MORE OF THE SAME NO BENEFIT TO US
Sir I read with interest the latest piece by Asda about the 'positive response' from the public to their proposed plans to build a store on the site of the former St James Works and council property, St James House.
As a resident of St James Road it would be ease to accuse me of being 'self centred', as Asda representatives have when I express my concerns about this proposal.
I, along with other residents, was not included in the comments questionnaire sent out in advance of the June public consultation event and, although subsequently a recipient of a letter of apology from Asda, they have still failed to send out a promised copy of their leaflet and the offer of a meeting with them.
This in itself is minor when you take into account the impact on the town if this proposal is given the green light by Angus Council.
The Asda representatives skilfully yet, I suspect, deliberately failed to identify the pitfalls.
Depending on which representative you spoke to, double yellow lines and six to eight sets of traffic lights will be installed along St James Road, traffic diverted from the High Street via Killacky's Corner and The Vennel onto St James Road, filter lanes into and out of New Road immediately adjacent to a Primary School.
I do wonder at the need for 330 parking spaces in the proposed site because, if this is correct, no one will be moving anywhere on St James Road. Least of all the anticipated ten daily supply deliveries to the store.
It does not take much savvy to work out the dangers this will generate for the children or anyone else, nor require much wit to recognise that the emergency services will have extreme difficulty either entering or leaving the town using this route.
Who then will accept the responsibility for the inevitable consequences?
Perhaps the fact that there are GP Practices in New Road and Lour Road is Asda's get-out clause.
Many other vacant plots exist within Forfar and Kirriemuir that could be accessed far easier without endangering the public.
Much is being made of the potential to generate employment within Forfar but realistically what is the net gain when the few remaining independent establishments will be forced out of business by the inevitable undercutting of prices.
By their own admission Asda have their own builders and their own distributors - so who locally will get employment from this project?
If youngsters want Saturday or after-school employment I am sure they will be welcomed with open arms but the likelihood of skilled employment will be negligible.
I cannot deny my own personal concerns about the impact on myself and my neighbouring residents of St James Road but, in real terms and remembering we already have four supermarkets, what Forfar would truly benefit from is a variety of stores that would provide interest to the shopping experience. I do not honestly believe our town will benefit from more of the same.
Yours etc.,
Linda Robbie
St James Road,
Forfar.
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Weather for Kirriemuir
Wednesday 08 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
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