Factory Future

Every little action helps!

Sustainable Ottery has launched a new campaigning sub-group FACTORY FUTURE. Members of SO met early in the new year in response to plans to develop the old factory site at St Saviour’s, Ottery St Mary. Buildings on the site have remained empty since its American owners, Cutler Hammer, closed the factory in 1997.

Announcing the formation of the new group, PHIL FOGGITT said “Factory Future wants to propose a range of uses for this site which have the support of local people and reflect the urgent need to address the twin challenges of Global Warming and Peak Oil. We are very concerned that plans likely to be submitted in the spring will fail to meet the aspirations and needs of the community. We would welcome the opportunity to engage with the developers with the aim of presenting plans that could gain the community’s support.”

In Ottery, reports of plans to be submitted by factory site owners Churchill Property Group indicate that housing and a supermarket are likely to be central to the proposal. Factory Future stress that they will strongly oppose any plans to erect a supermarket on the site.

The sub-group is inviting people with a variety of skills to join the campaign. The next meeting is to be held at Ottery Football Club, Butts Road, 7.30pm on Wednesday 13th February. Factory Future member Clive Essame explains “We are looking for people with knowledge of planning law, community enterprises, campaigning – and any other skills that would be useful in preparing a practical vision for the site in the future. At this stage this is not a protest meeting although we do want to be ready for action when a formal planning application is submitted.”

Maureen Fairley, another Factory Future member added “Ottery St Mary still has a vibrant community which we want to preserve and build upon. The last thing we need is a supermarket to destroy what is left of our local shops. You can visit any number of towns with ugly superstores which have decimated small town centre businesses. But we would welcome a development that creates real jobs with a future. There are genuine opportunities to establish renewable energies and sustainable technologies- lets give our children a future rather than destroy it.”

Supermarkets

Supermarket claims that new stores bring in jobs fail to consider the wider picture of independent retailer bankruptcies. A 1998 study by the National Retailer Planning Forum (NRPF) found that 276 (an average) local jobs (within 10 miles) were lost per store opened.

In Fakenham, Norfolk (population 7300 approx) the opening of an out of town supermarket was followed by a one-third increase in the number of empty shops; a drop in the number of convenience stores; and a noticeable deterioration of the built environment of the town centre.

Although there is no indication of which supermarket might be interested in taking the site please visit http://www.tescopoly.org/ which gives a mass of information on the effect of supermarkets on local communities as well as examples of successful campaigns against supermarkets.

PHIL FOGGITT phil @ foggitt.freeserve.co.uk

MAUREEN FAIRLEY ma_fairley @ postmaster.co.uk

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