point of it, given that there are any number of supermarket sites within a short drive of the one in Rawreth Lane, including a much bigger Asda in South Woodham Ferrers no more than 10 minutes away. Seeing as most people who visit a supermarket tend to do so for a weekly shop, most users will be in their cars anyway, so the extra 10 minute drive is no big deal.
I was concerned about the effect on existing local shops. I don’t know if there is any feedback from local shop owners, but from a personal point I will still use the local newsagent and chemist as often as possible. However, for other groceries that you find you need last minute I do use the new Asda rather than cycling or driving to Hullbridge to use their small Budgen store as I used to. I don’t know how many customers have to change their shopping patterns to give some of these smaller businesses a problem.
From comments I’ve seen on chatboards and discussions with friends and colleagues, it appears that it is quite a popular development with people who live in the nearby villages such as Hullbridge and Hockley, where they may not be so well served by local shops. If I was being mischievious, maybe I would suggest that the store should have been built in or nearer to these villages, but I suppose it would not get so much business from the larger population in Rayleigh.
I think the big question for Ware is why have they chosen the “edge of centre” location similar to that chosen in Rayleigh? Most authorities seem to be against commercial developments that detract from the business potential of town centres, so why the sudden enthusiasm for these new stores? As we are finding in Rayleigh, it looks like the “edge of town” will be stretched to accomodate hundreds of new houses, with the Asda development sat in the centre of them.
You should also take note of what “sweeteners” are offered by the developers, and any conditions attached. We were promised some money by one developer that could have been used for installing an improved pedestrian crossing nearby, but it looks like the money was withdrawn because the council failed to use it within a specified time limit.