This observer suspects we won’t be far into 2015 before we see a planning application submitted for a Lidl Store and other retail buildings at Balmakeith. According to material already put into the public domain by the developer there will also be another two stores and a pub/restaurant. The Gurn is not bothered either way about the additional businesses and there will no doubt be differing views out in the community but there can be no doubt that the majority of Nairn residents will want to see a Lidl store.
Those that are fortunate to have the chance to use the Lidl stores in Forres or Inverness will know that quite often there are bargains to be had on several lines of foodstuffs. This observer would also suggest that there would be nothing wrong with a little bit of competition for Sainsbury’s and the Co-ops in Nairn. After all we live in a town where 24% of children live in poverty and for many families every pound is a prisoner and has to be spent wisely - people deserve more choice! Although the majority of people in Nairn will be supportive of a Lidl store coming to Nairn will it happen?
The Association of Nairn businesses have indicated that they are against a Lidl being built out at Balmakeith and they are strongly of the opinion that that would be the wrong place. They want to see a Lidl store in the town centre. There is a school of thought however that that is simply a dream of the 1980’s and 90’s when there was an opportunity and a suitable footprint to have a large store built in a central location and that it is simply impossible in this new millennium to build such a store in the town centre.
The ANB are also worried that more retail development at Balmakeith would destroy the High Street. Well Sainsbury’s has been with us since August 2011 and the High Street is still a going concern. Let’s not forget that many local residents also work in Sainsbury’s and now have cash to spend in local businesses, including those in the High Street. The same would be true of Lidl employees. Demand for shops in the town centre still exists with the year end seeing new businesses in the form of the Red Cross shop and the lingerie business in the former Tradeways. Nairn High Street has had its problems but in a changing world where a lot of people do all their shopping from the comfort of their armchairs it looks like the High Street is holding its own.
Much will rest on what our local Highland councillors have to say and also from submissions from the town’s three community councils who will have the opportunity to make their position known to the planners. The councils are River CC chaired by Tommy Hogg, Suburban CC chaired by Rosemary Young and Suburban CC chaired by Dick Youngson. If you want to see a Lidl in Nairn at Balmakeith then there are a three things you can do.
1) Make a submission on the council’s e-planning site when the application is submitted. If you are not keen on additional units and a pub/restaurant out there and just want a Lidl tell them that too. It only takes a couple of minutes to comment on the Council e-planning pages. When the application is live we will publish the web address for you to make a comment.
2) Tell your four Highland councillors that you want a Lidl store at Balmakeith. That’s Liz MacDonald, Colin MacAulay, Laurie Fraser and Michael Green.
3) Contact Tommy Hogg, Dick Youngson and Rosemary Young to tell them that you wish to see a Lidl store at Balmakeith and/or attend their respective Community Council meetings to air your views.
Read all that and still not convinced? Well there is one other major factor in favour of more retail development on the eastern fringe. Gurnites will remember that a considerable sum in the form of "planning gain" was extracted from Sainsbury's by Highland Council. Some of that money is still waiting to be spent on decorating town centre businesses although there have been complaints that the bureaucracy businesses have to go through to get some of that cash is just impenetrable. A lot of money was also p***** away on sets of traffic lights though.
Now what we have to do is make sure that the company developing the site pay up just like Sainsbury's but that the community gets its hands on the money and not Highland Council and Transport Scotland for more sets of traffic lights. Let's play poker and see just how much we can squeeze out of the developer and then spend that on some out of the box thinking to do something with empty properties and create economic activity in the town centre. Thoughts?
Read all that and still not convinced? Well there is one other major factor in favour of more retail development on the eastern fringe. Gurnites will remember that a considerable sum in the form of "planning gain" was extracted from Sainsbury's by Highland Council. Some of that money is still waiting to be spent on decorating town centre businesses although there have been complaints that the bureaucracy businesses have to go through to get some of that cash is just impenetrable. A lot of money was also p***** away on sets of traffic lights though.
Now what we have to do is make sure that the company developing the site pay up just like Sainsbury's but that the community gets its hands on the money and not Highland Council and Transport Scotland for more sets of traffic lights. Let's play poker and see just how much we can squeeze out of the developer and then spend that on some out of the box thinking to do something with empty properties and create economic activity in the town centre. Thoughts?
