Evening Post backlash at Sainsbury decision

You can just imagine it can't you? Evening Post office on Wednesday night preparing to pop the champagne and claim 'It was the Post that won it' on Thursday's edition. Maybe they started to sweat a bit when the planning meeting passed ten o'clock in the evening. And then the unthinkable, the supermarket proposal at Ashton Gate is refused.

In Thursday's edition they just manage to get the decision on the front page, but not too much more. Damn those deadlines. The hacks must have been pretty miffed. Bet they couldn't wait for today to unleash their finest on the Ashton Gate scandal (could this be Aston Gate-Gate?).  Mike Ribbeck, Ian Onions, Andy Sloan and Uncle Tom Cobbly all had their say on the story. Pages 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10 and the back page all cover the story. Come on guys, don't you think you're going a bit over the top? Balanced reporting? Well let's just say the Post has maintained its pro supermarket, sod the local community stance.

Through all the froth and frenzy my favourite quote was Cllr Mark Bradshaw (Labour Bedminster) who said: 'Suggestions that everyone in Bedminster was opposed to the development are about as fanciful as suggesting that most of my constituents can afford to do their weekly shop in North Street'.  Having read this I immediately contacted Aldi (in North Street) to check they haven't doubled their prices. I was assured that they hadn't and would continue to provide excellent value for money for the local community.

And so the saga rumbles on...

What next for Ashton Gate?

So now the Sainsbury’s planning proposal has been turned down what happens next?

Well if we are to believe the rhetoric coming out of Bristol City last year, then no new superstore means no new stadium. So that’s it then? We all pack up and go back to how things were?

Of course there could be an appeal against the decision but there is no guarantee the outcome will change. They could revise down the size of the new site, but then you start to ask why Sainsburys would want to move. Or City’s Chairman could find another buyer for the site and raise the shortfall in funds for the stadium elsewhere.

Let’s not forget $teve Lansdown, who upped sticks earlier in the year and moved to the Channel Islands to avoid paying tax, has amassed a personal fortune of £452 million. He knows how to cut a deal to bring in some cash. So perhaps, just perhaps there could still be a happy ending. Ashton Gate gets redeveloped bringing much needed affordable housing and small business units that would complement the community. A new stadium gets built and England win the bid for 2018 World Cup.

Although a blow has been dealt to the supermarket proposal this isn’t the end of the story. We’ll have to wait for a few more days to see what action City and Sainsburys take next.

At Simply Southville we are proud of our local community and the green credentials of the city we live in. The Sainsburys' proposal doesn't fit, it's not right and this website will continue to oppose it.

Newsflash - Councillors refuse application for Ashton Gate superstore

Well I never! At the Council House tonight councillors on the South & East Planning Committee have rejected Sainsbury's proposals for a massive supermarket on the current site of Bristol City's ground at Ashton Gate. Simply Southville understands it was rejected by four votes to two, with two abstentions.

Well done to the people in Southville, Ashton and Bedminster who have campaigned to stop this unnecessary development. Let's hope Bristol City can find an alternative use for the site which is more suitable, so it can fund its plans for a new stadium.

More to follow tomorrow...

It's D-Day for Ashton Gate superstore

On Wednesday 21 July at 6pm councillors on Bristol South Planning Committee will meet to decide whether to approve the planning application for the Sainsbury’s giant store at Ashton Gate. If it goes ahead, they will then consider a second application for the existing smaller Sainsbury's at Ashton Vale to be demolished and 145 homes built on the site.

Since last week, Bristol Friends of the Earth has been co-ordinating the local campaign against Sainsburys and they urgently need your help to:

Turn up at College Green at 5.30pm Wed (30 mins before the meeting starts) for a 'WE LOVE NORTH ST SHOPS, NO to NEW SAINSBURY'S SUPERSTORE' group photo with local residents and North Street traders.

Support the local residents including George Ferguson and one of the North St shop owners who are giving 3 minute submissions against the planning application at the planning meeting by coming into the Council meeting and sitting in the gallery. The submissions come at the beginning of the meeting.

Even if the store is approved by the planning committee, it is not over. The application will have to be considered by the Secretary of State for Local Councils, Eric Pickles. He will take 21 days to consider whether to hold a public inquiry or not into the approval.

Who to vote for in Southville?

Here at Simply Southville Towers we’ve been giving great thought who to vote for on 6 May. Of course we are voting both for an MP and a city councillor to represent us.

First of all let’s take a look at the Southville ward and the election to Bristol City Council. Well of all the candidates that are standing for Southville, the only one that actually lives in the ward appears to be Tess Green, the Green Party candidate. The other three live in Brislington (Labour) on the Portway (Conservative) and Cotham (Lib Dem).

It is really a two-horse race between Labour and the Greens. In 2006 the Green candidate won by seven votes from Labour, and in 2007 Labour got the seat by six votes ahead of the Greens. Labour candidate, Barbara Brown, has been quiet on the big issue in the ward - the proposed superstore development at Ashton Gate. Tess Green is firmly against it. So Simply Southville says back Tess Green on 6 May.

