Questions & Answers

Oswestry has always been a Market Town and both the Town Council and the Auctioneers believe that the residents, shop keepers and other businesses recognise the importance of the Market to the Town.

Whilst there are several operators represented in the town, existing provision needs to be properly considered in the light of existing and forecast expenditure. The Borough Council's own recent Retail Study demonstrates that there is not only sufficient expenditure available to support these stores – some of which are overtrading – but that an element of local residents' expenditure is continuing to leak-out of the Oswestry catchment to Wrexham and Shrewsbury. Put simply, if new and improved shopping facilities selling both food and bulky non-food products are not provided, it will simply result in some stores further overtrading, and other expenditure flowing out to locations further afield. In providing such new facilities, consumers will, of course, benefit from increased choice and competition.

Yes. Our signed up operator, Cineworld, with their expertise at being the nation’s second largest cinema operator, have carried out their specific due diligence on Oswestry and its catchment area and have signed up to a 25 year lease upon the proposed redevelopment scheme with a ‘keep open’ clause of 15 years. They are the experts at their specific market and would not be undertaking their huge investment lightly.

Our proposed redevelopment has already secured the requisite funding for the scheme to go forward in the current adverse economic climate. The scheme has already signed up legally to a number of pre-let tenants, which helps to underpin the viability and sustainability of the proposal. The huge investment proposed of the redevelopment scheme should be viewed as a “feather in the cap” for Oswestry town, especially in this adverse economic climate. The proposals will help to underpin the existing leakage from shoppers to Shrewsbury, Wrexham and the surrounds and assist in retaining the shoppers and the evening economy in Oswestry – both in the town and at the new development.

No. The site will be provided courtesy of the developers, Liberty Mercian Ltd, for the sole benefit of local independent traders.

The Town Council will formally ask for input from its townspeople on how they believe the proceeds should be spent to benefit the town itself. If a planning permission is given for the redevelopment plans, the Town Council will undergo a consultation process.

The changes to the highway prompted by the proposed development have been developed in consultation with Shropshire County Council and seek to minimise the impact of the development on the wider road network in Oswestry, whilst making sure that existing levels of access to the development and adjacent areas have been improved, or at the very least, maintained. This has been done not only to make life easier for local residents, but also in response to the growing demand for sustainable access - not only by the government and the general public, but by the Smithfield development team’s own corporate consciences. A great deal of effort has gone into identifying different options for increasing public transport access, improving the walking and cycling environment and generally reducing the need for people to travel by car - and we see the minimization of new road building as an integral part of that.

The new site for the Market will extend to approximately 16 acres which is at least as large as, and in some cases larger than, the modern Markets that have been built in recent times or are in the process of being constructed. Indeed, it will be more than twice the size of some facilities in the catchment area.

Individual farmers and clients of the Livestock Market have received correspondence detailing the proposals and explaining the rationale behind the scheme. They have been invited to view the proposals and discuss and consider them on an individual basis, and to see the detailed plans, specifications and drawings. The project has received overwhelming support from both the NFU and Farmers’ Union of Wales, indicating that the new facilities will be a real boost to the Market and that their members are looking forward to it continuing to thrive and be a modern, forward-thinking Agricultural Centre.

Yes. Walking to and from the development takes advantage of existing pedestrian facilities and also provides new crossings to assist along this route. The free Town Centre Shuttle Bus and existing bus services will also make it very easy to get to the town centre from within the heart of the development or from Shrewsbury Road. This means people will be able to take advantage of facilities both in and out of town with ease.

This development is vital for the proposed modernisation of the Livestock Market and will allow it to provide the necessary facilities to compete with new modern Markets in the locality that have been developed on the back of Retail Planning Permissions.

In order to address this question, one must firstly consider the nature of the proposed retail development – in this case a main (bulk) food store and bulky goods non-food retailing such as DIY or carpet warehousing. Clearly, the proposed food store will function first and foremost as a main (bulk) food store. As such, it will compete "head-to-head" with those stores which perform similar roles. A main food store at Smithfield will therefore compete principally with the Sainsburys store, which is demonstrably overtrading and which is not located within the town centre. The new store would also compete, to a lesser extent with the Aldi and Somerfield supermarkets and superstores located in Wrexham and Shrewsbury. With regard to the smaller, often independent convenience businesses located in the town centre, none of these fulfil a main food shopping role and, moreover, some perform "specialist" and/or niche roles. They also co-exist "alongside" the larger supermarkets in the town. Consequently, whereas the larger national multiple food retailers will experience increased competition – from which local consumers benefit – none of these stores will be materially harmed. Furthermore, as the smaller convenience stores will not be susceptible to any significant shift in shopping patterns and trade loss, this sector similarly will not be adversely affected. People who are predisposed towards shopping at supermarkets are already doing so!