34 comments:
I totally agree! As you say, in an ideal world more people would shop in the High Street, but as someone who works full-time in Inverness I only get the chance to shop in Nairn once a week, so I do most of my non-food shopping online, and Lidl is the only supermarket I can stand to be in for longer than ten minutes due to its absence of muzak and tannoy announcements...
Bye, bye, High Street.
This needs to happen sooner rather than later. I live in Nairn but I shop mostly in Lidl once a week for the main shop so travel to either Forres or Inverness to do this. For day to day essential's we are for ever popping up the high street. This would be a welcome boost to the area and from speaking to a few of the eldery residents would make a big difference to them also.
At least having a Lidl would mean competion for the duopoly that Sainsburys and the multiple versions of the Co-op have about the town. Hopefully it would force them to drop their prices to compete with Lidl
I'm not sure as to how you can be so dismissive of the other stores we might see at the Balmakeith? No matter what they are they will have an effect on the shopping habits of Nairnites and understandably businesses on the High Street are concerned
I appreciate that Lidl might well have lower prices for some items compared to the Co-op or Sainsbury's but should we really be pleading for yet another supermarket? It’s likely that footfall will decrease at both the Co-op and Sainsbury’s stores with the advent of Lidl, and this will in turn lead to some staff being laid off
I've yet to read any information with regard to a new supermarket providing competition and other nearby stores reducing their prices do you have any examples of this?
What Nairn is getting (through stealth) is a retail park. It's obviously going to have an impact on the High Street and whilst there'll be the usual fanfares about new jobs no-one seems to mention those that will be lost
Nairn gets a new cheaper supermarket but we have to travel to Inverness to buy a pair of shoes; DE Shoes was but one casualty on the High Street and no doubt there will be others
The quest for a Nairn Lidl store also totally ignores the local food factor. I for one would welcome a weekly market even if it was just for fruit and veg rather than yet another supermarket. Supermarkets put huge mark ups on fresh fruit and veg that make it hard for those on a low income to buy on a regular basis.
With the inevitable rise in carbon costs using the current supermarket model of distribution is going to prove very expensive to bring food to the Highlands. We should be looking at alternatives now and not wait for the supermarket price hikes
I appreciate I’m in the minority with my cynicism of supermarkets, and that many people in Nairn will welcome Lidl. All of them are after our money and is offering some cash to the community better than being part of the community as the High Street is?
Weekly market? Wish somebody would organise one Anon, sounds a great idea.
People who don't have much money don't do big shops but buy food everyday. I use the Co-op and smile when I get a coupon saying a £1 off if I spend over £10 next time. I never do spend that amount. Lidl at the Balmakeith won't help those of us without much money. It'd taken over an hour for me to walk there and back and I don't think the kids would be too happy if it was a daily trip. I'm sure people with cars that go through to Forres or Inverness for their shop will be pleased though
As for jobs. Most of Sainsbury's jobs were advertised in Forres. Many supermarket jobs are now zero hours and are of no use to anyone. How can you plan a budget when you don't know what monies you'll have at the end of the week
Ha ha, I can see why the Gurn is behind the Lidl development, cheap food eh! ;-)
http://www.cityam.com/206393/cork-blimey-festive-champagne-outsells-milk-lidl
I think the 'majority' vote this time round will be a well worth it big happy 'YES'
It never fails to surprise me when a developer is welcomed with open arms by some people, especially councilors, and yet we have a clear track record in Nairn of the promises made by many developers just not happening or being scaled back when they do
No doubt we’ll hear cries of job creation for the town when the Lidl planning application is submitted and yet as a company they run their stores on a near skeletal staff level and work them very hard
The legacy from the Sainsbury’s development has been numerous new sets of traffic lights that near gridlock the A96 at times, oh and a new clock and some paint for the High Street at some point. I for one would gladly live without Sainsbury’s if they took the traffic lights away, I’m still happy to shop on the High Street.
