…put in a valid email address.
The other day, I received an email from someone called Neil Collins. He was asking for my help – although there is nothing I can do about this, as it is a local planning issue. I did, however, try to respond, but the email came bouncing back – address unknown.
Dear Sir
I’m offering free double glazing.
Please reply by non-existent email and then let me spam you.
Af Rend
.-= My last blog ..Ditch your credit cards 2 =-.
This was a genuine query
Increased competition is not a basis for denying a planning application, nor should it be.
I agree.
This query was in response to the George Monbiot/Tesco discussion some while back. I expressed some sympathy with Monbiot’s position partly because I have lived near Machynlleth and know it well. The effect on the local shops is likely to be adverse.
I have no problem with competition, but I don’t like monopolies either and a large competitor wiping out the local shops is in danger of creating just that.
The answer lies in the hands of the local shops and their customers. If people want vibrant town centres full of a variety of shops then they have to shop there.
When Tesco wanted to open a town centre shop in Beverley there was widespread opposition to its location, but the shop was built and is doing quite nicely. If just once, people boycotted a store that the majority said they did not want, the big boys would think twice when overriding local opposition. To my enduring credit I kept to my vow to never set foot in that Tesco (although I did move to the other side of the planet before it opened).
We’ve always made a point of supporting small local shops (not least because MrsBud used to run one) but in return for you paying a bit more than at the hypermarket these shops must offer what the big boys can’t. We would try and shop at our local shop once or twice a week here in Aus. However, one day my wife called in to get a Slush Puppy for our daughter. She’d forgotten her purse but the exact money was lying around in her car. When she went in she was told the price had gone up 5c. Now had it been my wife in her shop, she’d have said: “here you go, but remember its gone up next time”. At the very least, you expect to be asked to bring in the 5c next time you come in. But know, she didn’t have the money so my daughter couldn’t have one. Fine, but now we don’t make a point of shopping there.