I HAVE been compelled to flex my letter-writing muscles again, thanks to the reported quote by Cinderford councillor Roger Sterry. He claimed that anyone who opposed and still opposes the legalised theft of a local patch of green land by the world's biggest retailer, owned by a ludicrously rich family from Arkansas in the US is part of a "Co-op mafia".
I take umbrage, in fact I am furious, at being classed as a Co-op supporter for opposing the building of more supermarkets, which will not help and perhaps extinguish the just-beating heart of town centres, small businesses and the independent spirit of the Forest of Dean.
Personally, I am happier shopping at Lidl or the independent bakers, butchers and greengrocers in Cinderford town centre, which seemingly the pro-Asda campaigners don't recognise as shops, as they have repeated the phrase "the Co-op has a monopoly" so many times it seems they believe it.
The irony of them marching up the High Street claiming the whole community was behind them (we weren't) past the many community-run stores likely to be killed off by their patronage of the world's greatest exploiter of workers and producers wasn't lost on me.
The Co-op's ethics in the way it conducts business locally and worldwide can and should be challenged as they are far, far from decent, but it can hardly be argued that their employees (or members) are treated worse than those of Walmart, Asda's owner.
It's shocking to hear Cinderford's Labour mafia (for that is what THEY are) laid out the red carpet for a company world-famous for refusing trade union and other workers' rights to their poorly paid workforce (on average, Asda workers are paid 20 per cent less than other stores). That is, the paid workers, as these extremely rich mega-corporations are thrilled to take advantage of the government's workfare slave-labour programmes, in which people are forced to work for their dole instead of a living wage.
What else is Asda/Walmart famous for aside from ripping off producers across the globe? Creating business deserts.
I'd be very surprised if Asda, Tesco or Sainsbury offer much that isn't already available in the towns they will be decimating.
And let's not forget that the Asda store – following the Co-op's challenge – was rejected because of ineptitude from the council's planning department, not because of any Co-op trickery.
This is the same planning department which ensured the appeal against millionaire property developer Clive Bath's Coleford scheme could only be argued from the narrow parameter of the look of the proposed Tesco rather than the effect it would have on town-centre trade (£20 million sucked out of the local economy annually), its lack of access from the town centre (but easy access from its own car park only), plus highway, pollution and environmental concerns. Unlike Asda bribing the town with supposed "improvements" (like the brightly coloured bike-racks and Triangle millennium design enhanced the town?) Tesco doesn't have to give the town anything, because one man invited them to help him increase his fortune.
I had an online discussion with a failed Tory council candidate who insists "the market" will sort it out so town centre life continues. Unless greengrocers, butchers, bakers and even outlets like the Forest Bookshop and florists could compete on an even playing-field with the immense muscle of the supermarkets, they might be doomed. But it's ok – more hairdressers, beauty salons, takeaways and charity shops will fill the void.
It'll be the butchers', greengrocers', bakers' and bookshop's fault for not diversifying enough to compete with Tesco. Such was the case in Lydney following the advent of that obnoxious and all-powerful entity.
I was also outraged to read the Tesco barrister's tirade against well-meaning and compassionate individuals from the town for daring to stand up against the giant in a David v Goliath battle which – surprise, surprise - Goliath won. I have the utmost respect for the campaigners in trying to protect the Forest – and Coleford's remaining green space - from being invaded by corporations who care nothing about people, the environment and local culture.
Meanwhile, our local politicians of all parties are acting as one: doing nothing but having a personal slanging-match about the disastrous issue of contracting out car parking to a multinational corporation, and paying lip-service to HOOF, the massive popular movement that prevented our Forest from being sold off in 2011 (they're silent now the threat has re-emerged in 2013) while giving our land, heritage and wildlife, Foresters' birthrights, away, to the north of Cinderford and Five Acres.
It's a scandal that a perfectly good college is to be shut and another built on unstable ground pocked with old mine workings, with a gargantuan underground lagoon of high-pressure water that expert surveyors have warned could cause a massive disaster if allowed to seep through. All in the pursuit of developers' profit.
Despite the ease of ordering from supermarkets online, the short distances required to get an Asda, Tesco or Sainsbury fix, these politicians have been building and jumping on a populist bandwagon.
How much of our council tax goes to help the struggling small businesses run by local people, and how much goes on attracting outside investment by companies wholly alien to the Forest and its unique culture?
I have no figures to hand but I would guess the quest to give multinational developers and despoilers the green light to concrete over our beautiful Forest far outweighs in cost and energy that to keep our near-comatose Forest towns alive (all except Newent which remains untouched by any major supermarket and has the fewest boarded-up shop fronts).
Regeneration, they call it, a misnomer to the point of being a blatant falsehood. Any jobs created will be minimal and eventually offset by those lost elsewhere thanks to predator profiteering.
Farewell to the free Forest of Dean and congratulations to all those community-minded people who've cheered for the supermarkets – a few pence cheaper for your pocket, but a disaster for the environment, independent culture, our Forest's economy and people in the long run, from the ripped-off producers to consumers at the end of the food chain. We'll all lose out on the end. Thanks to our politicians and their accomplices, the planners and government – their shortsightedness and cheap political point-scoring will affect us all adversely in the end.
Our local media must also share some of the blame – trumpeting the triumph of Asda and its celebratory concrete tree on a traffic island design, as well as Tesco and Sainsbury (all potential advertisers, with more money to spend than the little shops), rarely representing any alternative viewpoint and certainly giving no coverage to a viable alternative to supermarkets such as the Dean Forest Food Hub, which aims to beat supermarket prices with locals contributing their home-grown produce, a
genuinely positive co-operative effort (unlike the Co-op) which could be a boon and reviver to the dire economic situation, putting production into the local area rather than sucking it out.
– Owen Adams, Ruardean.
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