I AM writing in response to the bullet points in the leaflet recently circulated by GMI Holbeck regarding the development of Wentworth Street car park, in Malton.

Will the proposed store improve competition? No. Malton/Norton already has four supermarkets, including an Asda, Sainsburys, Morrisons and Lidl. The towns have a population of about 13,000, and they do not need another superstore.

Will the proposed store give people a further reason to shop in Malton?

No. It is little more than a standard Tesco-type store, which shoppers can find anywhere, and will have very poor access. No intersection between the A64 and Broughton Road is planned.

Will the proposed store increase the proportion of Ryedale residents who shop locally? No. Sixty-eight per cent of Ryedale residents shop locally already. The rest live nearer York, Thirsk, Scarborough and Beverley than they do to Malton and shop in these towns and other towns. These towns have their own superstores, which are more easily accessible than Wentworth Street car park.

Will there be 90 more car parking spaces? That depends on how the developers re-arrange the existing car park - something the council could do anyway.

Will the proposed store create 200 more jobs? If they say so.

Unfortunately, superstores destroy more jobs than they create, so there will be a net loss.

Will a new petrol station boost local competition? No. Superstore petrol stations tend to undercut the local competition and close down their competitors. Then they put their prices up.

Will the proposed store regenerate a key site and improve pedestrian access to the town centre? No. The car park area is not derelict and does not need regeneration. Vehicle access is via Pasture Lane, and the main entrance to the food store will face onto the car park and away from the town – just as Morrisons does, so shoppers will not be encouraged to visit the town centre.

Will the proposed superstore reduce the need for shoppers to travel to York or Scarborough? No.

Scarborough and York are subregional centres, which have a more varied offer than district centres like Malton, Pickering and Thirsk.

A new standard Tesco-type store in Malton will make no difference to this.

Will the new superstore save shoppers travelling about two million miles a year? No, for the reason stated in the last paragraph.

Will the £5m paid for the property be used for the benefit of the whole district? This depends on the council.

This is a nasty way to appeal to unscrupulous councillors, and encourage them to sacrifice Malton jobs and businesses for the narrow interests of their own wards.

Councillor Paul Andrews, Malton

 

•THE leader of Ryedale District Council, Conservative Councillor Linda Cowling, last week had a severe loss of memory over a statement of hers that has become quite an internet sensation, even after nearly more than three years.

Google “Moaning minnies in Malton” and you will find Coun Cowling features in two of the results on the first page of about 85,300 results, as Google informs us.

I was interested in this because at full council meeting last Thursday, March 6, during the discussion of a motion regarding decision-making on the fate of the Wentworth Street car park, Coun Cowling stood up and coolly claimed to all that she was not the author of these words, indeed that it “must have been someone else”.

The quote, repeated in other newspapers, and the subject of understandably angry correspondence in the press subsequently, was made directly by her in an article in the Gazette & Herald’s sister paper, The Press, on November 10, 2010.

Under the heading and subtitle: “Sale would fund wishlists, Linda Cowling, Conservative district councillor for Pickering West, adds her voice to the debate on the proposed sale of Wentworth Street car park”, in her own words she berates the residents of Malton in more ways than one, and – yes you guessed it – says things will go her way “...if the moaning minnies in Malton are not successful in stopping this exciting development going ahead”. Just in case we were feeling bad about ourselves, there is more - in this article she goes on to say, “there is life outside Malton you know, the rest of Ryedale does exist and much of it is heartily sick of hearing Malton moaning”.

Lest we forget, (as Coun Cowling clearly may have) Malton and Norton represent 25 per cent of the population of Ryedale, and a planning decision more critical to our two towns than at any time for decades is now in the hands of the ten strong, Conservative-heavy planning committee, doubtless fully briefed by the fearless council leader, Coun Cowling. And how many councillors on that committee represent our towns? Just one.

That’s democracy for you.

Fiona Croft, Old Malton

 

• ON page 9 of the Gazette & Herald of March 5, was featured an invitation from the Wentworth Project for readers to “have their say”, but only, it seems, if they want a new food store in Malton.

If we support their planning application, we should let the council know, but if we do not support it, they are not interested.

As I and others have said before, we do not need another supermarket in the town, or another petrol station or car park. Not only would small independent businesses suffer as a result of such a development, but also so would the existing supermarkets, car parks and petrol stations.

I would encourage more people to walk to the shops if they live close by enough, to reduce traffic and petrol consumption.

Peter Donnelly, Malton

 

• WHEN Ryedale councillors have been told by the public (their voters at an election) and by an impartial government inspector that Wentworth Street car park is the wrong site for a superstore why do they continue to press for planning permission? Why is it so impossible for them to learn from the past?

Malton does not need another superstore.

Clarissa Collin, Pockley

 

•WE feel the sale of Wentworth Street car park to provide another supermarket will kill Malton as an individual, historic market town.

People will not stop travelling to York or Scarborough unless there is a moat around us and people will not travel to Malton because we have another supermarket. They travel here because we have a unique group of individual shops, some now run by the younger generation who have had the insight to start trading here, and the success of our monthly food market all need our support.

A Tesco will not do this and our councillors who support a Tesco should go and live the other side of the moat, as most do already.

Derek Fox, Gloria Fox, Shaun Fox, Melanie Wright of Fox Butchers, Malton