Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Non News - Supermarkets to revitalise Town Centres

With roughly 8 months to go until the next round of local elections, it's time for the Conservatives to start spreading some positive vibes in order to fool the electorate into thinking they are always doing their best for the district. They'll be hoping to reel in enough suckers so that they can control the Mid Sussex District Council for another term and further waste public money.

Last Thursday's edition of the Mid Sussex Times perhaps marked the start of this charm offensive. The front page of the newspaper contained a story about how big named supermarkets are interested in setting up shop in our town centres, bucking the trend of choosing sites on the outskirts of town.

So just how exactly is this going to happen? Where is there room in Haywards Heath on South Road for a supermarket? How would it cope with the extra traffic in an already busy area?
Haywards Heath already has an Iceland, Co-Op, a generous food section in Marks and Spencer, and Sainsbury is only 5 minutes down the road.

The same goes for Burgess Hill, the town centre has Iceland, Lidl and of course Waitrose. Technically, you could have an Asda in the Cyprus Road Car Park, but how will the traffic flow be managed in the pathetically small one-way system?

Both towns would need massive changes in layout in order to accommodate big supermarkets in the town centre, and this just will not happen, there is not the money for it. The council itself has said that it will have to look at many smaller developments from a number of different companies instead of getting into bed with just one.

To me, this is a non news story, serving only to let the public know that the council are thinking about doing something. Expect more of these weak press releases from the council in the months to come.

Do you readers see a way of how to fit big supermarkets into the town centres without needing to overhaul the complete landscape? Please do leave a comment if you know how it can be done, I'd love to be proven wrong on this one.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Isn't the issue that the Middy sticks these weak press releases on the front page? Why does a supposedly professional newspaper consider this news, and why are they so keen to promote the District Council?

Anonymous said...

Maybe it is because, allegedly, the head reporter is a Tory?

Anonymous said...

Hands off Burgess Hill,we dont need another supermarket. Get the horrible 'nightclub' site sorted out first

Tim Novis said...

To be honest, I think they could fit a reasonably sized supermarket in that ugly derelict building at the top of junction road where Courts/Fabric warehouse used to be. That would be a reasonably good use for it. I'm fed up of walking up the road every day to see that monstrosity.