Blog: Can a huge out-of-town supermarket actually help a high street?

Blog: Can a huge out-of-town supermarket actually help a high street?

That was the claim put forward in Newport recently, where plans are afoot to build around 1,000 homes on three predominantly greenfield sites, as well as a 50,000 square foot supermarket.

Although it could take up to 15 years for all of the developments to come to fruition, the plans for a supermarket – which would be one and a half times the size of Sainsbury’s in Telford – will be submitted this year, and they have got many people worried.

Wrekin MP Mark Pritchard said this week that the proposals for developing the town are “disproportionate and unsustainable”, accusing the council of setting out to “concrete over Newport’s outlying greenfield sites”.

But Martin Robeson, a London-based retail expert, claims the supermarket could help the high street, not kill it.

Mr Robeson has been hired by Telford & Wrekin Council, St Modwen and Davidsons Developments to prove their case for a supermarket.

It is a key part of their plans to build 600 homes, a retirement village and employment land on green fields off Station Road and Avenue Road, on the outskirts of the town.

Last week Mr Robeson he told a meeting between Newport Town Council and the developers that, according to a study,  65 per cent of people did their main weekly shop outside Newport.

Mr Robeson said a new supermarket – one similar in size to giant supermarkets in Telford and Stafford – would keep people in the area.

“If we can keep people in Newport, they are more likely to look locally for other things,” he said.

But what “other things” will they be looking for? What else could they need to buy?

Visit Tesco in Telford and you will find a large electricals section offering TVs, DVDs, radios, iPods, etc. You can also buy DVDs, CDs, headphones, telephones etc etc etc.

Need clothing? They’ve got that covered, too, with a large section offering outfits for all the family.

Downstairs there is a bakery, fruit and vegetables, kitchenware, crockery, kitchen aids, toasters, ironing boards, bins, washing lines, blenders etc etc etc.

They also have magazines, newspapers, and books (often on sale at well below the published price).

Oh, and they also do food.

Which brings me back to the point I made earlier:  how, exactly, does a huge superstore outside the town help the high street?

Tesco’s Telford store is on the outskirts of Wellington. The town also has a Morrison’s and an Aldi, so why not pay a visit this weekend to see how they have ‘helped’ the high street.

It’s a similar story across Shropshire. Small towns with enormous superstores on the outskirts and centres filled with hairdressers, insurance brokers, charity shops and  precious little else.

I was in Stoke on Trent the other week. They have a massive Sainsbury’s in the heart of town. It’s very busy, but it doesn’t seem to have benefitted the town centre much.

Yes, there were plenty of people about – but most of them were walking past the shops while laden with Sainsbury’s carrier bags.

So, sixty five per cent of people don’t shop in Newport.

It’s also true that most people who live in Newport don’t work in Newport. They travel to Telford and Stafford, or further afield. Presumably many of them do a weekly shop on their way home.

And if the supermarket does get the go-ahead, those people still won’t shop in Newport – they’ll just shop in the supermarket.

By Andrew Owen