Waitrose has destroyed Wimborne Town Green destroyed by Waitrose Wimborne waitrose dorset

KeepWimborneTownGreen Links:

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Wimborne Planner's Statement
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Three Ode's to Wimborne
Bye Bye High Street

NOTE: This Petition was closed at 12:00am on 19th March 2010 for submission of 409 signatures to Dorset County Council. Additional signatures and comments may still be made.

Friends of Coatham Common
Congratulations - after 6 years of struggle against a hellbent and belligerent council, the people and common sense have won at last! Redcar & Cleveland Council's 'botched' housing development that has cost the tax payer around £4m is dead. The Supreme Court ruled that the common is now a protected village green and the fences are being taken down! It can be done!
We recommend you watch the VIDEO

Related Documents: (pdf)

Responses to Petition (to date)
Several Opinion Surveys
Town Green Application
Wimborne Conservation Area
Environmental Impact Assessment
Waitrose Planning Agreement (106)
River Stour Flood Planning

Rivers on the Edge Video:

(Click for full screen)

Watch this Video - and as you watch it, think about the 8 councillors who supported the supermarket application, think about the loss of our green space, think about Waitrose and the John Lewis Partnership, their dividends and their pretensions to being 'green'.

We Need Your Help

July 2011

You will recall that Waitrose began to build its supermarket on 'Hanham's Ground' Wimborne, in September 2009 some 3 weeks after the Dorset County Council had accepted an Application for the site to be registered as a Town Green. The company was aware that in the event that the Application was successful, it would have to restore the site to its original condition; this was a risk that it decided to accept. These Applications are not processed swiftly hence it was on 29 November last year that the DCC decided upon the form of Public Inquiry that would consider this matter and that the Inquiry would take place 'towards the end of this year'. We are therefore now planning how best to participate.

We judge that it would be greatly to our advantage if we could show the state of opinion within the town of Wimborne Minster now, given that the store has been trading for a year and that its Manager has made strenuous efforts to ingratiate the store within the community. If a majority of the townsfolk now accept the development we are lost, but if a significant number continue to be affronted by the development then we may, just may, achieve registration - if we can provide a sufficient number of convincing witnesses of the use of Hanham's Ground during the past 20 years.

Please Help KWTG Fund a Ballot

All donations towards the costs of the Electoral Reform Society carrying out a Postal Ballot would be most gratefully received. You can donate even if you do not have a PayPal account.

We further judge that any measurement of opinion needs to be conducted by an independent organisation hence we have tasked 'Electoral Reform Services' to conduct a postal ballot of the 3425 addresses on the Wimborne Minster Electoral Role. This will cost £2689.00, whilst we have some funds, we do not have sufficient.

So ... we should be most grateful to receive, indeed we need, donations to finance this project which could have such far reaching consequences. So please help by contributing a sum, however small, via the PayPal account on the right.

Finally, if you would be prepared to assert at the Public Inquiry that the Cricket Ground was used 'without let or hindrance' and so should be registered as a Town Green, we should be delighted to hear from you.

Philip Atlay

Roads and Rights of Way Committee - 29 November 2010

Hanhams Ground Before Its Destruction by Waitrose

In response to the Town Green Application, and the submissions of support and objection, the Legal and Democratic Services Department of Dorset County Council revealed their conclusion that a 'Non-Statutory Public Inquiry' should be held to consider the Application. The exact form of the Inquiry was to be decided by the Roads and Rights of Way Committee, at their meeting on 29 November 2010.

At the beginning of that meeting, KWTG supporters made the following points to the Committee:

To prevent any potential conflict of interest, we request that any decisions made today should not be influenced in any way by any member of this committee who has previously been involved with East Dorset District Council's planning committee.
We endorse the recommendation by your Legal and Democratic Services Department that a public inquiry be held into this application. To avoid potential future accusations of bias or undue influence, we would prefer that the inquiry should be carried out using the services of a professional Inspector or Barrister.
The TG Application was duly made prior to any development on the land, and therefore the current status of the land must not be allowed to influence the Inquiry. Nor should the threat of any possible subsequent judicial review or its associated costs, be allowed to stand in the way of a fair and democratic decision.
This committee should recognise the strong feelings that have been expressed by a majority of local residents. Between 2004 and 2008, some six surveys of public opinion were held in Wimborne, and in each case, a clear 2 to 1 majority were against any development on Hanham's Ground.
Waitrose, who will oppose the Application, have the advantage of being able to afford expensive legal counsel and costs are not an issue to them. Those who support the application are just ordinary locals who are horrified at what has been done to their town. All I ask is that the members of the Roads and Rights of Way Committee remember that they are the democratic representatives of the electorate and residents of Dorset, who have a right to expect them to act fairly on their behalf, in the face of corporate greed. Waitrose's counsel must not be allowed to intimidate or browbeat witnesses who support this application.

