No way is it going to be a guide to green living. Apart from anything else, we at myPetersfield don't consider ourselves paragons of virtue when it comes to the green life and eco-friendly behaviour. It's not that we don't care, but we're lazy and sometimes it takes a real effort of will to Do The Right Thing. But here are a few thoughts on how we might protect and enrich the local ecology and economy. Mail us with some more.

TESCO

This is the big one. It's happening now and as a resident of Petersfield you have until June 14th 2007 to raise objections. If you wish to do so, a sample template letter is provided here which you may wish to download, update and send.

Summary

Tesco has recently put forward plans to 'enhance' the present Petersfield superstore with an expansion of nearly 70%, allowing additional space for convenience goods and a larger selection of comparison products. 'Comparison products' are Tesco's term for fundamentally non-food items - white goods, clothing, household goods, books, CDs etc. The store also proposes a 'Dot Com' hub, which we understand to be a point from which goods could be ordered from Tesco's catalogue and to which goods ordered in this way, or ordered online would be delivered and distributed to the local area. 

Tesco make much of the benefit which this expansion will bring to both town and school. They suggest that drawing people to the superstore will encourage 'linked shopping' which will benefit other retailers in the town... that, broadly, having stocked up with groceries and all the other goods that Tesco now propose to stock, you will then stroll through to Petersfield High Street to purchase more of the same. myPetersfield finds this one a bit hard to swallow.

The land required for this expansion will be purchased from The Petersfield School (subject to approval from the Department of Education and Skills) and with the funds raised from the sale of the land, and help from Tesco, the school plans to update its sports facilities with the addition of an 'all weather' sports pitch, tennis courts and changing facilities amongst other things. This leaves the two projects inextricably linked; with the school on board, the title of the joint planning application reads as follows:

DEVELOPMENT OF AN ALL- WEATHER SPORTS PITCH, TWO TENNIS COURTS, IMPROVEMENTS TO HARD-SURFACE AREA TO CREATE FOUR MULTI-USE COURTS, THREE SYNTHETIC CRICKET STRIPS AND TWO CRICKET NETS, CHANGING FACILITY, FLOODLIGHTING TO THE ALL-WEATHER PITCH AT THE PETERSFIELD SCHOOL, A RETAIL (A1) EXTENSION TO THE TESCO SUPERMARKET, DOT.COM FACILITY, ASSOCIATED LANDSCAPING, AMENDMENTS TO CAR PARKING AND SERVICING ARRANGEMENTS AND RELOCATION OF STORE ENTRANCE

For what its worth, myPetersfield objects to the expansion of the Tesco store for the following reasons:

• We are concerned about the detrimental effect which it will have on the local independent economy, which will struggle to compete on both price and convenience with Tesco's economies of scale. These will be short term gains for Petersfield residents, but in the long term we believe people will regret the loss of the unique suppliers and outlets which differentiate Petersfield from other towns and give it its individual character.

• We fear that Petersfield will become just another ghost town, its high street left to charity shops and transient retailers, with little opportunity for real, organic, sustainable business.

• We object to the homogenisation of the retail economy and anticipate with no enthusiasm an environment in which the only choice for Petersfield food shoppers is between Waitrose, Tesco and Marks and Spencer.

• In turn we fear the effect that this will have on local food producers as retail outlets shrink and they become dependent on the patronage of the supermarkets, and subsequently on the local pubs, restaurants and cafes which increasingly pride themselves on using local produce.

• In short we fear that the increasing dominance of supermarkets, which this expansion will encourage, will have a disruptive effect on the local food chain which, once accepted, will be hard to reverse.

• We object to the effect on local transport logistics which the transportation of food and 'comparison products' into and out of the expanded Tesco site will have, particularly as the site becomes a hub for the movement of food and non-food goods in and out.

• We object to the linking of retail profit with education and sport and find it hard to believe that this is the only way that sports facilities can be improved at the Petersfield School.

