MALTON and surrounding villages cannot survive on gourmet food alone – at least not whilst populated mainly by we ordinary folk.

Few of us are in the wealth bracket which allows us to think only about the quality of food and drink we consume with no regard for how we clean our houses, feed our pets, clothe ourselves and our children, entertain ourselves etc. For many, wheeling a trolley from checkout to boot is convenient; for some it is vital as carrying shopping bags can be difficult if not impossible.

Clearly there are benefits to both the Fitzwilliam Malton Estate and the Fitzwilliam Trust Corporation of stopping a supermarket in Wentworth Street.

Who else has land for a new supermarket or even superstore in the correct sense of the word on the outskirts of Malton?

Other than Morrisons, and perhaps Lidl, none of the others has sufficient floor space to be useful to many needing a full week’s shop. Sainsbury’s is so small it is officially classed as a small local shop, hence it being able to open from 7am to 10pm on Sundays.

Surely far more detrimental to the existing town centre small traders would be a supermarket (or even a “food hall”) next to the proposed new livestock market sited at Eden Camp, which really is edge-of-town.

Malton needs to protect as much free parking as possible and a supermarket on Wentworth Street, together with its free car parking, is at least independent of Fitzwilliam Malton Estates. This project would also enable a part of Wentworth Street to be kept as car parking run by a local authority.

Current parking needs in Wentworth Street will diminish once the livestock market is forced out of town – already it is an eye-sore and so under-used it does not justify the cost to the taxpayer of its maintenance.

Leave the majority of car parking provision to Fitzwilliam and how long before charges soar? Bit by bit car parking spaces are disappearing in the market place and the loss of the free parking on the livestock market site is going to be sorely missed by many. Wentworth Street is central to most of Malton’s housing, especially with more than 250 new homes now being built at Broughton Manor; at least 500 planned for fields between Castle Howard Drive and the bypass; about 350 hoped for as part of the overall new livestock market project.

Are the occupants of all these homes, together with existing properties, expected to use Butcher Corner to reach a supermarket?

If no supermarket, what else might happen to Wentworth Street car park? Yet more housing? Were it to be used for the community, eg as a school or a doctors’ surgery, then car parking for shoppers would disappear. Even worse, what if Ryedale District Council disappeared and another authority took over ownership of assets like Wentworth Street car park?

Malton is privileged to attract a store such as Booths – but to benefit the majority, this should be in addition to a new supermarket.

Turning Malton into not much else but a gastronomical playground for the rich and privileged benefits only a few.

A supermarket in Wentworth Street and sale of the land benefits at least some of Ryedale’s taxpayers instead of expecting all of us to maintain a white elephant.

Those who favour the Wentworth Street supermarket know others with the same view, but few express them publicly. A new petrol station is also very welcome to many, to provide not just competition, but also much-needed forecourt space if the vehicle owners of all those new homes are to buy their fuel in Malton.

Gill Woodhead, Malton

 

• DEMOCRACY: of, by, and for people. Vested power promoting personal opinions; through choice; through votes. And, in this country, evolved and established by particular systems of national and local government. Hard won. Precious. Not to be tampered with. Within the system are ideas that become policies, discussed, debated, sometimes rejected, sometimes democratically supported by a majority to become, at national level, enshrined in statutory law; at local level, to be democratically and lawfully enacted and implemented.

I mention all this because on these pages last week it became apparent that democracy as they see it, either working, not working, or hopefully going to work for them, assumed great importance for several letter writers. Good to see. They should, and probably will be, well aware that something so hard won must be treated with respect; not be something to try to distort or undermine. As in most things, there are rules, boundaries – ethics. Corruption and coercion do not belong in the democratic process: debate, argument, persuasion do.

Trying to be objective, it appeared to me that their stated case on Wentworth Street car park had probably run its course to reach the point of democratic decision, for at least a couple of the writers. Another, again on Wentworth Street, seemed to think his cause had been overlooked or downplayed, and probably had a point. While a fourth sought out-and-out support for a cause he was initiating and wished to project to persuade: the effect, he felt, the 500-home development on Castle Howard Road would have on nearby residents.

While entirely separate issues for Ryedale District Council to decide, the two do have common ground: the 500 homes, together with three other projects for Malton, involving a total of a further 300 homes, and probably plans for several other developments only a few months away, could mean the combined population of the Maltons and Norton may well rise to approaching 20,000 within the next five or six years.

So schools, infrastructure, increased traffic, and provision of public and private services will become a big issue. Who’s to foot the bill? All those involved in these developments will have to account for many thousands in their budgeting, to help deliver both the educational and other facilities, and travelling conditions, to accommodate these numbers.

But, inevitably, substantial amounts will be expected to be extracted from the public purse – the local tax-payer. The district tax-payer. I said in a previous letter that Section 123 of the Local Government Act 1972 enshrines the statutory duty on local authorities to achieve best value in land disposals. In the case of Wentworth Street, clinching the sale would, I believe, boost the council’s finances by £5m – a figure which would help to offset local authorities’ costs in helping to establish the new private developments in and around Malton. And again, a burgeoning population, some, with limited incomes, and living with young surely l Letters continued on page 21 would help to offset local authorities’ costs in helping to establish the new private developments in and around Malton.

And again, a burgeoning population, some, with limited incomes, and living with young families in affordable housing, will surely create a demand for wide choice, affordable shopping. The democratic process, with a little pragmatism, a little compromise, a little ingenuity can be, and should be, beneficial to everyone.

Edward Raine, East Heslerton

 

•  If we must have another supermarket in Malton and Norton, then like others in these pages have said, please let it be a Booths store in the centre of town rather than a national firm on the outskirts. This would create jobs for people living in the town, which they wouldn’t have to commute to, if they lived within walking distance.

Walking around Malton and Norton, as someone who doesn’t drive, it strikes me that there must be plenty of properties above shops in the towns which could be used as living space. If these were opened up there would be less need to build more houses on the green belt between Castle Howard Road and Middlecave Road.

We should make use of the space we already have rather than expanding. Isn’t it much nicer too live in a flat above a shop where you can walk into town rather than on an estate where you have to drive?

Peter Donnelly, Malton