Despite a previous planning application being thrown out by hundreds of objections from local residents Tesco are once again putting forward proposals to build another superstore in Crookes. Not to be bested the Fargate Speaker is once again on the case.
KICK TESCO OUT OF CROOKES!!!
5 things you ought to know about Tesco superstore:
1. TESCO does not provide good jobs for local people. TESCO supermarket jobs
are low paying, have long hours and shop stewards have reported trouble in getting workers on to company pensions schemes. TESCO has categorically stated for past Sheffield developments that it does not intend to hire its “high skilled” (and higher paying) labour from the local area.
2. TESCO is bad for the environment. TESCO transports millions of tonnes of produce
around the world, contributing to climate change through transport emissions. A 2005
Friends of the Earth survey found that TESCO came lowest out of the supermarket chains for sourcing British apples. TESCO stores are also the most environmentally inefficient in the sector.
3. TESCO exploits workers worldwide. Women in Bangladesh making clothes for
TESCO and ASDA earn as little as 5p an hour working 14 hours a day. Workers in Costa Rica producing bananas for export to all major UK supermarkets earn 33p an hour - a wage so low that they cannot afford to take an hour off when dangerous pesticides are being sprayed on the crops. There are countless other examples of TESCO’s negligence towards its workers poverty wages, poor working conditions and supplier’s union-busting campaigns.
4. TESCO kills community life. Despite its commitment towards “community sponsorship”, TESCO has a poor record working with communities. TESCO creates neither choice nor convenience. It removes the diversity of social life outside the superstore and clutters the streets with waste and traffi c. The corporation uses its disproportionate (and unchecked) economic power to manipulate political influence and regional control to its own shareholders ends.
5. TESCO already has five other stores within walking distance – West Street,
Infi rmary Road, Fulwood Road, Southey and Ecclesall (not to mention other companies
supermarkets – 20 within a two mile radius!). This is not about free enterprise; this is about TESCO securing its strangle-hold on the market place.
What can you do?
WRITE A LETTER OF OBJECTION TO THE PLANNING OFFICER. The official closing date for objections is Wednesday April 15th. Letters or e-mails of objection, including full name and address, can be emailed to
bob.turner@sheffield.gov.uk or posted to Bob Turner, Planning Department, Development Control, 5th Floor, Howden House,1 Union Street, Sheffield.
The reference number is: 09/00745/FUL
- SPREAD THE WORD. Community campaigns are only as strong as the people involved in them.
- DIRECT ACTION GETS THE GOODS. TESCO normally has such a high success rate with these planning applications because the alternative is a derelict site falling into disrepair. This does not have to be the case. Initiatives such as the Common Ground Community Garden in Reading have proven hugely successful in bringing people together behind a common goal and creating something of real value to the area. This may seem an impossible task but it doesn’t in fact take much to have an impact – a few garden tools, some eager hands and a bit of organisation. We don’t have to wait for the council to render a decision – let’s take the decision ourselves now!!
5 things you ought to know about Tesco superstore:
1. TESCO does not provide good jobs for local people. TESCO supermarket jobs
are low paying, have long hours and shop stewards have reported trouble in getting workers on to company pensions schemes. TESCO has categorically stated for past Sheffield developments that it does not intend to hire its “high skilled” (and higher paying) labour from the local area.
2. TESCO is bad for the environment. TESCO transports millions of tonnes of produce
around the world, contributing to climate change through transport emissions. A 2005
Friends of the Earth survey found that TESCO came lowest out of the supermarket chains for sourcing British apples. TESCO stores are also the most environmentally inefficient in the sector.
3. TESCO exploits workers worldwide. Women in Bangladesh making clothes for
TESCO and ASDA earn as little as 5p an hour working 14 hours a day. Workers in Costa Rica producing bananas for export to all major UK supermarkets earn 33p an hour - a wage so low that they cannot afford to take an hour off when dangerous pesticides are being sprayed on the crops. There are countless other examples of TESCO’s negligence towards its workers poverty wages, poor working conditions and supplier’s union-busting campaigns.
