Guy Mackenzie
Kerrier District Councillor, Breage Parish Councillor and Germoe Parish Councillor
Speech made at Kerrier District Council Full Council Meeting, October 1993

Re: Village shops in Breage Parish and Germoe Parish and the threat
to their viability by Supermarkets


Note: Shops in Breage and Germoe Parishes in 1990 as follows
Praa Sands 2, Ashton 2, Godolphin 2, Breage 2, Carleen 1, Total 9
but in 2005 this reduced to
Praa Sands 1, Ashton 1, Godolphin 0, Breage 1, Carleen 0, Total 3



Mr Chairman,

I'm worried about the Kerrier Planning Consent for Tesco in Helston and I believe that this consent should worry all of us.

Let me ask? Do we really need yet another massive supermarket in West Cornwall?

Let's consider the evidence:

We've got them in Penzance, Pool, Camborne, Falmouth and Truro and their buses cruise the villages looking for pick-ups.

The population may be increasing but not enough - surely - to warrant another!

Can our finances or indeed our bodies manage to increase our consumption to ensure its viability?

So where are Tesco's sales going to come from?

It's obvious—they will come at the expense of the local shops who provide a lifeblood to our communities. Especially in a rural Ward such as the one I represent.

Since the Supermarkets first arrived my Ward has lost 3 village shops.

Now I know that local people will go to Tesco and to get their JAM but when the local shops have gone - (gone bankrupt as they surely will) where will our local people who need a local shop like the elderly, people on low incomes or without transport - where will they get their daily BREAD?

The initial creation of jobs is short term economic cosmetics but there is no substitute for a long term economic strategy. If we in West Cornwall are ever lastingly going to come out of recession the last thing we need is a boom/bust economy. Bringing Tesco to Helston will never contribute to a considered economic strategy.

That’s why when I think of the local shops in Breage Parish and Germoe Parish - I worry - I worry for them and remember the poem " ... cannon to the left of them ... cannon to the right of them ... someone has blundered".

As far as the village shops in my Ward are concerned in bringing Tesco to Helston ... SOMEONE HAS BLUNDERED.


Note:
This speech is reproduced here in memory of the late Councillor Godfrey Stephens of Porthleven who kept reminding me of it!



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