Petition to build a supermarket in Newent, Gloucestershire.

 

Summary:

With the ever expanding size of Newent town and surrounding areas, plus the considerable demand shown on social media platforms for an affordable supermarket in Newent, we have set up this petition to gauge the interest in having a new, larger and affordable supermarket in Newent. 

Please sign the petition if you feel we deserve this in our town. 

 

Details:

Newent is a lovely town, full of charm and friendly people. However, the town is in desperate need of a general supermarket to serve its residents, workers, school pupils and those from surrounding areas.

There are some lovely shops in Newent, but without a decent and affordable supermarket, these shops sadly do not reach as many people as they should. Many residents rarely even go into Newent, because they have no viable choice for food shopping. Instead, these people travel to the likes of Ross-on-wye, Ledbury or Gloucester to do their food shopping. From our market research, many then go on to making a trip into the towns themselves to have a browse, go for coffee/lunch etc.

Wouldn't it be lovely if we had a supermarket that attracted people into OUR town and then those passing our shops and cafes go on to make a purchase! It would bring much more trade into the town and people would actually shop locally, therefore reducing the need to travel (especially important with fuel costs rising, as well as the environmental impact).

 

Comparison with local towns:

Ledbury is a small market town and has expanded massively, but is still a lovely town with lots of independent shops as well as a Tesco, Aldi, Co-op, SPARs and others.

Ross in Wye has a Morrisons, Sainsbury's, Aldi, SPARs and a Co-op amongst others.

Newent had an estimated 5147 residents in 2020 and is expanding with several new housing developments. However, Newent only has 2 small Co-ops and a small SPAR.

The Co-ops and SPAR are great for when you need to just purchase a few things, but for many it is too expensive to do a whole weekly/monthly shop, particularly those on lower incomes. There is also a problem with lack of choice and limited stock on the shelves for such a large, expanding town. There are many people who do not drive or have a car and have no other option but to rely on purchasing from Newent's very small and expensive Co-ops/SPAR, especially now with the lack of buses to and from Newent. 

 

Some quotes from local residents:

"To allow growth of any town, there needs to be a mixture of types of shops. There needs to be something special to entice people in and some recognisable ones to intersperse the unique local wonders. With the constant stream of new houses and no new shops/amenities, people just go elsewhere or shop on their way to/from work."

"The town has got bigger and no extra amenities have been added to it - people are not shopping in town any more because they can get things on their commute, and those who can drive are not using the Co-op because their prices (especially for a weekly shop) are ridiculously high for families. Another supermarket is definitely needed. I have always lived in small towns and they all have been successful because the balance between mainstream and other shops has worked."

"Newent has grown 10 fold since I was a kid, but the centre has basically stayed the same. A huge influx of people to the town, but not the amenities to support it. Instead of buying up all these fields and packing them with houses, give us something we could do with maybe?"

 

Please do sign the petition if you feel Newent would benefit from having a new, larger supermarket in our town. Thank you so much for reading.