4. TESCO kills community life. Despite its commitment towards “community sponsorship”, TESCO has a poor record working with communities. TESCO creates neither choice nor convenience. It removes the diversity of social life outside the superstore and clutters the streets with waste and traffi c. The corporation uses its disproportionate (and unchecked) economic power to manipulate political influence and regional control to its own shareholders ends.
5. TESCO already has five other stores within walking distance – West Street,
Infi rmary Road, Fulwood Road, Southey and Ecclesall (not to mention other companies
supermarkets – 20 within a two mile radius!). This is not about free enterprise; this is about TESCO securing its strangle-hold on the market place.
What can you do?
WRITE A LETTER OF OBJECTION TO THE PLANNING OFFICER. The official closing date for objections is Wednesday April 15th. Letters or e-mails of objection, including full name and address, can be emailed to
bob.turner@sheffield.gov.uk or posted to Bob Turner, Planning Department, Development Control, 5th Floor, Howden House,1 Union Street, Sheffield. The reference number is: 09/00745/FUL
- SPREAD THE WORD. Community campaigns are only as strong as the people involved in them.
- DIRECT ACTION GETS THE GOODS. TESCO normally has such a high success rate with these planning applications because the alternative is a derelict site falling into disrepair. This does not have to be the case. Initiatives such as the Common Ground Community Garden in Reading have proven hugely successful in bringing people together behind a common goal and creating something of real value to the area. This may seem an impossible task but it doesn’t in fact take much to have an impact – a few garden tools, some eager hands and a bit of organisation. We don’t have to wait for the council to render a decision – let’s take the decision ourselves now!!
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Hide the following 6 comments
Appalling
09.04.2009 13:02
incurable hippie
Homepage:
http://www.hippieness.co.uk
Tescos run by Satan!
10.04.2009 21:31
Sure Tescos has a lot to answer for but at the end of the day they are just grocers - and very successful ones - I wonder why.
And for how long has Southey been within walking distance from Crookes?
There are many older people living in Crookes (who can't walk very far - certainly not to Southey) and they would probably benefit from some competition to the local Co-op, resulting in lower prices.
Slagging Tescos off might make us all feel smug and self-righteous but surely the issue is just part of a much bigger one which needs to be discussed with some balance and insight, and hopefully resulting in some ideas about a better way forward in the 21st Century.
Andrew Reardon
Some balance and insight
11.04.2009 21:07
We aren't attempting to be balanced, our intentions are clear - we want to kick Tesco out of Crookes. You can check the facts and figures we have presented though, they are all accurate.
"Sure Tescos has a lot to answer for but at the end of the day they are just grocers - and very successful ones - I wonder why."
I can tell you why, because they exploit workers worldwide with poverty wages, are anti-union and use their MASSIVE economic power (Tesco employs more people than the British Army) to manipulate local government. What point are you trying to make?
"slagging Tescos off might make us all feel smug and self-righteous but surely the issue is just part of a much bigger one which needs to be discussed with some balance and insight, and hopefully resulting in some ideas about a better way forward in the 21st Century."
I couldn't agree more. This isn't about Tesco. It's about capitalism. Only once we have addressed the underlying social conditions that allow corporations like Tesco to thrive - the profit motive - can we truly "move forward" as you say.
Anarchitect
Some more balance and insight:
12.04.2009 08:45
Some more balance and insight:
Opposition to Tesco and supermarkets is nothing but......
16.04.2009 13:51
Looking down at the "dumb proles" who apparently care more for their two for one bargin deals than the planet.
Dan Factor
e-mail:
danfactor@lycos.com
Ok so you don't like Tesco...
16.04.2009 13:52
Just don't shop at Tesco if you dont like them.
Opposition to Tesco and supermarkets is just upper middle class liberal contempt for the "dumb consumerist" masses.
Dan Factor
e-mail:
danfactor@lycos.com