The Return of Sainsbury's

The supermarket chain Sainsbury's have renewed their efforts to open a store in Oakham. This time they are planning to build on the site of Rutland College which closes it doors at its current site over the summer. Previously the supermarket chain Waitrose had shown an interest in the site but later pulled out.

It is clear that Oakham is at some point going to get a third supermarket by concern of Sainsbury's taking the site is that their stores tend to ugly and that it won't fit into the tourist image of the town. Sainsbury's stores seem to be designed by cooperate planners to a standard design that resemble food warehouses and lack any kind of character. They might be practical in terms of what the supermarket wants to do as a business and the image it wants to portray but they could hardly be called designer buildings. There seems to be little if any consideration in the design about the nature of the environment in to which it places it stores and no local design input to the process. 

The location of the new store will of course bring extra traffic and congestion to Oakham and all the other reasons against said over and over again in letters to the local press why the site isn't ideal. But nobody uses the store will care about that as long as the car parking spaces are big enough for their 4x4's. My opinion is that the site has already been approved in the minds of Rutland County Council and we are stuck with that, after all Rutland County Council have a habit of ignoring what the local people think if they are going to get something out of it. 

The thing I question, other than the design, is does Oakham really need a Sainsbury's rather than another supermarket chain in the town. It might not something we have a say in or something the Rutland Country Council has a choice over, they are not the people selling the site, but my fear is that it will be like the new Sainsbury's in Stamford that seems always to be empty when I visit it. Although there seems to be a lot of support for Sainsbury's in the town I think most people see it as competition to Tesco's and think it will lower prices locally. The truth is that prices are set by supermarket chains regionally and not locally. It not that it is Sainsbury's they are after as such, but someone that will offer cheaper food prices. In that respect the town would do better having a different chain of supermarkets that compete with Tesco's nationally. Sainsbury's is hardly know as a cheap supermarket chain despite it's ugly buildings.

Personally I think this site will be approved by Rutland County Council and Oakham will have a Sainsbury's within a year. The former Rutland College site has to be redeveloped. As someone pointed out to me, it would be better to have a supermarket there than even more new homes. Given the local outcry the last time Sainsbury's was refused and Rutland County Council's love affair with developers, planning permission will be approved this time. The only question that remains are Rutland County Council strong enough to ask for something that fits in with the town or will we end up with some kind of cooperate designed brick and steel box.

Finally one good thing could come out of this, a gesture by Sainsbury's to the people of Oakham, the gifting of Barleythorpe Road field to the people. This site is currently owned by Tresham college who are selling the old Rutland College Site. If Barleythorpe Road field were to be sold to developers would be covered in houses within a year. However, if the site was brought by Sainsbury's as part of the deal and given to the people it would persevere this striking green space for future generations to enjoy. This is so important to Oakham which slowly becoming a red brick and grey jungle, a trend that  Rutland County Council is promoting and encouraging.