The Death of Wadebridge

For some time now the residents of Wadebridge have been trying to stop the ingress of the giant supermarkets to our countryside. This week they lost the battle.

All I want to ask is:-
1) How when the proposed plan for a new supermarket contravened planning regulations was it passed?
2) Why is the council allowing it to be built on a green field site.
3) Why on earth does a town of 6000 people require a Tesco, Sainsbury, Lidl, Spar, Co-op and the local Pod Stores.

Falmouth has 10 x the population of Wadebridge and has 1 large supermarket.

The answer is simple - MONEY

Wadebridge had the highest increase in house prices in the country recently and therefore the supermarkets see it as a source of revenue. Do they really think that the secondhomers will support a new supermarket. They will carry on bringing down the Waitrose and M&S Food Hall goodies in their 4x4. A few incomers may well shop there, but it will take a hell of a long time before Sainsbury recover the millions it has cost them to build and equip the place. The loss of the green field site will NEVER be recovered.

The supermarkets can throw infinite resources at any appeal or planning application. They dress up their proposals in "community projects" ( A bmx track on an isolated industrial estate doesn't sound like a good idea to me unless they are going to build an ambulance station next door )
They mislead about the effect out of town supermarkets have on town centres and the number of jobs created. By jobs they mean min wage & part time. And the council are so desperate for money selling a field to the supermarket chain at some enormously inflated price means they will have more money to waste on useless projects.

In a few years time when a small group of supermarkets hold the power in food distribution and production they will do to us exactly what the Banks did, hold us to ransom because they are too powerful to let fail.

This week is a sad week for Wadebridge, they lost the battle AND they lost the war. But worse than that - we, the general public will end up paying for it in one way or another.