Essentially, the inclusion of the both Garden Centres in the Borough Local Plan (BLP) meant that they were doomed. The previous Conservative Councillors failed to fight to protect the garden centres, allowing them to be included in the BLP.
The practical reality is, cafes are allowed in the green belt but if you want to build a retail store, or homes then you need to take the land out of the green belt.
You do this using the Borough Local Plan. Which amounts to land owners being invited by RBWM to have their land included in the next phase of development for a town with housing numbers agreed with the Government. The Borough Local Plan 2013 – 2033 was pushed through by the Conservatives on 8th February 2022, almost 10 years late.
The plan is for circa 16,000 new homes in RBWM over the 20 year period. Although the Government is now having second thoughts and these numbers could come tumbling down…
Building land is worth say 10x what green belt is worth and so the owners of Squires would have seen a tidy sum and I believe they were a family group looking to retire, so you can understand why they sold and moved on.
What is being built there looks rather oppressive and we need to reflect on that as we consider AL21 North which will be coming to planning after the elections.
The Wyevale site, which is now ALDI, was in a different situation. The site was bought by Wates when Wyevale got into financial trouble. They wanted it as the access road into their new housing estate, they had no use for the garden centre. ALDI made them a significant offer for the garden centre, half the site, and technically they could have moved in straight away and run their business from there as Wyevale had become more of a retail operation.
The format wasn’t right for their business model and so they put in a planning application and I spoke against it, asking for the panel to refuse… the panel didn’t agree with me and voted to allow the changes.
Royal Borough Development Management Panel – Wednesday 21 October 2020 6.15 pm
Below is what I said to the panel…
Good evening Chair and panel,
My name is Jon Davey, ward councillor for Clewer and Dedworth West.
Since Covid entered our lives I also work as a Customer Assistant at Tesco.
When running for election I made a pledge to do all I could to secure the garden centre for the future benefit of the community.
Having listened to residents, with a 50/50 split, I come here today as ward councillor asking for the panel to refuse planning permission and these are my six key reasons for refusal:
- Most of the messages of support I have received first hand are around the fact that the Garden Centre offers a fantastic facility for carers to bring their clients, sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, grandparents to enjoy nature at work in a relaxing atmosphere. Access to and from the ample car park is straightforward, easy for wheelchairs. The restaurant offers the opportunity to chat over a brew providing a “community asset” greatly appreciated by residents both young and old.
- The National Planning Policy Framework 2019 92c) says to guard against the unnecessary loss of valued facilities and services, particularly where this would reduce the community’s ability to meet its day-to-day needs;
- Has a Social Impact Assessment been carried out? If not, why not?
- The Garden Centre employs 45 people, ALDI is offering 30 jobs.
- Sunday trading allows for 6 continuous hours between 10am and 6pm. The application says they will be open 10am to 6pm suggesting they plan to open illegally on Sunday’s?
- Currently we are in a global pandemic and while relatively few are losing their lives, many are suffering the long term impact of covid both physically and mentally, directly and indirectly. In these difficult times, redundancy threatening many of our residents the Garden Centre offers way more than just a few plants.
WIth increasing stresses and strains on the mental health and wellbeing of residents please reflect on what I have said, the importance of this community asset and the NPPF rules which facilitate your protection of it and refuse this application.
Thank you.
Cllr Jon Davey
I loved the garden centres and really miss them. They were great to pop into for a coffee/tea with friends without having to go into town where the parking charges have been ramped up since they withdrew the cheaper parking for residents. Good for gift buying and my grandchildren loved the soft play in Wyevale. Don’t like going to Costa coffee since I read that as a chain they apparently wriggle out of paying proper tax.
I loved the garden centre for the gardening plants, products and materials. There is no garden centre near to us now and the nearest ones are not so nearly large and well stocked. It also had a lovely shop for gifts. As an avid gardener of my own back yard I sorely miss the garden centre on Dedworth Road and the Tesco Superstore has always been enough for me – there was no need for a second shopping centre 5 minutes further walk down the same road.