With regard to the proposed non-food retailing, this is restricted to bulky goods. Consequently, there will be comparatively little overlap with the non-food retail offer within the town centre and hence limited trade diversion. Also relevant is the surplus expenditure identified in the Borough Council's Retail Study and the leakage of expenditure to locations further afield. It is widely accepted that in a situation where there is surplus expenditure or retail capacity, appropriate new floorspace will have a very limited impact on existing similar retail provision.

Finally, with the measures proposed in the Smithfield application, including the free Town Centre Shuttle bus to and from the town centre, linked shopping trips will generate new business

An e-commerce opportunity currently being investigated by Liberty Mercian could provide local traders with wider exposure and sales opportunities on a local, national and even international basis, through the forum of ‘All the Little Shops’ website which will be developed especially for local businesses in Oswestry.

5 hours for free. This is ample time to visit the town centre, go to the cinema, have something to eat and do some shopping! Like the free Town Centre Shuttle bus, there are no strings attached – no need to buy a ticket and get the money back or anything like that.

The Town Centre Town Centre Shuttle Bus will run Monday to Saturday every 15-20 minutes throughout the day, and into the evening to support activity at the development and town centre. A Sunday service will also be operated on a 30 minute frequency, again at tomes to support visits to the town centre and the development.

Yes. There will be no need to buy a ticket and claim the money back from the development, or to prove a certain level of spend in the foodstore or anything like that. The Town Centre Shuttle bus is free to use with no strings attached.

If we are successful in achieving an outline planning consent in March 2009, we believe that a detailed planning consent should be achieved by October 2009. We need to relocate the new market onto part of the site and then build all other elements of the scheme, which we believe should be completed towards the end of 2010.

The town centre car parks are already operating at maximum capacity and some of the parking spaces are utilised by commuters. By alleviating the commuter car parking at a discounted price, traders and office workers from the town centre will free up additional spaces for the benefit of town centre shopping.

No, the Smithfield site is not an allocated employment site in the adopted Local Plan. Whilst it does fall within the Maesbury Road Industrial Estate as designated in the Local Plan, Policy LE1 clearly states that whilst the industrial estate is a suitable location for business uses and industry, "… other uses will be considered on their merits." Consequently, there is no "in principle" employment land policy objection to the Smithfield regeneration proposal and it therefore falls to be considered against other relevant policies, for example, those relating to retail development. Also relevant, of course, in the context of employment generation, is the fact that the Smithfield regeneration proposal will create up to 850 jobs, with the potential to inject at least £9 million in salaries/wages into the local economy.

No. The main car park will only allow 5 hours – enough time to enjoy Oswestry but not enough time to park all day to work. The offices and Livestock Market will have their own parking that will allow all day parking but this will be clearly signposted and managed accordingly. The commuter Park and Ride will operate from the Livestock Market on a ‘pass’ system that will help support the free Town Centre Shuttle bus.

The existing vacant office space is primarily over retail premises and is not of a modern design. In addition, it doesn’t offer convenient adjacent car parking for its occupiers. Specific modern offices provide floor layouts and modern services allowing the occupier to space plan their offices to benefit all businesses. The level of enquiries received for new office space underpins the interest in a modern facility, currently not on offer within Oswestry.

We want to provide an up to date, modern and user friendly Livestock Market that will underpin the future of the Market for this and future generations. By relocating, we release an area of land that is ideal for development and will provide the necessary funds for this exciting scheme. It will also allow us to better manage our business with all sections within easy reach of each other, allowing greater mobility of staff between sections and thereby improving the service that we can provide.

No. Liberty Mercian sought the advice of Senior Consultant Microbiologist, Alan Lyne. He said: ‘I know of no food hygiene legislation that would prohibit the siting of a food business closely adjacent to a livestock market’.

The Town Council own the Market and they, and the Auctioneers, have a written agreement that ensures the Market will continue to provide Farmers and Purchasers with the facilities that they want for the trading of Livestock as an Auction Market.

There will be excellent unloading/loading and handling facilities for all sections, more than capable of handling stock throughput.

The new Cleansing and Disinfecting facility will be state of the art, with specially designed drive on/off ramps. There will be a large number of wash bays more than capable of accommodating the busy throughput of this Livestock Centre, ensuring that all cleansing of vehicles is to the very highest standard.

The new facilities, Car Park and Traffic Flows have been designed to ensure orderly and managed flow throughout the Market site, with specially designed waiting and filtering lanes from the highway to the unloading facilities. There will, in fact, be more vehicle queuing/ waiting lanes than exist at the moment, so ensuring that all Market traffic can easily and efficiently drive off the public road onto the Market site.