It’s not as though we’ll all spend more money once Lidl arrives, it’ll just mean less custom for the likes of the Co-op and Sainsbury’s and might even see store closures
Not so many months ago many of us voted for a better Scotland were by we’d put people rather than money first, have so many of us lost those ideals that all we can think about is how great it’d be to get a cheap supermarket into the town?
More choice you say, exactly how many different loaves of bread do you need choice from, and how many people in Nairn don’t have a car that’ll be needed for a trip to the Balmakeith. But I’m in no doubt the new store will be approved. How exciting though for the Nairn tourist industry, we’ll no longer advertise our beaches but we’ll be the town with three supermarkets and a dozen sets of traffic lights, how enticing is that?
Do you have a source for your figure re the staff compliment at Sainsbury's anon?
"and how many people in Nairn don’t have a car that’ll be needed for a trip to the Balmakeith"
People without cars still make it to the existing supermarket at Balmakeith anon and further afield too. Sometimes they go with family or friends that have vehicles, sometimes on foot, by bus (free for some), by bicycle, by electric buggy in some cases too. Amazing what some people without cars get up too sometimes.
If you look at Forres it has numerous co-op stores a large Tesco and a Lidl. It also has a High Street with a vibrancy that puts Nairns to total shame. Yes there are a few vacant shops but head along there on a Saturday and the street is busy, often events and entertainment organised, but.....no we are Nairn and we would much rather be victims. Sainsburys serves a very particular market, so does co-op Lidl fills the gao, and you can be sure the ones Turning about it will be amongst its most loyal visitors
So lets sum up.... If we get a lidl
- sainsburys and the co-op will have to reduce prices
- there will be more jobs in Nairn
- everyone in Nairn will have more money in their pockets
- the town will recieve more money
I really wish this was all true, however.....
- sainsburys and the co-op are national companies with a national pricing strategy that wont change because lidl open up in an town with a population of just over 10k
- there would be some good contractor jobs to get the devlopment complete, after that though the jobs will level off as other businesses, including sainsburys and co-op, reduce their wage costs
- there was talk of this when sainsburys arrived on the scene... How did that work out?
- where is the money from sainsburys development? Tied up? Used elsewhere? One thing for sure, the local community are not seeing it!
Its all smoke and mirrors, it would benefit some and harm others.... If it goes ahead lets just hope that it balances off!
Anonymous 2:07pm, what are you talking about?
Lidl and the local communities overall reaction to it coming. YES
I thought Sainsbury's would bring us 'more choice', how much choice do we really need when it comes to buying food?
If you're reading this then you have online access that means you can have food delivered to your door by the likes of Asda or Tescos for less money than it would cost you to drive to these stores, you can even shop for groceries at Amazon, but apparently we need 'more choice'
I grant you Lidl doesn't do home deliveries (yet) but Lidl is shape shifting to cater more for the middle classes who are calling it the new black, so it's trying to shake off it's Skoda like image and become something more classy
Choice as has been said won't drive costs down. Lidl are spending a lot of money on TV advertising to woo the customer.
From recent surveys I've read it's Morrisons who're leading the price cuts making it the cheapest supermarket to do your shopping, but no home deliveries to Nairn at the moment
IF Lidl comes to Nairn it'll have one item on it's agenda, to take money from us
Personally I have more than enough choice when it comes to food shopping already, but I'm sure the Balmakeith will grow to include Tescos, Aldi, Morrison's, Asda and Waitrose.
When we have all these stores I quite expect someone to pop up and say can we have shops back on the High Street as we need more choice!
Whilst on the matter why do we 'deserve more choice', what have we done that should make Nairn the supermarket capital of the Highlands that retailers will flock to. Have I missed something?
"IF Lidl comes to Nairn it'll have one item on it's agenda, to take money from us"
mmmmm don't all shops want to take money from us?
