Bovey Tracey

If you read Tony Allen’s column in The Cottage Magazine he gives the impression that the whole Sainsbury’s supermarket incident was imposed upon the council and you come away with the impression that the council were never really that interested.

It does seem that Sainsbury’s has for some time been considering Bovey Tracey as a potential target…

It’s agent (Storegap) made an initial enquiry…

an approach was made about the possibility of using council owned land…

How does that sit with the email, sent by the town clerk to Storegap, where he appears to be not only interested but actually quite keen (emphasis mine):

As I am fairly confident we will wish to progress further this business opportunity, can you give me details of the next stages which we will need to progress the matter.

One of the other points that Tony Allen makes in his article in The Cottage Magazine, distributed this week, is that discussions with Storegap have discontinued:

While dialogue with Storegap has been discontinued, the Council…

It gives a sense of permanence doesn’t it, but how did the Mayor phrase it in the “Quality Update” :

At present we are seeking clarification over the covenant on the land. Therefore, there are currently no negotiations taking place with Sainsbury’s representatives Storegap

If I was a little more cynical I might also read into both of these statements the fact that they only deny discussions with Storegap,  not Sainsbury’s themselves, or even Aldi, who usually jump in where Sainsbury’s bail out .

Incidentally, as of today there are 504 signatures on the GoPetition website here objecting to this use of the land. Out of a population of 7,000 that’s quite small really. If the majority of residents want another supermarket so close then I will begrudgingly go along with it, but what concerns me is that the promises of consultation, being listened to and having our say are just patronising words. What I would really want is a vote.

I’ve mentioned The Cottage Magazine a few times, so it’s only fair that I provide a link, unfortunately Tony Allen’s article only appears to be in the printed version, so here is a link to Sally Morgan’s related article instead

Petition
On the 11th November 2011 Sally Morgan set up a petion on the GoPetition website here , there are now just over 300 signatories, though interestingly that includes people from Edinburgh and London !!

The petition reads as follows:

We the undersigned strongly oppose the building of a supermarket of any kind within the parish of Bovey Tracey.
We believe that it will ruin our town centre and destroy our traders.

There are some interesting comments, but this one seemed to sum up most of the concerns:

We have a thriving town centre, including good fruit shops, butchers, bakers, deli, hardware store, two general food shops, chemist and newsagent, all of which would be threatened by a supermarket. Traffic is already a problem and would obviously be much increased. There are already supermarkets within easy reach, by car or free buses.Bovey’s rural, peaceful and diverse character would be completely spoilt and could not be regained. Important matters like these should be discussed publicly.

Community Land
According to the flyer distributed around Bovey Tracey in early December, the land earmarked by Sainsbury’s for their new store, is subject to a covenant that the Town Council signed up to in 1996, agreeing not to use the property for any purpose other than the provision of community facilities.

I’m sure that the originator of the flyer won’t object if I reproduce their findings on this site:

Here are the details of the covenant for our community land held by the Land Registry. The Town Council is spending £750 of public money to see if the covenant can be removed.

Title number: DN367196    Edition Date: 9.2.2007

C: Charges Register

1. (03.04.1996) A deed dated 28 March 1996 made between (1) Alford Brothers Limited (2) Beazer Homes (West) Limited and Manring Homes Limited contains the following covenants:-

“The Transferrors and the Town Council of even date the Town Council hereby covenants the land comprising title number DN233023 that the Town Council will not use or permit or allow to be used the property for any purpose other than the provision of community facilities for the residents of Bovey Tracey area”.  [sic]

I don’t know if all deeds are worded as badly as that, but it does seem fairly clear that allowing a Supermarket to be built there is not really going to comply. The claim that Bovey Tracey Town Council is spending money to find out if the covenant can be removed, suggests that they don’t think it would either.

The plot of land looks a little bit smaller than the Sainsbury’s site in Newton Abbot, does that mean that we won’t get the petrol station and McDonald’s aswell, or will they follow a year later ?