Deborah Harris, Dean Newton, Jessie Miller, Valentine Davis, George Miller, Masua Willutzki, Bridie Dunbabbin, Carol Dunbabbin, Wendy Unwin and Emily Jones are against another supermarket in Oswestry

Ask the opponents and they will say they are proposals which will destroy small independent traders.

Ask the supporters and they will tell you the plans will safeguard jobs and create hundreds more.

Somehow, in less than two weeks, council planning chiefs will have to pick through the arguments and decide which one of four rival applications to build the latest multi-million pound supermarket in a Shropshire market town should get the go-ahead.

So fierce are the arguments for and against the supermarket that anti-store campaigners were due to bring Oswestry to a halt today, Saturday, March 7 2010, with a march through the town centre.

Shropshire Council has taken the debate out of the council chambers and hired a function room at the Lion Quays Hotel near Oswestry to host the crunch March 18 talks. Interest is so intense that council chiefs decided only a hotel function room would be able to host the large number of applicants and objectors expected to attend.

Shropshire Council bosses know the strength of feeling on both sides of the supermarket argument and therefore have been doing all they can to ensure fair play during the upcoming debate, which has been at the forefront of the minds of applicants and objectors for more than two years.

It was back in February 2008 that the first proposal was revealed – an ambitious £56 million bid to create up to 1,000 new jobs by revamping the site of the town’s livestock market. Included in the bid are a supermarket, multiplex cinema, restaurants and shops. Very soon rival bids were tabled.

Timber firm Richard Burbidge Ltd threw its hat into the ring with plans to relocate from its current Whittington Road site and build a Tesco supermarket and cinema.

Then car dealer JT Hughes and guttering firm Guttercrest announced proposals to relocate and build a supermarket on their sites at Victoria Road.

And to make it a four-way race, Oswestry firm J Ross Developments said it wanted to build a store on Central Car Park in the middle of the town.

Councillors will have to figure out on March 18 what is the best option for Oswestry, stressing that only one can get the go-ahead. But that’s one too many for some, who have grown increasingly worried about the impact a new store will have on a town which is already served by a Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, Aldi, and Marks & Spencer Food Store.

A coalition of groups including Oswestry 21, the Campaign to Protect Rural England, Oswestry Civic Society and Oswestry Chamber of Trade has voiced opposition to any new store.

The coalition organised today’s protest march, along with the mailing of 7,500 leaflets to Oswestry homes outlining why the store should be opposed by the public.

Mark Evans from the coalition says: “Most people are convinced that another big superstore will spell the end for the town centre. There is widespread support for a cinema, but many people want this to be a state-of-the-art and well-run digital cinema that isn’t subsidised by a supermarket for a limited number of years.

“Shoppers from Wrexham or Shrewsbury said that they regularly came to Oswestry because of the bustling town centre, local shops and Saturday market.”

The coalition produces figures to back up its arguments and claims it has the public’s support – but so do the applicants.

Feedback

Speaking on J Ross Developments’ Central Car Park plans, Spencer Cooper says: “The people of Oswestry, as well as a number of important local groups, have told us what they want. We have responded, submitting a proposal which has been revised in line with feedback given at our public consultation in April 2009 – lowering the heights of the buildings, enhancing the designs and improving pedestrian links with the rest of the town centre.”

Richard Burbidge’s planning consultants have given similar arguments and dangled a further carrot – the promise of jobs being safeguarded.

Consultant Peter Vernon says the firm has been “frustrated by the lack of available employment land in Oswestry and potential future employment land” adding its proposed new site, the whereabouts it has not yet confirmed, is big enough to accommodate all the existing Oswestry operations and facilities.

Simon Hoare, for the development partners behind the revamp of Oswestry livestock market, believes concerns about the loss of business to town centre shops would be addressed through a free shuttle bus service for shoppers while the bid would also safeguard the future of the cattle market itself.

Bosses at JT Hughes and Guttercrest said not only would their plans secure the futures of their businesses, it would create hundreds of jobs and through the building of a new roundabout even rid the town of an accident blackspot at the Salop Road/Victoria Road junction.

The arguments for and against the new store are complex and convincing.

One man who doesn’t not envy the councillors who will have to make a final decision is North Shropshire MP Owen Paterson.

“It is a difficult decision,” Mr Paterson says with more than a hint of understatement. “I have deliberately kept out of the issue because I firmly believe this is a local planning issue. It is one for the local council and those who are elected.

“It will be difficult and although there is four applicants there are really five arguments – the four bids themselves plus the objectors who don¹t want a new store at all. What I would say is that, bearing in mind the length of time involved in all of this, I hope a definitive decision is made soon. This uncertainty is very bad for businesses in Oswestry.”

The Rival Plans

Oswestry livestock market site, Shrewsbury Road.

Developers Liberty Mercian Ltd, in partnership with Oswestry Town Council and Oswestry Cattle Auction, proposes to create up to 1,000 jobs by revamping the huge site and building a state of the art multiplex cinema, supermarket, restaurants, shops and an office village. The cattle market will be downsized but protected for the future and a free shuttle bus will be introduced to the town centre.

Richard Burbidge site, Whittington Road

The firm plans to build a Tesco supermarket, filling station, restaurants and Reel cinema on its current site and relocate its operations within the Oswestry area.The food store would employ 230 people, the five-screen multiplex cinema would create about 55 jobs and the restaurants would bring 30 jobs. Two bays in the listed Cambrian Works railway building next door to Burbidge will be developed for community and leisure use, bringing 30 jobs.

JT Hughes and Guttercrest site, Victoria Road

John Hughes, of car dealership JT Hughes, and Gary Power, managing director of guttering firm Guttercrest, propose to create hundreds of jobs through a 40,000 square foot food-only supermarket on their current Victoria Road site. The firms plan to relocate to other locations in the town, giving them the chance to expand and create further employment. Road improvements are are also planned for Oswestry in the bid.

Central Car Park, Oswestry town centre

Oswestry firm J Ross Developments is planning a mid-sized supermarket with caf, an increase in the number of spaces on the Central Car Park, as well as a new long stay car park on Middleton Road. Plans also includes the provision of additional shops on English Walls and investment in the town centre road network to increase safety and capacity. There is also a 170-seat digital cinema with flexible space provided, enabling live events to be staged.