The real economics of the supermarket economy are that each and every store that opens is making our food more expensive, not cheaper. Think about it. A supermarket rents or buys land for a new store. Thousands if not millions are spent on construction. Staff are hired and trained. The new store is advertised locally. Product distribution has to be setup and maintained. There is a constant flow of overheads once the doors are opened, electric, water, and staff wages, building maintenance, insurance the list goes on
Customers start using the store and generate income. The problem is this is a game of brinkmanship with all the major supermarkets continually opening new stores. There are no new sources of revenue, a new store just means other supermarkets will have less customers
Tesco’s have found that their business model is failing. We no longer like the mega store that takes hours to wander around and instead prefer smaller stores. Smaller stores in turn have higher overheads so generate less profit
Supermarkets mean we the customer have an incredibly expensive way of buying food as it’s all shipped around the country from various distribution centres
There is also a high degree of waste with supermarkets, food that doesn’t sell goes to landfill
For ‘ease’ everything is wrapped, much of the fruit and veg for example but we’re paying for all the packaging twice, once to the retailer and then secondly to the council who empty our bins
A new Lidl in Nairn, careful what you wish for
I'm not sure that many retailers in our high street , or any high street, would necessarily agree with the statement that 'They are holding their own'
Perhaps 'clinging on' may be closer to the truth.
Like many people in town I have nothing against Lidl coming to Nairn but I would echo the sentiments of the business association in saying that the shop should be in the town centre.
When it come to the inevitable criticism of such statements.
I would like to see any supporter of out of town development cite a single example of where such development has benefitted or enriched a local town centre.
& to those who will say "There's no space in the town centre " ... I disagree. Most people just don't see it. Existing retail space could be taken over and developed and, if we'd had Councils that had any backbone, that's exactly how town centres should have been kept, vibrant,rather the pandering to the whims of the 'promise much, deliver little' brigade who just want to stick up ticky tacky out of town units on green field sites because it costs less & offers greater returns.
Any application will be closely scrutinised by many, particularly since it flies straight in the face of the Scottish Government's 'Town Centre First Policy' and it is also contrary to the Inner Moray Firth Local Development Plan, which shows only the presently undeveloped ground within Sainsburys curtilage as being zoned for more retail development.
I would also forecast that any attempts to wrestle controlfrom the Highland Council of any planning gain coming from the proposed Lidl development would be like taking a wall, a head and doing some banging
of one on the other.
The Community Councils can puff their chests out all they want and ask for all kinds of things but the only chance they stand is to do so when they are all pi**ing in the same pot. If they act as one, they may get something but the lions share will go the the Highland Council & they will administer the distribution , or lack of, any such funds, as they see fit within the agreement made with the developer
That's the way the big machine works.
% of future rent to common good fund or x no. houses built (for cgf) on sandown as part of deal?
A question for Spurtle, you say "Existing retail space could be taken over and developed", I'd be interested to hear where you feel there would be a big enough area to accommodate the likes of Lidl within the High Street/town centre?
Give people all the choice they want, The harsh reality is you can control only where YOU buy your food etc. Not anyone else!! I for one walk up the street every sat with the dog and go to the butchers for my weekend meat. That is MY choice. I've said it before, quality will survive. I only use a couple of the shops on our town high street but That's just the way of it. I will use lidl no doubt but the things I already get from the high street I will continue to get those things from our high street as that's How I will choose to shop!!
@Spurtle
“& to those who will say "There's no space in the town centre " ... I disagree. Most people just don't see it. Existing retail space could be taken over and developed “
A new supermarket of modern dimensions was the mainstay policy of the years when Sandy Park was the main man through at Glenurquhart Road. Even such a formidable force as Sandy was unable to bring it about. Time just caught up with that idea.
“I would also forecast that any attempts to wrestle control from the Highland Council of any planning gain coming from the proposed Lidl development would be like taking a wall, a head and doing some banging
of one on the other.”
That is where we need intervention, leadership and out of the box thinking from our present set of four Highland Councillors.
“Any application will be closely scrutinised by many, particularly since it flies straight in the face of the Scottish Government's 'Town Centre First Policy' and it is also contrary to the Inner Moray Firth Local Development Plan, which shows only the presently undeveloped ground within Sainsburys curtilage as being zoned for more retail development.
“Highland Council have just given the go ahead for a retail park in Fort William
"I would like to see any supporter of out of town development cite a single example of where such development has benefitted or enriched a local town centre."
People employed at the present Balmakeith retail outlet have money in the form of wages to spend in town if they wish and those that used to leave town for their weekly shop but now use that outlet may chose to go down to the town centre too.
