We are a group campaigning to stop Sainsbury’s current planning application for a very large white box supermarket they want to build across Moor Lane in Crosby Village.
We believe it should be stopped and changed because it will have a big negative impact upon our community. We describe some of the reasons for this below.
We want your help in spreading the word about the damage Sainsbury’s plans will do. By signing our petition you can help us to stop Sainsbury’s current plans.
The Sainsbury’s proposal....
• will ruin the potential of Crosby Village to become a nicer place for everyone, and damage local businesses.
• is all about cars and not people and will decrease safety in the village.
• damages the Sainsbury’s brand and their current role in our local community.
• is not sustainable and will damage the environment.
Click image to see it all
The potential of Crosby Village
We are optimistic about what the Village could be like. We have a vision for a vibrant, bustling centre in the day, with thriving restaurants and bars in a safer environment at night.
This vision requires better access to the local shops and bars, so that we can jump safely into a taxi after a night out, or just pop into the shops, cafes and salons easily throughout the day. To be successful the village needs to be more popular, and more attractive, but Sainsbury’s propose a huge white building blocking Moor Lane and spoiling the potential character of the village with something that looks like it belongs in an industrial estate.
Statistical evidence shows that house prices are affected by the quality of their nearest shopping or village centre and as Crosby Village improves or declines the values of our homes will follow.
People not Cars
Good design, such as Liverpool One, puts people first. Lively streets and shop fronts are much better than car parks for community life. Cars dominate Sainsbury’s plans so much that they have lifted their new store to first floor level creating an under-croft area which will need careful management to avoid being a dangerous and ugly place. The store will also be harder to access for the elderly and families with pushchairs, as the only way in from the village will be via stairs, lifts, or travelators (moving ramps).
Sainsbury’s want their store to be 20% bigger than the ASDA in Bootle and this will create lots of extra traffic but they have made no significant plans to improve pedestrian or car movement around the village, making the current situation worse. They are also proposing a 4 storey car park alongside Islington, next to the bus stops, which will not improve the attractiveness of the village.
Sainsbury’s brand & Jamie Oliver
The existing Sainsbury’s is a good match with the character of Crosby, a better ‘fit’ than some other major supermarkets, and the local community likes and uses Sainsbury’s so much that it sells twice as much stuff as they would usually expect to from a store this size, making them lots of profits.
Everything Sainsbury’s stands for as a brand, is not represented in their proposals for our community. You don’t see Jamie Oliver adverts with him on a travelator entering a huge white box which spoils a historic village centre. Yet Sainsbury’s often make much better buildings in sensitive locations, usually in the south of England, such as the town of Deal in Kent. Why not return the support the people of Crosby have shown the company and build us something better?
http://www.cabe.org.uk/case-studies/sainsbury-supermarket-deal
Sustainability
We are not extreme green activists, and are not opposed to the reality of big supermarkets in modern life, but the world is changing and environmental issues should be taken seriously. Sainsbury’s proposals increase car traffic and only work to minimum government environmental standards. This should be compared to the new ASDA in Bootle which is both more attractive and truly sustainable, being built with wood and reclaimed bricks and incorporating genuine energy saving features. Sainsbury’s have built green supermarkets elsewhere, notably in Greenwich, London.http://retail-development.asda.com/asda-bootle.html
http://www.cabe.org.uk/case-studies/sainsburys-supermarket-greenwich-peninsula
How you can help
Become our friend on Facebook, we are called Abettercrosby Stopping Sainsbury’s
As a friend you will be expressing you support for our campaign. You can share your thoughts here and get more involved if you would like.
Sign our petition to the leader of Sefton Council. Sainsbury’s had very few public ‘feedback’ forms returned so our petition could really make a difference in demonstrating that more people want a better future for Crosby Village
http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/ABetterCrosby
Some people are finding problems with this website - if so just email us- as below
Visit the rest of our blog
http://abettercrosby.blogspot.com/
to find more detail on the damage the Sainsbury’s proposals will cause, and other stories about some other good , and not so good, things in and around Crosby.
Or email us at abettercrosby@googlemail.com Thanks for taking the time to read this.
A Better Crosby