As for our MP, Labour’s Dawn Primarolo looks to be pretty safe in the Bristol South constituency. But at Simply Southville we say it is maybe time for a change. Labour nationally looks a spent force, so why not consider one of the two Dr Marks. That’s star gazing Lib Dem candidate, Dr Mark Wright, or the Tories hopeful Dr Mark Lloyd Davies. There are five other candidates standing in Bristol South. More details of the candidates and previous results check out the BBC website for our constituency.

A word of thanks to our outgoing Councillor Charlie Bolton. He's stepped down from the council but is the Green candidate for Bristol South.

So, go Green for Southville and vote for a Dr Mark in Bristol South.

Bolton to bow out in May

Local Green Councillor, Charlie Bolton has announced on his blog that he is stepping down in May at the local elections. Charlie has served the Southville ward for four years. Tess Green will be the Green Party prospective candidate for Southville. She stood last time, and lost to Labour's Sean Beynon by just six votes.

Read more on Charlie's blog.

Ashton superstore on the election agenda.

So the election campaign has kicked off in Southville with a couple of electioneering leaflets stuffed through the letterbox of Simply Southville Towers.

First one on the mat was the Southville Rose the organ of ‘Your Labour Team: working hard in Southville and Ashton’. Is it just us but does ‘Southville Rose’ sound like a hooker you’d find in an old wild west saloon. ‘Howday partner, my name’s Southville Rose, can I show you a good time?’

Our MP Dawn Primarolo is now in favour of the proposed Sainsbury’s development at Ashton Gate describing it as a ‘win-win situation’. So Dawn’s in favour despite not seeing the planning application. Bit of a turnaround from the Tesco application when her silence was deafening for months. Young Sean Benyon says: ‘On the face of it these proposls make much more sense.’

Comedy quote from Southville Rose is Young Sean commenting on the new 20 MPH zone for Southville saying: ’ Locally, Labour have been campaigning for lower speed limits for years.’ So why didn’t you introduce them when Labour was in power in Bristol, preferred to wait until the Lib Dems took over? Please rearrange this quote: ‘on jump bandwagon the’.

Next on the mat was the Bristol Reporter from the Lib Dems, well at least we think it’s the Lib Dems as they’ve decided to put out their four page newsletter with a blue masthead. What’s wrong with your goldy, yellowy, wee in the snow colour? Perhaps you think Tory voters are so stupid that they’ll be tricked into voting for you?

One things for sure you you’ll know that ’councillor’, ’south Bristolian’, ’prospective Lib Dem MP’ , ‘local campaigner‘, ‘south Bristol’s next MP’, ‘astrophysicist’, ‘astronomer’ Mark Wright is standing for parliament for the Lib Dems. There’s even eight, rather cheesy, campaign pictures of Dr Mark so you can see what he looks like.

On the Ashton Gate superstore saga Dr Mark says: ‘The effects of moving Sainsbury’s there will depend on how big the new store is. If it is huge, it would be little different to the Tesco plan. If it is more modest [ed - do you get ‘modest’ superstores?] there might not be any problems.’ Oh come on. It’s going to be bigger than the current Sainsbury’s store (that was just a bit smaller than the proposed Tesco Extra) and will still have the same problems about transport, air quality and being against the Council’s own core strategy.

As for the Tories, nothing from them yet. Will they becoming out to play in Southville? And nothing yet from the Greens, perhaps they are still deciding on whether the environmental impact of producing election leaflets is against their core beliefs?

5,000 turn up for new stadium planning meeting

OK so they didn't all turn up in person (we'd have to build a new council HQ on the green belt to accommodate that many!) but they were watching online. Connect Bristol reports that more than 5,000 people logged on to the Council's live webcast of the planning meeting to decide the fate of the new stadium. That's a big boost for e-democracy!

I'm sure by now you know the outcome - stadium gets go ahead, but part of the housing element refused - so I won't go into detail here. But how things have changed. Not only could I watch the meeting live, I was also getting a range of instant opinion live through Twitter.

20 mph - an even bigger waste of money!

It appears Simply Southville made a mistake in criticising the City Council for wasting £35,000 on two new 20mph zones in the city, including one proposed for Southville (see yesterday's story)


Councillor Jon Rogers (the City Council's cabinet member for transport) has told Simply Southville that the correct cost of the proposals is £350,000, not £35,000. Yes over a third-of-a-million pounds for speed limit signs but with no resources to enforce the 20mph limit.

The Council is consulting on its proposals until the 1 October. You can find more details abouth the consultation on its website. We'll be making our opinion known, will you?

Labour councillors sit firmly on the fence over Ashton Gate

BERATE asked our four local councillors what their view were on the Tesco development at Ashton Gate. Southville Green Councillor, Charlie Bolton, is quite clear. He's against it. Simply Southville says well done Charlie. We know where you stand and we appreciate that.

However, out three Labour councillors are sitting firmly on the fence. Unable to reply in their own right they drafted a joint response. Lots of waffle that says very little. Come on fellas are you for or against? What's wrong, need a focus group to inform your view? Or has your Whip told you to keep your heads down until the World Cup bid is in? Read their 'statement' at the BERATE website.