Is there any proof that Sainsbury's has harmed the town centre?
Wake up Spurtle, a town centre supermarket was apparently a 1980/90s dream don't ya know
2015. More severe council cuts this year, who knows for how many more?
Many reading this might not work at Sainsbury’s but are employed by Highland Council, they’re jobs are under threat for it is HC who are a big employer in the town
The fabric of our society is closed. Funding for our museum is to be cut, as is money for and Community and Arts centre. Question marks hang over the future of our library and swimming pool. Teaching posts are being cut the list goes on…
But the good news is amidst all this you’re asking readers not to do anything about the economic state of our town but to write to our local politicians in order to get a new shiny place of consumerism, namely a Lidl store
Do you have any spare buckets of sand?
A few months ago we saw citizens politicised, talking on street corners, planning, hoping, looking forward to a better Scotland, many of us are still doing that.
Now we’re being asked to take up our mighty pens and fight for a supermarket to come to Nairn. What happened?
I disagree with the idea that Lidl would give us more choice. The number of customers at both Sainsbury's and the Co-op stores will drop with the opening of Lidl and this will see some items being withdrawn from sale if they aren't being sold in sufficient volume, just the way that supermarkets operate. This being the case some people might find they still need to do a regular shop in the bigger stores in either Inverness or Elgin
Food for thought?
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2007/mar/14/businesscomment.supermarkets
About time Nairn got into the 21st century and we got some desent eating places like a Macdonalds and Burger King. Pizza Hut and a Nandos would be pretty good as well. Tourists would love them as well
some desent eating places
That's almost a Freudian slip.....if anyone has a spare 'c'
A lot of people probably sympathise with Spurtle's view "....town centres should have been kept, vibrant,rather the pandering to the whims of the 'promise much, deliver little' brigade who just want to stick up ticky tacky out of town units on green field sites because it costs less & offers greater returns.".
The problem is - that's what people seem to want. They vote with their feet, or rather get in their cars and drive to the retail parks. Towns, and shopping patterns, are bound to change and evolve. The challenge for retailers is to find new and different ways of generating business. In their own way, Lidl and Aldi are doing exactly that, which is why Tesco etc are feeling the pain.
Other retailers - such as town centre shops - have to be equally imaginative. Shoppers haven't all gone online. You have to ask - why are High Streets struggling while Brodie Countryfare, House of Bruar, and dozens of other similar places across the country are thriving and pulling in customers? Because they have become "destinations". If High street shopping could offer the same sort of experience (easy and free parking, quality products, fresh food, agreeable places to eat, clean toilets, shelter from the weather, and no risk of getting run over by traffic or harangued by a passing drunk) then maybe town centres wouldn't be in such a dire state.
I'm not persuaded that Anonymous at 6.51 has the magic solution: "About time Nairn got into the 21st century and we got some desent eating places like a Macdonalds and Burger King. Pizza Hut and a Nandos would be pretty good as well. Tourists would love them as well." Yeah, right, tourists would flock to Nairn to eat at the same cheap fastfood franchise takeaways as they can find anywhere else? Really? Nairn would look and feel exactly the same as hundreds of other windswept retail parks or anonymous suburban malls. Doesn't exactly suggest a distinctive tourist or travel offer, an attractive day-out destination, or a traditional Scottish experience.
But whatever the vision of Nairn's future, Graisg gets it right when he says that, above all, "...we need intervention, leadership and out of the box thinking from our present set of four Highland Councillors.". Problem is, I fear hell will freeze over before we see any of that.
Could we have a Waitrose AND AND a nice Nando's, new harbour, lick of paint for the high street, tart up the tourist bits 'n' bobs and oh while we are at it...how about putting Nairn on the map as a destination to visit whilst up visiting the Caairngorms, all I see is 'all roads lead to Cawdor' signs.
But wait, we first need to bin the dreaded 'lights' ;-)
Anon@3.29 says this will see some items being withdrawn from sale if they aren't being sold in sufficient volume, just the way that supermarkets operate. But that happens anyway, I don't know how many times supermarkets have withdrawn items I buy frequently and when you ask them they just say that there is no demand - but there is, from me! So don't blame Lidl's when this happens.
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