This is a quick post to say thank you to the Cornish Times who have mentioned ilovelooe.co.uk and my Tesco Poll (on the right →) in their paper on the letters page (17).

If you haven’t got a copy then I suggest you pop out and buy one over the weekend as there is a full page of letters AGAINST the Tesco store proposal.

No doubt next week will see another flurry of letters so don’t be afraid to leave your comments here too. Click the huge link below to leave your thoughts on the Tesco Store and the good/negative impact it might have on Looe.

Tell your friends (Facebook, Twitter, phone etc) about the Tesco Poll and ask everyone to vote →

Please leave your comments below

Feel free to reply to others who have left theirs too.

Also, what do you think about the Poll? Good, Bad, Should use different questions.

Let me know below, I try to reply to everyone as soon as I can.

As always, I ask you to respect other people’s opinions and not make any of your comments inflammatory, derogatory or personally aimed at another individual. All such comments will be deleted!

Just a quick update after the Tesco exhibition and consultation in the Looe Community School yesterday and Friday.

You can read some interesting comments both for and against in these two posts:

Is having a Tesco in Looe really a bad thing?

Viking II – The Return of Tesco

I have commented on both and some interesting numbers came to life today as I did some calculations based on figures given to me by one of the reps at the Looe Community School.

NEW – Tesco in Looe free opinion Poll

I have placed a ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ opinion poll in the right column – Please vote today. One vote each and all confidential.

Approx. vehicle numbers to the proposed Tesco store (updated)

Here’s a quick run down on the approx. number of envisioned vehicular movements once the store has opened. They’re based on 8 vehicular movements in or out of the development every minute over a 12 hour time period between the hours of 9am and 9pm. These 8 movements extrapolate to…

• Hour = 480 (240 in / 240 out)
• Day = 5,760 (2,880 in / 2,880 out)
• Week = 40,320 (20,160 in / 20,160 out)
• Month (30 days) = 172,800 (86,400 in / 86,400 out)
• Year = 2,073,600 (1,036,800 in / 1,036,800 out)

Yes, you read that correctly…

Two million seventy three thousand six hundred extra vehicular movements a year. Here it is again…

2,073,600

That’s a lot of extra car journeys each year!

Read my full comment and thoughts here: Viking II – The Return of Tesco and let me know what you think.

If there are any mathematicians or statisticians out there who can work these numbers out more accurately, please write in and let me know your conclusions. (Thank you Kerry for pointing out the errors – I hope the numbers are better explained now)

Don’t forget to vote on the right

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This is a Guest Post by Ben Holtam – Looe resident.

It seems only a matter of time now that one of the major stores venture into Looe and with that store possibly going to be Tesco, I ask the question; would that really be a bad thing?

The most popular answer seems to be yes, but why?

Well, again the popular answer is that it would “kill the town”, but how?

Who out of us does our weekly shop at Morrisons in Liskeard or perhaps even further afield?

Why should we have to get up on a Saturday or Sunday morning and drive out of the town rather than popping up to the Barbican?

Read More: Is having a Tesco in Looe really a bad thing?

How local are our shops anyway?

Is Co-Op a locally owned shop?

How about Boots?

Perhaps Spar?

These shops all buy their goods from companies who aren’t local suppliers. I believe that the Barbican and West Looe Londis’ buy from local farmers or distributers but the others certainly don’t.

It is now a fact of life that within Cornwall local shops are disappearing. I can remember the days when in Looe we had 4 butchers but they all closed down way before having a Tesco in Looe was even discussed.

There are now only a few places where you can buy vegetables and no designated newsagents anywhere in the town. We all already use supermarkets in one way, shape or form.

Now what about the things Supermarkets sell that you cannot buy in Looe. Imagine not having to travel to St. Austell, Bodmin or Plymouth to buy basic school uniform for starters. How about DVDs, games & music CDs? All sold at supermarket prices.

Personally, I think about what it would be like to not have to pay seemingly tourist’s prices at the fuel pump in the Texaco garage on Station Road. In other towns where there is more than one fuel station, prices are greatly cheaper. I also believe that it would encourage existing local shops to smarten up their act which can only be good for the likes of us, the consumer.

Value for money

I do wonder whether or not we get value for our money within Looe seeing as it’s a tourist destination. Does anyone else feel that we locals are being somewhat ripped off when paying up to a pound for a bottle of mineral water?

Now, should our default response to having a Tesco in Looe really be “No”? Or perhaps should we be thinking “Yes”?

Ben Holtam

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Please leave your thoughts and replies to Ben’s thoughts below.

Guest Post by Derek Braithwaite – Looe resident.

Coming your way soon! The latest blockbuster for 2012 – ‘Viking II – The Return of Tesco.’

It’s the tale of how an army of cash-driven corporate raiders returned to wreak havoc on the Cornish coast.

With bags of gold, battalions of PR men and London lawyers they set out to invade and colonise a corner of south-east Cornwall by building an edge of town supermarket and then wait for the besieged town to crumble and fall.

Yes, they tried it before and were sent packing. But now they’re back and in January next year the main offensive begins.

Read More: Viking II – The Return of Tesco

Tesco wants a 25,000sq ft supermarket on a ten acre site with parking for 250 cars.

I have no doubt they will offer the usual bag of mirrors and beads to Cornwall Council planners. They may offer better road access, perhaps a swimming pool for the school, free parking, more jobs, more choice, more of everything to impress councillors and planners.

They buy the land and begin buying friends.

Once the plan is nodded through they systematically eat the town by undercutting the independent traders, screw the farmers and suppliers and shrug as small businesses go to the wall.

It’s like inviting Mad Max to your daughter’s birthday party

Let’s be clear. Tesco isn’t investing the loose change from it’s £350bn profits to give the local greengrocer/fishmonger/electrical supplier/clothes shop a helping hand.

Let’s look at some of the supportive arguments from the deluded and short-sighted who think Tesco lurking over the hill is a good thing.

It will bring more shoppers into Looe

No it won’t. You can’t even see Looe from the site they want. Out of town shoppers will drive to Tesco, stock up and drive home.

It will create jobs

Up to a point. The minimum number of part-time and semi-skilled workers on the minimum wage – these guys aren’t into benevolent job creation schemes. They are into maximising every penny of profit. In many cases the ‘new’ jobs come from the shops which have had to close because of the impact of the retail giants.

They will offer more choice

No they won’t. A centralised retail policy means that slapping the word Cornish here and there doesn’t mean you are getting something different from a store in, say, Newcastle.

Practically every market town in this country which has had a supermarket plonked on the edge has felt the pain of a diminished community.

Not that everything in Looe is rosy. For example we have two Co-op mini-markets a couple of hundred yards apart selling the same stuff at the same prices. If one had become say, a Tesco-Metro, or M&S-Express then I’d be happy. That would bring people into the heart of the town and give them a chance to see what else the place has to offer. But that’s not going to happen. The reality is that if you really want more of those cute Everything For a Quid shops, or more charity shops, or if you sell plywood for boarding up empty shop windows, then the Tesco plan is for you.

If you want to stop them it won’t be easy. Tesco, like the other retail giants are very good at getting their own way.

But the big boys can be beaten – ask the St Denis campaigners.

Get your pen and paper out. Write to the town council, write to Cornwall Council and just say ‘No’.

When it comes to getting your voice heard, remember. Every Little Helps.

Author: Derek Braithwaite from Red Letter Media