CALL IT WHAT YOU LIKE COUNCILLOR, IT'S STILL A THREAT TO OUR TOWN!

Whether from oversight or design, there has emerged a serious problem between Tameside Planners, local Hattersley & Mottram residents and their local ward councillors.

One may also find it somewhat ironic that also in the mix are last year’s winner of the PRIDE OF HYDE Business of the Year Award - Peak Valley Housing Association; who picked up the trophy for making a positive contribution in the local community, has now put forth plans that may endanger the livelihoods of many of Hyde’s traders.

This follows what passed as a Speakers Panel planning meeting in which Peak Valley Housing Association had proposed plans to build what they call a ‘District Centre’ when in reality the proposition as presented is for an out-of-town Retail Park. – Almost a mirror image of Crown Point North and The Snipe Retail Park.

This is taken from Peak Valley’s proposal for what they call a ‘District Centre’

It looks a lot like The Snipe Retail Park to me!

A Retail Park: (noun) a shopping area on the edge of a town or city, where there are several large National Retail stores and Branded outlets and parking for hundreds of vehicles.

For those who don’t know or refuse to acknowledge the difference

A District Centre: a prominent shopping parade or precinct, consisting of a variety of plots, suitable for a variety of local community uses located within a residential area, and close to local transport links.

The retail units typically offer: Doctors, Dentists, Chemists, Hairdressers, A Bank or Post Office, Veterinary Practice, Funeral Directors, Florists, Community Shop, CAB offices, a Solicitors, Confectioners Newsagents etc’ – all anchored by an appropriately sized food outlet.

Now your first thoughts might be another out-of-town Retail Park anchored by either a Lidl or Aldi and populated by 14-units containing National Retailers and parking for over 250 vehicles to be a good thing, but not if you care for the struggling businesses in Hyde’s Town Centre and all the independent shopkeepers who will probably close, making hundreds of local people redundant!

You only need witness the antics of certain councillors at these public meetings to confirm that image of local councillors as perfect mirrors of community opinion is one which leaves much to be desired.

There was also good reason to suspect that councillors frequently take little notice of community groups. 

As reported in readers letters, during the recent planning committee meeting, councillors made derogatory statements about community opinion for which they had little evidence and disregarded community views on planning policy. In fact, one councillor was reported to have claimed that, only about 95% of the 280+ representations received were genuine (the first batch sent in reportedly being lost!) and suggested that many had been coerced by the community group!

Similarly it appears that some councillors' respect for local opinion is as questionable their concern for planning policy and enforcement.

To illustrate my point, 5 years ago, Tameside Council commissioned an update of the Tameside Retail Study.

The SWOT analysis of Hyde Town Centre was as follows:

Strengths • Strong convenience destination • Anchored by the Asda and Morrisons stores • Fairly strong comparison goods offer • Fairly strong retail service provision • Fairly strong financial and business service provision • Improving retailer ranking • Good accessibility • Good environmental quality • Indoor market

Weaknesses • Weak leisure services offer • High proportion of vacancies • Declining retailer requirements • Increasing yields • Limited evening economy • Lack of a commercial leisure operator • Poor comparison clothing offer

Opportunities • Attract a commercial leisure operator to help improve evening economy • Greater promotion of the centre • Diversification of the retail offer • Reinvestment in the shopping core • Improve pedestrian environment of market • Improve pedestrian links to train station

Threats • Limited opportunities for expansion • Improvement at other competing centres such as Ashton-under-Lyne and Crown Point North • Continued growth of online shopping • Downturn of economy may lead to increased vacancies in the town centre • Over dominance of Asda and Morrisons stores resulting in a lack of independent convenience providers.

So, having accepted this report, let’s look at what they have done during the last 5 years to turn Hyde’s fortunes’ around.

For instance, the report identified the lack of attractions to energise the ‘evening economy. Has the council opened the way for a Cinema Group? Bingo Hall? Bowling Ally? Or any other evening activities? - No!

It also clearly identified Crown Point North as being a major reason for the decline in existing outlets and the lack of investment from new businesses.

So, what do they do? 

They not only demolish the main shopping car park, they then destroy the outdoor market, at a cost of £1.3million, but allow a giant TESCO Extra to be built outside the town and now pass plans for yet another out-of-town Retail Park to further drain away Hyde’s lifeblood!

Typically retail parks host a range of nationally recognised chain stores, including furniture, clothes or footwear superstores, electrical stores, carpet and others - and the anchor tenant is usually a supermarket. Owing to their out-of-town sites, abundance of free parking and proximity to major roads, retail parks are often easier to reach than central shopping areas, and as a result town centres are less attractive to retailers, and future investment.

Currently in Hyde, there are a total of 359 car parking spaces to service visitors and shoppers to the entire town; - and they are chargeable!  

In this out-of-town development there will be 250 'free' vehicle spaces!

It's not news to our councillors that many British town centres can no longer compete with Retail Parks as functional shopping spaces. Presumably that’s why Tameside Council initiated and gave financial support to create ‘Town Teams’ whose firm objective is to regenerate the town centre, ostensibly by cementing investment and stopping the leakage of shoppers to these out of town retail parks?

So, which is it?

Do these councillors and planners wish to save or wipe out Tameside’s traditional towns?

Because on the one hand they tell us the town is dear to them when vying for our votes, whilst all the time they appear to doing everything in their power to make Hyde and the rest, a collection of empty ghost towns!

If any of our councillors who read this blog would like to tell us, just what is 'the plan' to revive Hyde, then please feel free to use my comments facility.

Just to remind you of the local community’s objections to the proposed plan, in essence the main disadvantages of an out-of-town shopping centre is that it will:

         Create more traffic, especially at weekends and bank holidays

         Town centres lose trade because people go to the out-of-town shopping centres.

         It’s harder for smaller shops and independent stores to be successful.

      May not be as accessible to some members of the community, eg the elderly.

However,should they revise the plan to construct a proper ‘District Centre’ for the people of Hattersley, Mottram and the near vicinities of Broadbottom, and Hollingworth, with suitably sized units to house Doctors, Dentists, Chemists, Hairdressers, a Bank, Veterinary Practice, Funeral Directors, Florists, Community Shop, CAB offices, a Solicitors, Confectioners Newsagents etc’ – all anchored by an appropriately sized food outlet, you will probably get unanimous approval!

The ball's in your court...