Established: 2011
May 22, 2013
New supermarket: planning consent issued
June 11, 2012
EXCLUSIVE:
DUNOON supermarket developers are celebrating today after receiving formal planning consent to transform the Walker’s Garden Centre site in the town into a 40,000 sq ft megastore with a petrol filling station.
The decision by Argyll and Bute Council was hailed by project bosses as a “major milestone” in the lengthy journey to deliver the new facility – which is set to become either a Sainsbury’s or Tesco outlet.
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18 Responses to “New supermarket: planning consent issued”
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It is a decision that goes against a majority of the towns population. That is also true of the ferry situation. It seems that neither politicians nor councillors feel the need to listen to the towns people.
I haven’t heard one person ever saying it’s a bad idea, so yes, maybe different opinions, but not all against it.
Fingers crossed for a Sainsbury’s. It should be nice to have a good sized and well run supermarket in the town.
And let us sit back and watch the town centre turn into a ghost town….
As Bruce Weir says “the hard work starts now tying up an agreement with an operator” says it all. They don’t have a concrete agreement with anyone, and Tesco’s profits got battered at Xmas, so don’t see them going for it. Sainsbury’s are too expensive for Dunoon. I think the fact that Morrison’s are expanding speaks volumes. Would they bother expanding with expense involved if they thought for a minute another supermarket was going to open in vicinity? I doubt it, all the supermarket giants have inside knowledge of the industry, I don’t think we need to worry about a new supermarket for the forseeable future.
I think this could potentially be disastrous for the town. Having recently moved to Dunoon from a town of similar size, I have seen first hand what the introduction of a large supermarket can do to all the smaller businesses and shops in the area. There was an Asda and a Tesco built within one mile of each other, and yes it was great for choice and the two competing with each other to keep prices down, however gradually every other smaller shop struggled and eventually shut down, leaving a town full of empty shops and businesses.
The smaller businesses need to come up better options . They don’t do themselves any favours.
Totally agree M, the shops don’t open till 10am – well most of them. They are over priced, only shop worth anything in the town is the fruit shop. They care about the locals, as for the rest – over priced or full of tat. But I think it’s a little too late for them now. They have known about this for over a year. Have the shops done anything to improve? No, not one thing. Lower price, normal working hours not everyone gets out the bed that late. More quality less tat.
What are you talking about. Come on, more jobs.
Where do you get the more jobs? Yes more part time jobs, but with all the other shops closing, there will be more unemployed than supermarket employs, who were previously employed, no economic sense in that argument.
more jobs???? Yes, maybe initially….don’t think you or anyone who is wanting this new supermarket are looking at the bigger picture here!
just hope that the eejits who sanction this proposal are willing enough to help the local traders with some kind of compensation, after they have to stop trading. Will be interesting to see how the car parking arrangements are going to work when entering exiting.
Oban has a large Tesco, a fair sized Co-op a Lidl and an Aldi. I believe its population is 8,500 which I think is similar to Dunoon. Whilst Oban is thriving Dunoon is struggling, why is that?
It is not supermarkets it is the ferries. Western provide a good service but they are expensive, extract money from the local economy, and act as a choke on visitor numbers. Either there needs to be real ferry competition, something we have never had because of the restrictions on CalMac or the fares need to be limited in some way.
Solve the ferry problem and you solve the Dunoon problem.
Oban is thriving due to tourism. All the boats that serve all the inner and outer Hebridean Islands leave from Oban, and because none of the Islands these boats go to have large supermarketrs, then of course having such choice in Oban will and does work for the town.
This is a great idea, and if the town shops go out of business they should of thought about that whilst ripping everyone off
I personally think and hope it will be Sainsbury’s, and please do not be put off thinking it will be too expensive for Dunoon. Sainsbury’s is committed to being cheaper than ASDA and Tesco on branded products – as shown with their Brand Match Scheme – and as for fuel, Sainsbury’s (Aberdeen) 126.9 per litre for unleaded, 131.9 per litre for diesel… ASDA (across the road) 129.7 and 134.7 respectively.
Port Glasgow is a prime example of a similar sized town centre that had a good mix of shops. Pop a Tesco on it’s doorstep and the town is decimated. Unless of course you happen to be in the market for a kebab, a greetings card or something for a pound!
at least you should get cheaper fuel there than what other petrol stations charge in area.