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The following letter on behalf of CPRE Shropshire appeared in the Daily Telegraph on 1 January 2010.

SIR – Small shops are usually overlooked in the stampede to cram towns full of supermarkets and retail outlets. However, allowing town halls to be given more control over planning decisions (Business, December 30) offers market towns and small traders hope.

The small market town of Oswestry is under particular threat. Planning applications for three retail parks and a new town centre supermarket are being considered. Approval of these will rapidly lead to the decline of the town’s markets, and the demise of the high street. The new “impact test”, however, makes it clear that the effect new retail developments will have on high street shops and markets must be taken into account. If this assessment is carried out thoroughly, we are confident it will show that Oswestry will be irreparably damaged by further large-scale retail development.

Over the past decade we have been told that we can’t get by without having every national brand and every major supermarket chain in every town. We can. The Government has this week issued rules that could revitalise our market towns. The danger is that planning officers will timidly approve applications from wealthy retail giants in fear of expensive appeals and court battles. It is time for elected representatives and their officers to stand up for our market towns.
These towns can, and will, prosper if planners and councillors learn to say “no” to excessive development. The new impact test gives them the authority to do so.

Andy Boddington
[CPRE Shropshire] Shrewsbury

Further Information

• Saving Oswestry