The supermarket at Rocks Green has now been confirmed as Sainsbury’s, with a small Argos click and collect style unit. If permission is granted construction is expected to begin towards the end of the year with the retail units opening in the second half of 2021.
Although I am not expecting the scheme to be turned by Shropshire councillors, this scheme will split opinion in Ludlow.
Many people will welcome an alternative to Tesco and Aldi. Those stores are in the centre of Ludlow, where it can be difficult to park at peak times. They will welcome a store which sells cheap clothes – and this is expected to include school uniforms in season. Others will fear that footfall will be reduced in the town centre, which was already suffering from high car parking charges before the Covid-19 epidemic.
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As an example of the split opinion, Ludlow Town Council is to register no objection to the latest proposal. But the chair of the council’s Representational Committee said wryly after Wednesday night’s vote: “I’m surprised”. He clearly had expected opposition to the scheme.
The store will serve Rocks Green where another 200 homes are due to be built. The first phase of construction of those is underway.
In 2014, retail experts estimated a supermarket at Rocks Green could cost Ludlow town centre a quarter of its trade. This scheme is smaller, by about 29 per cent, but there is still likely to be a big hit on established trade. Much of that hit will be taken by Tesco and Aldi. They can perhaps survive that. A more important worry is that trade will also be taken from independent retailers and Ludlow Market. If people do their main shop at Sainsbury’s, there is a very real possibility they won’t come into town at all.
Once footfall drops, independent shops will close and market traders will drift away.
The Rocks Green roundabout on the A49 is currently a green and leafy gateway into Ludlow. I am concerned that if this development goes ahead one current plans, it will be a brash urban scheme, completely out of place in the south Shropshire countryside. More work needs to be done to soften the impact of the scheme.
Currently the scheme has no accommodation for a bus bay. This is essential to allow the widest access to the retail units. The 2011 Census showed that 1225 households in Ludlow (25.1%) did not own a car compared to 15.8% across Shropshire. That’s unlikely to have changed. The 722 bus service already serves Rocks Green hourly. I see no reason why the frequency should not increase to half hourly to bring shoppers to Sainsbury’s from the across the town. The developers are current looking at our request for a safely positioned bus stop.
About time Ludlow has big branded retailers move into the area. Argos is a welcomed bonus and a supermarket selling clothes should make a difference.
Great idea
I’m surprised that you are talking about routing a bus to take people to Sainsbury’s.Let them organise their own . Instead, how about thinking about the 722 which is only once an hour where it used to be every 30 minutes.Help locals to go into town to shop instead of taking them out to Sainsbury’s to shop.
The bus already goes to Rocks Green as you say. I think Sainsbury’s should pay towards it. The bus will also serve the housing that is currently being built off the A4117. If the bus goes to Sainsbury’s it will of course bring people back into town.
Here here . People need to realise every pound spent with Sainsbury is a pound less for independents. Support this and you can forget Ludlow town
If town centres are as precious as we want them to be, the planners at every stage and all levels should not have permitted this development – but it is a ‘fait accompli’, just like online shopping. If it’s there, people will use it. We already know that the car is on its way out, yet simple things – like apparent lack of a bus bay – show that despite all the rhetoric we are still in the dark ages in joined-up thinking.
Bring more shops like primark,
poundland and macdonalds and make retail park will be good for Ludlow
The only outlets it may have an impact on are Tesco and Aldi. They need another competitor that offers more choice.
People who use the ” local ” shops will continue to do so.
Clothes availability at affordable prices is the real benefit. Particularly childrens .
And another fuel station ( with electric hook ups ) also adds some competition.
On parking, we called in to Sandbach on Monday and the decent sized car park in the town centre was free and 2/3 to 3/4 full. It’s used as a market 2 days a week so not sure where else there is parking. We then called to Whitchurch where of course it was pay and display. Removing parking charges would be a big bonus for Ludlow town centre and maybe help mitigate the impact of Sainsbury’s.
The town will always attract visitors over the spring, summer and autumn which will help the independents and market survive, but with hiked up parking charges and an out of town supermarket, why would the locals venture into town on a bleak February weekday?
As a chartered landscape architect specialising in visual impact assessment I consider that the site is overdeveloped both in terms of building footprint (in particular in relation to the existing housing) but also in terms of the extent of the parking which does not allow appropriate perimeter landscape treatment to the western and southern boundaries. If the development is to go ahead the applicants need to lose the parking bays in those locations. There needs to be a series of cross sections prepared showing the physical relationship of the building to the existing housing development and the adjacent highways to demonstrate its impact in terms of visual amenity.
Yes I think it will bring new life to Ludlow. I know many people who already have on line deliveries from Sainsbury.
Meadow lands need to be large enough support mammalian species as well as plants. Plus, there is no provision for cyclists