Planning application

Some key points from the planning overview, which concentrates hard on the new facilities for the school and less so on the impact of the store expansion, follow. The full Planning Document, along with supporting information and plans, can be found on the EHDC website, here. 

• The development is driven by a 'Statement of Sporting Need'.

• A 'Retail Assessment' has demonstrated that  "whilst Petersfield is performing reasonably well, there is scope to improve the <Tesco> offer within the town and therefore its attractiveness to both Petersfield residents and those within the surrounding villages"

• "there is a need for floorspace and ... this can be accommodated without an unacceptable impact on the existing town centre traders"

• there is "a need for new sporting facilities and retail floorspace"

• "The Petersfield School has agreed, subject to approval from the Department for Education and Skills, to sell a strip of land that borders the Tesco site... the funds raised from the sale of the land will be used to improve the sporting facilities at the school as described above."

• "The store currently has a gross external area of 3,382 m?. It is proposed that the gross floorspace be increased by 2,383 m?. This will provide an additional net floorspace of 1,550 m? consisting of 350m? convenience goods floorspace and 1,100 m? of comparison goods floorspace. The remainder is to be occupied by customer services, checkouts, toilets, circulation space..."

• "The gross floorspace figure includes additional storage space, an enlarged cage marshalling area and a dot.com marshalling facility"

• "The two parts of this application are inextricably linked. Without the sale of part of the playing fields, the school will be unable to progress the sports facility improvements and without the land, the extension to the Tesco store cannot be brought forward. One cannot happen without the other..."

• "The documents submitted in support of this planning application demonstrate that there is a need for both the sporting facilities and the new retail floorspace... and that there will be significant benefit to both the school and the community as a result of these proposals."

• "... improving the existing offer of the Tesco store and therefore the attractiveness of Petersfield as a whole will encourage local residents and those within surrounding villages to use the town for the purpose of convenience shopping and for the purchase of comparison goods"

• "Encouraging more people to visit the Tesco store will benefit retailers within the town."

More information

Information on the effect of Tesco retail strategy on market towns and on other campaigns of objection, many of them successful, can be found at Tescopoly.

We also strongly recommend the highly informative paper written by John Milman of the Petersfield Society and submitted to each member of the Planning Committee of the EHDC

Be aware too, that nothing is ever completely simple. See Lucy Caines' letter on the letters page for a different angle, from a local farming family. Your contribution to that discussion is welcomed.

Marks and Sparks

Marks & Spencer has come to town, another piece in the multinational, cookie-cutter jigsaw that brings Petersfield another step closer in line with Everytown UK.

We've got nothing against the food... actually let's rephrase that - we've got nothing against the food apart from the packaging, the polishing, the food miles, the preservatives and additives, the pantechnicons blocking up roads and high streets, and all the other engineering that goes towards making a multinational food business possible. And the fact that every pound you spend there is a pound sucked out of the local economy to feed the expectations of the City.

Worse - because myPetersfield is led by nothing if not by its stomach - is the steadily increasing homogeneity of taste and food as our choice of eating converges on the range of delights which the big five supermarkets choose to lay before us.  

'But do we have a choice?' we hear you cry. Respectfully - damn right you do. 'Who else can give us what M&S gives us?'. Well lets just look at a few examples.  Fine wines? Try the General Wine Company in Liphook and Midhurst. Quality meat? From Grange Farm at Empshott through Two Farmers in Liss to Rother Valley Organics at Nyewood and Jefferson's in Midhurst you are literally spoilt for choice. Organic, seasonal fruit and vegetables? Tried OrgaNick recently at the Saturday market or on his own farm, or Durleighmarsh Farm out near Rogate? Delicatessen at Rowan's in Lavant Street? Exquisite desserts from Potts' Pantry at the monthly market? (whose extraordinary produce, much of it organic, storable, freezable, we've barely mentioned). Excellent coffees (ground to order) and teas at Djangos...

• All of these producers, and many more, will supply you with excellent, unique food and drink. This isn't just a conscience thing you know!

• All of them keep the money you spend inside the local economy rather than funnelling it away to boost corporate dividends and pension funds.

