by
chrisglos
@ Tuesday, 18. Apr, 2006 - 12:48:52
If I were elected; Oh if only...
Having read an article in the Sunday Times (ooooh, get me), had a stroll through a city centre high street and also noticed the lovely white voting postcards dropping through the door this last week, its got me thinking about the carbuncle that is England today.
The article I read was about the development of what is to be 'Britains biggest building - a giant supermarket warehouse acting as a larder for much of southern England. It is to be erected next to a Hampshire nature reserve.'
Now I pass this nature reserve every weekday - its a huge lake and woodland area in Fleet. The size of the proposed building equates to that of 17 football pitches. No doubt its construction, so say those against it as well, will result in the felling of many trees during construction, the destroying of wildlife habitats and also threaten the ecosystem of the adjacent pond.
In the name of what? Greedy profits for an already obscenely rich multi-national with octopus tentacles sucking up any new retail venture it sniffs money in. The reported company involved is Tesco.
I read this the day after I was strolling the once bustling city centre of Gloucester. It could have been any town centre though. 'For sale', 'Closing Down', 'Everything must go' and 'All items £1' scream the lurid posters and billboards littering what seem to now be every other shop front. The same sad sight adorns nearly all towns and high streets up and down the land.
And it only gets worse with more and more companies being bought under the arm of the sleazy uncle conglomorations. Acting like pimps and amassing a vast harem of smaller stores and companies. Blanded and branded under the uniform of their corporate robotmasters. It stands to reason then that if the parent company then gets taken over or goes into receivership, not one but many household names then disappear from the streets.
All I was missing walking down the street was a small cheroot, cowboy hat, some leather chaps and a weary old nag...with a tumbleweed blowing ominously down the street, its turbulent escape echoing the speed at which trade is being ripped out.
Its ugly, its depressing and ultimately debilitating for any community or economy. Further sign, if it were needed, of the perils these huge monsters cast over the country.
As an aside from that, it got me to thinking of the Bills and legislation I would impose were I ever in Mr Bleeuurghs positions:
- Do not allow any business within a town centre, shopping centre or high street to up sticks and move premises unless a new tenant is in place to take over the premises.
- Do not allow new-build sites anywhere within a rural community without first exhausting all possibilities of utilising derelict land.
- The same goes for any ramshackle, unoccupied premises within a town centre.
And I say b*ll*x to any arguments about cost involved to companies in building from scratch versus converting derelict sites.
There are bigger costs at stake - namely regaining the balance before in every town in every county we are faced with empty premises, bargain basement temporary shops, loss of local trade...and a choice of only 3 corporate shops or complexes.
I for one dont want to keep seeing what should be an affulent and beautiful country continue to be filled with empty buildings and car-boot style shopping streets. Nor needless warehouses and multiplexes swallowing up the countryside - not when we have rail networks, canals and roads already in place to be utilised first.
I know it may not be quite so economically simple, or quick to implement - but if someone in power decided to take a stance and risk being lambasted, then I believe we should stick to the above and recycle and renovate, rather than abandon and accumulate.
Guilty as (phone) charged.
Merely curious]
