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KEEP LOUTH
SPECIAL |
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Keep Louth Special
Towns hit or under
supermarket threat |
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Click on the picture
See the BBC Interview
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Keep
Louth Special
What we are about
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Back in 2008, Louth was a town under threat. East Lindsey District Council had earmarked the cattle market site for sale to the highest bidder, almost certainly a supermarket. At five acres, the site is big enough for a very large supermarket, aimed at providing everything shoppers want under one roof. |
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Not only would this have meant the closure of the last livestock market in Lincolnshire, but the destruction of much of the traditional town centre whose profusion of historic individual shops could not have survived the loss of custom. |
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Keep Louth Special was formed in response to that threat, getting 5,300 signatures on a petition to save the cattle market in 2008/9. The people of the town, and thousands of shoppers who come in from other areas to buy produce here, were clear that they wanted to stop Louth becoming just another clone town. |
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Behind the scenes, KLS volunteers have worked tirelessly, not only to oppose the cattle market plan, but to put forward alternative uses for the cattle market which would allow ELDC to get increased income from the site, even while the sale of livestock remains. |
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Keep Louth Special’s aims are quite simple: to keep the distinctive appeal of the town intact, to help traditional local businesses thrive, to promote the idea of the sustainable local economy, and to work within the community to achieve those goals. While we may oppose particular developments, we do not oppose change. Progress, after all, means change towards a desired goal. |
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Our desired goals are to see evening shopping within the town, greater access to farmer’s market produce and other locally-produed goods by those who currently do all their shopping at supermarkets, and perhaps can’t come in during the day. We’d like to see market traders working together to minimise duplicated effort, to reach new buyers, and build up their often meagre income. |
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We’d like to see training in traditional crafts like butchery and baking aimed at fostering a new generation of independent traders. The possibilities of a town partnership, a local food hub, a street market makeover and tourism branding for the town are all initiatives we welcome, together with ELDC’s appointment of a town manager.
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Retrograde change by contrast would be the creation of huge new supermarkets, whether on the cattle market, at Kiln Lane or elsewhere, when the impact would be to damage what is unique and distinctive about the town, and replace it with the bland, the homogenous, and the car-dependent. |
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We are delighted to say that our message is getting across to councillors and council officials. Saving market towns is already a major government aim, with funding attached. ELDC has finally recognised that for every Louth resident who does all their shopping outside the town, there is a resident of Grimsby, Scunthorpe or Lincoln who travels to Louth for recreational food shopping or to visit Louth’s unique range of independent clothing and household stores. The new ELDC draft strategy document goes some way towards building this into policy, though still clings to the illogical idea of ‘clawing back’ retail spending from Grimsby. With the arrival of the Town Plan, into which KLS had some input, the position of the town has an increasing policy and legal buttress. |
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While the threat of the sale of the cattle market hasn’t entirely disappeared, there is a new realisation that much about Louth is special. What we now need is a new retail strategy and planning policy to flow from this which ensures the town remains distinctive and unique for decades to come. |
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ELDC’s Draft
Core Strategy Consulation Document
Louth Town Plan
http://www.louthtownplan.org/
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Copyright © 2008
Keep Louth Special, keeplouthspecial.org.uk and
Surfs Global UK
Copyright
2005 Surfs Global International Networks.
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