• Many of them sustain a unique local ecosystem which simply means that what they grow and produce is what ends up on your plate at the Keepers, the Three Horseshoes, the Thomas Lord, the Kings Arms and many many more, hugely enriching the experience of eating out in this region.

Amongst M&S's other fine offerings is a range of chilled 'gastropub meals', for you to enjoy in front of the telly. Is it only myPetersfield that wants to weep at the very idea? 'This isn't just food', they say. We couldn't agree more. And as for 'Simply Food'? We contend: food is never simple. 

What do you say?  Let us know at myPetersfield. Your letters on this subject here.

plastic bags

Can't we make something of this?

Instead of messing about with endless debates over pedestrianisation (does anyone really want this?), why not try something that's proven to work and would get Petersfield some great press - joining the growing grassroots campaign to eliminate plastic bags from our shops. Modbury in Devon started the trend six months ago, with huge success) Hebden Bridge in Yorkshire followed, and now 50 towns, cities and villages in the UK have begun a process to eliminate plastic bags from their high streets

A few factlets for you to think about:

>> A person uses a plastic carrier bag on average for only 12 minutes.

>> A plastic bag can take between 500 to 1000 years to break down in the environment.

>> In the UK at least 200 million plastic bags end up as litter on our beaches, streets and parks ever year.

All the indicators are that eliminating plastic bags would be pushing at an open door. With the co-operation of shops and council, we could get rid of plastic bags by Christmas 2008.

More to follow, but some great information and a very readable piece here.

the greening campaign

I can't believe it's taken us so long to hear about this. The following is a crib directly from the site - we recommend you go take a look yourself.

"What Is The Greening Campaign?  The Greening Campaign was set up in response to the threat of global warming. It is an innovative idea to help motivate people to reduce their energy consumption and therefore lower their personal and community carbon footprint. The campaign is the brain child of Terena Plowright, who is the centre manager at The Sustainability Centre, East Meon, Hampshire. She runs the scheme, which was started in Petersfield and is now being taken up by several other local communities. So successful was the Petersfield campaign that it now looks set to become a regional campaign, with every possibility of eventually achieving national coverage.
How does it work?  Households are encouraged to take a branded information card, which gives them a list of ways to save energy in the home and at work. They then undertake to put into action a set number of these ideas and display the card in a front window. The messages can be reinforced by film shows, public meetings and displays in shops, libraries, etc. The next step of the campaign is to evaluate its success which is done by a combination of public surveys and card counts. From this information the annual CO2 cut for the community can be estimated and reported in the local paper. For Petersfield the saving was an amazing 23 tons of carbon dioxide ( a single ton of carbon dioxide would be about the size of a four bedroom house).
What Happens After The Initial Period? There are many beneficial spin-offs to the campaign. Householders may think of other ways of saving energy and/or go on to do much more than was asked of them to take part in the campaign. Businesses start to look at energy management and ways of increasing recycling and reducing waste. Schools can use the campaign as a catalyst for a range of activities linked to the National Curriculum."

the greening campaign is based at The Sustainability Centre in East Meon, and here. If you're at all interested in reducing your carbon footprint, and doing something to green up your own turf, then you owe it to yourself to take a look.

Other ideas. Take them or leave them - we're not in the habit of preaching

Walk or cycle. Don't always get the car out, particularly for short trips. You can get a surprising amount in a shoulder bag, and more in bike panniers which can be lifted off and used as shopping bags. Consider cycling to the pub - you'll feel you've earned that pint and as you're not driving, maybe you can indulge in another one. Bikes are cheap these days - you can get a serviceable hybrid road/ mountain bike for £200 or less - and honestly, once you've made the effort to climb back in the saddle, cycling is fun - you just need to make the effort to get the bike out. Then there's all that fitness business, but you probably know, or can guess that. Your best local places for bikes and advice: Liphook Cycles, and Owen's Cycles in Steep.

Any more ideas in this line? mail@myPetersfield.co.uk