Waitrose

News and views on shopping in the town.
mb1
Posts: 509
Joined: Mon 15 Oct 2007 12:00 am
Location: Ware

Re: Waitrose

Post by mb1 »

Steve, that simply isn't true. You just have to read the statements of Hertford town councillors and others in the Mercury and on the Hertford counterpart of this forum to know that they are desperate to keep Waitrose in Hertford. That's their only motivation for opposing Waitrose at van Hage, although they dress it up with concern for what is called green belt land but actually already a retail area with a large car park. There is a big effort to keep Waitrose at Bircherley Green, you can't pretend there isn't.
New Boy
Posts: 82
Joined: Tue 16 Oct 2007 12:00 am
Location: Ware

Re: Waitrose

Post by New Boy »

- It's a couple of Hertford councillors sulking, and Prisk and the Hertford Mercury pandering to their beloved Hertford.
- Waitrose are gone from Hertford, it's just these councillors can't bear to see Ware get one over on them.
- It's not building on green belt, it's building on a car park. And it will actually help to save Van Hages and create new jobs.
- The same arguments were made about Asda, but Ware High St is totally revitalised. Fantastic new businesses ever sine Lulus led the way. Even the worst Tesco in the world has survived and actually upped it's game.
Alexander Curtis
Posts: 15
Joined: Mon 27 Apr 2015 10:08 pm

Re: Waitrose

Post by Alexander Curtis »

I don't think it is fair to criticise Mark Prisk on this issue. Mark's job as an MP is to represent his constituents in parliament. In order to do this, he has to listen to what the mood is on the issue in his constituency. As the Hertford petition is the only bit of significant noise being made right now on the Waitrose issue, it makes sense that he is presently representing that viewpoint; as the Hertford argument is all that there presently is to hear. If the silent Ware majority wants to be heard on this issue, we have to start making more noise. If someone wants to organise a counter-petition, I would be happy to present it to Ware Town Council; though I am presently somewhat too busy working on new Ware markets/parking/town centre strategies to start one up myself. I am already lobbying the planning committee to ask it to remove its objection, but if the public write in to their town and district councillors on the issue; my colleagues will be forced to listen. I am not the only pro-Waitrose person on the council, but there are still councillors to convert!
Last edited by Alexander Curtis on Mon 27 Jul 2015 9:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Whereaami
Posts: 120
Joined: Tue 25 Nov 2003 12:00 am
Location: Ware

Re: Waitrose

Post by Whereaami »

The Hertford "Elite" probably fear their beloved Waitrose could become a Poundland or Lidl/Aldi........
Andrew
Posts: 76
Joined: Sat 27 Jul 2002 12:00 am
Location: Ware

Re: Waitrose

Post by Andrew »

Or even worse an Asda!
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Steve
Posts: 475
Joined: Fri 08 Nov 2013 5:39 pm
Location: Hertford

Re: Waitrose

Post by Steve »

Alexander Curtis wrote:I very much doubt that you will find people going to Hertford Waitrose in order to do their weekly food shop for example! I somewhat doubt that people are going to travel all the way over to Van Hage in order to buy a loaf of bread or supplies for lunch
Out of town supermarkets and the weekly shop are now a thing of the past, according to Mark Price, Managing Director of Waitrose.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/news ... -boss.html
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Scouter
Posts: 89
Joined: Wed 22 Mar 2006 12:00 am
Location: Ware
Contact:

Re: Waitrose

Post by Scouter »

Steve wrote:
Alexander Curtis wrote:I very much doubt that you will find people going to Hertford Waitrose in order to do their weekly food shop for example! I somewhat doubt that people are going to travel all the way over to Van Hage in order to buy a loaf of bread or supplies for lunch
Out of town supermarkets and the weekly shop are now a thing of the past, according to Mark Price, Managing Director of Waitrose.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/news ... -boss.html
But most sites don't have the added pull of a top notch garden centre.
Alexander Curtis
Posts: 15
Joined: Mon 27 Apr 2015 10:08 pm

Re: Waitrose

Post by Alexander Curtis »

Steve wrote:
Alexander Curtis wrote:I very much doubt that you will find people going to Hertford Waitrose in order to do their weekly food shop for example! I somewhat doubt that people are going to travel all the way over to Van Hage in order to buy a loaf of bread or supplies for lunch
Out of town supermarkets and the weekly shop are now a thing of the past, according to Mark Price, Managing Director of Waitrose.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/news ... -boss.html


Not in my household or in the households of the majority of the people I know, I am afraid. I do wish that Mark Price was right though. Supermarkets are terribly boring places to spend an hour wandering around!
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Steve
Posts: 475
Joined: Fri 08 Nov 2013 5:39 pm
Location: Hertford

Re: Waitrose

Post by Steve »

Lawyers appointed by East Herts District Council have now come back with their advice.

Any decision to grant planning permission on the basis of the planning committee’s resolution of 25 March 2015 would expose the Council to a significant risk of a successful Judicial Review challenge.

The advice acknowledges that the planning committee is clearly entitled to disagree with the recommendations of its Planning Officers, but if it does so, it must give clear and cogent reasons which demonstrate that the decision has been taken on proper planning grounds.

The advice is that the resolution to grant permission was not based on a clear application and understanding of Green Belt and Retail planning policies; the sustainability of the development was not addressed by the committee and that if Highways does not accept the financial contributions to render acceptable the sustainability and highways impacts of the development then the reasons for rejecting the advice on this point are also likely to be inadequate.

With respect to the justification of the location in the Green Belt the Summary of Reasons for the decision refer to the “limited harm” to town centres. However the legal advice is that a harmful impact, albeit of limited magnitude, cannot be seen as a positive element of a development which may provide very special circumstances to justify the development in the Green Belt. On the contrary any harm will weigh against a proposal rather than in favour of it.

With regard to the employment justification, the legal advice states that it is not clear why the position that such argument could be advanced by any business that wished to locate in the Green Belt and which therefore could be a common circumstance was not given weight. This matter was compounded as it appeared that less weight should be given to the Green Belt status of the site because of development that already existed.

With respect to the Retail considerations, the advice continues that it is not apparent why the advice of the Officers and the external consultants, that there would be significant adverse impacts on the existing town centres of Hertford, Ware and Hoddesdon, was not given weight. The consideration of the Sequential Test is also considered to be inadequate. With respect to Section 106 contributions towards public realm improvements in Ware, Hoddesdon and Hertford it is advised that these would not satisfy the tests of CIL Regulations 122 if they don’t equate to the identified impacts and, as a result, do not make the development acceptable in planning terms.

With respect to sustainability and highways issues it is advised that the sustainability of the location was not addressed and that the summary or reasons for granting permission are likely to be inadequate. The reasons to reject the development in highways terms are likely to be inadequate if the Highways Authority still objects to the development.

In conclusion, the legal advice is that the application should be fully reconsidered by the planning committee. If it continues to support the grant of permission clear and cogent reasons should be given for the decision to show that the committee has grappled with the relevant and material issues and has reached its decision on legitimate planning grounds.



The planning application will now be reconsidered at the Development Control Committe's meeting on Wednesday 16th September.
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Steve
Posts: 475
Joined: Fri 08 Nov 2013 5:39 pm
Location: Hertford

Re: Waitrose

Post by Steve »

Six months on and nothing from Van Hage/Waitrose.

If they were going to submit a revised planning application surely they would have done it by now.
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