Despite these urgings, KWTG and supporters were very unhappy about the subsequent conduct of the meeting and we have written to the Chairman to object as follows:

"We refer to the meeting Chaired by Tim Munro in Committee Room 1 at County Hall and would be grateful if you would convey to him my complaints about the conduct of the meeting as follows:

The stated purpose of the meeting was to decide upon the form of the Public Inquiry, a point which the Chairman did mention at the start of the proceedings. Apart from Mr Atlay and myself, all the other members of the public who spoke, were allowed to attack the Town Green Application itself. Not only was this topic not up for discussion, but the Chairman did not attempt to bring them to order. Furthermore, several speakers were allowed to speak for considerably longer than their allotted time. By comparison, I had refrained from organising the many supporters of the Application to attend 'en masse' precisely because Agenda Item 21 was never intended to discuss the pro's and con's of the Application.
Robin Cook chose to spend most of his time attempting to rubbish our Petition in support of the TG Application. He did so by highlighting one or two signatories who are not located in the UK. Having read our Petition, you will appreciate that the very nature of an online petition is that it is global. We had made it our deliberate policy not to edit the results of the Petition in any way. You will also know that the vast majority of the signatories are based in Dorset. Robin Cook's comments should therefore be disregarded.

We note that the meeting decided to appoint a panel of three members who would hold the Public Inquiry. Towards the end of the session on Item 21, We distinctly heard the view expressed by more than one member of the Roads and Rights of Way Committee that the Application, "does not stand a cat in hell's chance of succeeding". You will be aware that expressing or concurring with such a point of view would immediately exclude those members from participation in the Inquiry, as their views would be prejudicial to its conduct. As supporters of the Application, we have a right to expect that the three members of the Inquiry Panel be completely impartial and make their conclusions on the basis of the evidence presented at the said Inquiry. It may be the case that the Roads and Rights of Way Committee are unable to find three such persons from within their number, in which case their only option will be to appoint an external Inspector."

Please Support KWTG

KWTG has been fighting the Cricket Ground supermarket development that so defaces our town, since June 2004. They are so grateful for the donations that have already been made by generous supporters but costs have now far outstripped income due largely to the fees for legal opinions when they sought to have the Planning Permission revoked by means of Judicial Review. They anticipate further costs as they pursue the Town Green application so any donation now would be most gratefully received.

Waitrose Deception!

The Ringwood Effect!

Several people have commented on the 'beneficial effect' that a Waitrose store has had on the nearby Hampshire town of Ringwood. It's certainly not been very beneficial for the many shops that have closed down as a result, with swathes of 'For Sale' shop units, not to mention many charity shops, occupying otherwise empty shop units.

Waitrose's Heston Blumenthal and Delia Smith ads banned

The advertising watchdog has banned Waitrose's multimillion-pound ad campaign starring chefs Heston Blumenthal and Delia Smith, upholding complaints that they misled viewers. Waitrose's campaign, which the retailer unveiled with much fanfare in March as 'a dream alliance set to be the envy of the food retail world', includes two TV commercials and a press ad.
View Full Guardian Article >>
View Full Daily Mail Article >>

The Wimborne Informer
Readers may be amused to read this unofficial Wimborne magazine, poking fun at the great and the good alike. - Download HERE >>

Is the Waitrose Store Bigger than Permitted?
Many people have commented on how much larger the new store seems to be than was indicated in the public presentation and the 'artists impressions'. On 26 April, we wrote to the Head of Planning and Building Control at East Dorset District Council to complain that the size and scale of the new Waitrose store currently under construction at Rowland's Hill appears to be considerably larger in height and extent to that which was presented to the public presentation, and as originally proposed and approved at the Planning Committee meeting on 23 February 2009.

