The Pioneers statue celebrates the canal builders who founded Ellesmere Port and was cast in bronze by Liverpool artist Stephen Broadbent.
This page sets out the reasons behind the proposed redevelopment of Neston Town Centre and provides answers to some of the key questions that were asked by the public during the consultation exercise in July 2007.
Why is the Council bringing forward this scheme?
The borough council has acted to address the decline of the centre, and is convinced that bringing a new quality medium sized supermarket, together with a new town square, will be fundamental to improving the vitality and vibrancy of the market town.
Studies carried out on behalf of the council have shown that there is a huge loss of household expenditure out of Neston to other centres. In essence around 70% of expenditure on weekly household shopping by Neston residents is spent outside of Neston. This is a large amount of money leaking out of the town, and the council is keen to claw some of it back.
Retail experts, who have experience of working in other market towns, have advised the council that a new medium sized store of around 33,000ft2 can help to regenerate the town centre and bring more trade to the smaller shops on the High Street.
Experience has shown that the right kind of store, right in the heart of a market town, will attract people to do their main weekly shopping in the town centre and those people will also visit the other shops. Cockermouth has recently seen a boost in the health of the town centre following the introduction of a new supermarket.
The council is requiring the new store to have a direct link to the High Street. The council is also requiring the floorspace of the store to be 90% food produce, which it considers will help the local traders in the town by restricting the sale of non food items.
The redevelopment will involve not just a new store, but a new town square as well. This will be the new home for the popular Friday market, as well as being a venue for community events in the centre. It will allow the Friday market to thrive.
Won't it lead to the closure of the shops in the town centre?
We believe that the new development will very much benefit the town centre as a whole by bringing in more people to the town centre and that this will have a very positive spin off for most of the existing shops and businesses. The current view of Neston traders appears to be mixed. Some say it will benefit their trade, others say that it won't.
The Sainsburys store will be successful as the company is not going to invest in Neston if it did not think that it would be well patronised. Experience from other market towns shows that local traders benefit from the introduction of a new store right in the heart of the town centre. This has happened in Cockermouth for example where the development of a new store has stemmed the loss of trade to other centres and boosted the whole town centre. The experience of Heswall, where ironically most Neston households do their weekly food shopping, shows that a supermarket can boost the trade of the local centre.
In addition the Council is restricting concessions in the store so that there can be no dry cleaners, chemists, post office etc and the store sales will be restricted to 90% food to protect the existing shops.
What about the annual Ladies Day parade and the Neston fair?
Keeping the annual Ladies Day celebrations and fair in Neston town centre have been fundamental requirements of the Council. The CTP/Sainsburys scheme will enable the fair to be accommodated on the surface level car park and on the Town Square, both have which have been designed to accommodate heavy vehicles at the Council's request. This has presented a challenge to CTP/Sainsburys but they are happy to accommodate the needs of Neston's traditions.
The scheme has been discussed with the Ladies Day organising committee and the fair operators. Fair operator Michael Wallis has recently stated that he is happy to be considered within the proposals for the new Town Square.
Contrary to a view held by many members of the public in Neston, the land is owned by the Borough Council and not the fair. The land is free of any legal restrictions.
Where will the market go?
We wish to enable the Friday market and other markets in Neston to thrive. They will be accommodated in the new Town Square which has been designed to house the stalls. We believe the market is a vital feature of Neston and believe it will benefit from the increased shoppers in the town centre.
How many car parking spaces will there be?
There will be 245 spaces in the new car park which is about 50 more than exists now. The car park will be free for anybody to use for up to 3 hours, whether or not they visit Sainsburys. In addition we hope to provide more spaces on the lower car park through the demolition of the Belmont Cottage site and by providing a better layout of the existing lower car park. We are looking at how we can best accommodate the car parking needs of workers and residents in the town centre.
What about the concerns about traffic?
The Council commissioned specialist traffic consultants in 2004 to look at the traffic implications of developing a new supermarket in Neston. This showed that a medium sized sized store could be accommodated, but that further more detailed work would need to be done before a planning application was made. If the Council decide to proceed, the developer will have to carry out a detailed transport assessment looking at traffic circulation around Neston, how the junctions would work and how they need to be improved etc. This work would need to be done at an appropriate time (not in the holiday season for example) and would have to be completed prior to the submission of a planning application.
Sainsburys intend to service the new store using small non-articulated vehicles because of the particular nature of the town centre and concerns from the public about service vehicles. The service yard for this scheme will be tucked out of public view underneath the store and delivery times would be controlled through planning conditions.
Why has the Council chosen Sainsburys ?
The Council has to adhere to very strict rules when disposing of public land. We started a detailed process of selling the site in September 2006 and in January 2007 we got down to a shortlist of 4 developers/operators who we felt could meet our requirements. 3 of these made qualifying submissions and after interviews, presentations and detailed quality and financial evaluations, the scheme submitted by CTP/Sainsburys was considered the best. The Council has duties under UK and EU laws and has been advised at all stages by external specialist lawyers.
Who are CTP?
CTP are a firm of developers based in Manchester who specialise in town centre regeneration projects. They have a very good track record and have teamed up with Sainsburys to submit a bid for Neston. Representatives of CTP were present each day and evening at the public exhibition and were able to discuss the scheme with many members of the public.
What happens next?
A special meeting of the full Council was held on Thursday 13 September in Neston Civic Hall and decided to appoint CTP/Sainsburys.
The developer will now put together a planning application and is expected to submit it in February 2008. Various studies including a transport assessment have been carried out and will be submitted with the application. The planning application will be subject to further public consultation.
The following pieces of work are also being undertaken:
The construction period is expected to take about 18 months with the new store likely to be open in late 2009 if planning permission is granted by the summer of 2008.
To find out more about the proposals, click on the link below:
