At last, good news from the council.
First of all we have a freeze on the SMDC’s Council Tax bill for this year, and secondly the town council has turned down the plans for two new supermarkets in the town.
Then we have the bad news. The county council Council Tax bill, police and fire and rescue bills will still be going up, along with the town council’s bill, even though a lot of people won’t have had a wage rise for the last two years now.
Also, I notice that it’s only the town council which has turned down the supermarket plans. What’s the betting that the SMDC accepts them, because there are 600 jobs on offer? But what about the 600 jobs that will be lost around the town when all of the local businesses close down if these plans go ahead?
We already have three big supermarkets in Leek, plus the other smaller Co-op stores, so just how many do we need to feed the local population?
Local businesses aren’t declaring war on these two new stores for no good reason. They genuinely feel that if these out-of-town stores do eventually open, then they will lose their livelihoods. And who can blame them? Congleton and Cheadle have both become ghost towns since their new developments were opened and, if you look at Longton, the council’s argument that these new stores will be good for Leek is shot down in flames when you see that the Tesco store there, which is right in the town centre, doesn’t actually attract shoppers to the other shops in The Strand or Longton Market — people just go to Tesco and then go home, or go to the other one just up the road at Catchem’s Corner.
If these two new supermarkets in Leek do get the go-ahead then I’m afraid the town will see a sharp decline in business, especially if they offer free parking, because there’s nowhere to park in the town centre anyway, and if our vulture-like traffic wardens keep hovering around the way that they are doing, then there won’t be any cars for them to book anyway! At least the council has come out and openly admitted what we motorists already knew, that we’re just seen as ‘cash cows’ for the council.
For them to employ wardens from an agency will mean a sharp rise in motorists being fined in order to pay the agency’s expenses, which will be a lot more than if the council employed these wardens themselves.
Why can’t the waiting time in Derby Street be extended to a reasonable period for shoppers who are only planning a short stay? I’ve heard that these wardens are imported from the West Midlands and that the council actually pays their travelling expenses, so somebody’s going to have to pay for all that, and guess who that will be? I’d like to hear somebody from the council deny this and also explain why they have to use outside agencies to fill what is basically a local government job. Agencies are there for one purpose, and one purpose only — to make a profit for themselves.
I should know because I used to work for one.
One more thing I’ve noticed as well. Since the demise of town centre co-ordinator Mike Cozens (who I think did an excellent job) we’ve had yet another charity shop open up. I can remember when there was only Pat Wood’s, but that makes 10 in total — surely enough now. That’s not attracting new businesses to Leek really, is it, if the council wants to improve the image of the town to visitors? There’s so much that Leek has to offer to potential visitors, but all of the spy cameras and speed cameras everywhere must put people off coming here.
A few brown signs indicating ‘Historic Market Town’ on all five major roads into town might help. Apart from which, if you come to Leek on the bus and get off at the bus station, even the council has got to admit that the new Salvation Army shop, which is situated in a prime site, is not the ideal thing for a visitor to see when they first set foot in the town.
After all the money that this ‘charity’ spent refurbishing the place, from the outside it resembles a jumble sale, with racks of clothes hung up everywhere. Surely a bit of screening from the road would make it look a bit less tacky.
After all, this is in a spot that’s the gateway to the town for visitors and motorists who are driving through.
Good luck to Richard Wilson and his ‘Save Our Leek’ campaign, but I’m afraid you’re wasting your time because, after all, money talks.
BRIAN THACKER Address supplied