Referring to the artist's impression (right) we noted that the roofline of the store lies beneath the tree line of Colehill in the background, from this perspective. Furthermore, the store appears to occupy a fairly minor proportion of the Cricket Field.

EDDC Planning Department have responded by launching an investigation by their Planning Enforcement Team. If they find that the agreed dimensions of the development have been exceeded, we fully expect that an ENFORCEMENT order be served on Waitrose.

How Supermarkets Destroy Jobs:
Waitrose and other supermarkets are never slow to emphasise how many 'new' jobs their proposed stores will create. In the case of the Wimborne store, Waitrose are boasting that they received over 850 applications for 200 positions. But are they local employees, are they 'new' jobs and what about the jobs that they are destroying? READ MORE

Signs, Banners & Posters:
At the East Dorset Distict Council Planning Committee on 27th April, to consider an application by Waitrose to erect up to 45 signs in the Waitrose Wimborne site, some of them illuminated, both John Baxendale and Philip Atlay spoke passionately against the application. Despite their objections, the plans were accepted by a majority vote. Councillor Peter Holden was the only member to object to this application in a Conservation Area.

Background:

'Hanham's Ground is two hectares of open green land used as a cricket field since 1793, adjacent to the River Allen, and close to the centre of the historic Dorset Minster Town of Wimborne. For several years, Waitrose have been trying to acquire the site in order to build a Waitrose supermarket.

Despite strong local opposition demonstrated by several Wimborne petitions, East Dorset District Council (EDDC) perversely granted planning permission in February 2009 and construction on the site commenced during January 2010.

The land is adjacent to the River Allen, a chalk stream and Biodiversity Action Plan Habitat, home to otters, the threatened white-clawed crayfish, water voles, freshwater fish, wildfowl and other wildlife. There are grounds for believing that measures taken by the developer are inadequate to protect the water from harmful pollution. A significant proportion of the development site lies within a flood plain.

Hanham's Ground lies within a Conservation Area and the developer has failed to demonstrate that the supermarket will harmonize with existing town centre buildings, in accordance with the district council's own Planning Guidance. The change of use from an open green playing field to a supermarket and two-level car park, will irreversibly damage the character of the town centre.

The site lies close to a busy Wimborne road that is already congested at peak times. The provision of an additional 215 parking spaces is estimated to increase traffic by 2000 vehicles per day.

What Can We Do?

All is not quite lost - yet!

Philip Atlay, chairman of 'Keep Wimborne Town Green' had the foresight to register Hanham's Ground as a Town or Village Green with Dorset County Council, on 24th September 2009. Disgracefully, DCC notified Waitrose of the Application on 2 October 2009 yet did not publish the Application until 5th February 2010, a delay of 19 weeks. We have complained to the Local Government Ombudsman about this delay, which has allowed the developer time to commence construction.

We therefore only had two weeks in which to organise this web site and an Online Petition. Even in this short space of time, we managed to collect 409 electronic signatures and to deliver them by hand to County Hall before the deadline. On the other hand, Waitrose's expensive QC had over 24 weeks in which to put together an objection to the Town Green Application - how grossly unfair! It now remains for us to be vigilent and ensure that the Application is adjudicated openly and fairly, without any vested interests and without the fact of Waitrose having chosen to proceed with their building work, having any bearing on the decision-making process.

Can it really be Stopped?

Is it really possible that Waitrose might be forced to stop all development on the Town Green and have to remove all steelwork, concrete and other installations, fully restoring the Green? Well, yes, of course it could! Waitrose were notified of the Town Green Application by Dorset County Council on 2 October 2009 BEFORE any construction started on the site. They are therefore proceeding with construction at their own risk, and with the knowledge that they may be required by law to reinstate the land to its former state. They are clearly attempting to complete the actual construction before the Town Green Application is decided, clearly in order to predjudice the Application. The cost implications of this possibility, not to mention the 200 new employees who will be out of a job, are a risk that is borne entirely by Waitrose.

We are advised by DEFRA that, "The fact that the land in question is subject to an application to register it as a Green does not, in itself, prevent it from being developed. However, in DEFRA's view, if the land is subsequently registered as a Green, a Court may rule that any unlawful development carried out prior to registration be removed." DEFRA envisages that such unlawful development could then be subject to an order for its removal and the reinstatement of the site.