Store bids for Ulverston homes
Last updated at 18:34, Thursday, 11 March 2010
HOME-OWNERS are being asked to move out of their houses to make way for a supermarket.
Earlier this month the Evening Mail revealed Lidl wanted to open a store in Ulverston.
At the time, no specific location for the 17,500 sq ft supermarket was identified.
Now residents in at least two houses on Brewery Mount in Ulverston have received letters from Lidl, asking if they would be willing to sell their homes to the company, to make space for a new supermarket.
But their homes do not seem to provide the bulk of the land for the planned superstore.
An extract from the letter sent to residents from Gary Rafferty, Lidl acquisitions manager for Cumbria, reads: “I have been in discussions with the adjacent landowner regarding the purchase of properties to facilitate the development of a Lidl foodstore and associated car parking.
“However the adjacent land is not large enough to accommodate a satisfactory layout.
“I am therefore writing to you to enquire as to whether you would be willing to discuss terms for the sale of your property as outlined in red on the attached plan.
“If this is something you would be prepared to consider in principle I would be willing to meet informally to discuss this in further detail.”
Pat Ford has lived in Brewery Mount for more than three decades.
Mrs Ford said: “We’re not wanting to sell, we have been here 32 years, and it is a family home.
“My late husband’s parents lived here before us and his grandparents, so it has been in the family for a long, long time.
“This is so handy for everything, and I’ve lived here for so long, and the lady next door, she’s lived here even longer.
“We’d heard a rumour that Lidl wanted to buy the brewery but we had no idea they were looking at our homes.
“We’re waiting to hear if our other neighbour gets a letter and then we’ll write a letter to Lidl together.”
Susan Storey and her husband had their Brewery Mount home built six years ago.
Mrs Storey said: “We don’t really know what’s happening. The article in the paper was the first I’d heard about it.
“We don’t know what to do to be honest.
“We’ll probably just get in touch to ask what they’re planning. We just need more information at the moment, it’s not a decision you take lightly.
Mrs Storey said it was understandable that a supermarket developer would be interested in that area of the town.
She said: “I suppose it is handy in that it is at the bottom of the roundabout, I can see why it would be a good location for it in that sense.
“All I can think is that they’ve got land on the brewery but they need some extra space for parking or something like that.”
Last month, Mr Rafferty had written to Ulverston town councillors describing how he had been searching for a suitable site in Ulverston for a number of years.
His letter had asked the councillors to meet with him to discuss his “aspirations” for the town.
Mr Rafferty’s letter to the councillors said the company’s ideal site would be around 1.5 acres in size to accommodate the store with 80 car park spaces.
No-one at Hartleys Brewery Ltd was available for comment.
First published at 13:14, Thursday, 11 March 2010
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk
He is just speaking truth faor comment as a Professional of many years standing. Lidl are not UK they are foreign and maybe in a position and in any case holding them to ransom means also that the residents may not be manipulated out of their homes, tis a double edged sword. The supermarket businesses are greedy in the main and coop and smaller tesco doesn't meet all needs especially cheap bottled water that everyone should drink more of.
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As a resident living nar to the brewery I would be appalled if these old buildings were knocked down to make way for a supermarket. Some of these buildings date back to 1755. Also a superstore will generate alot more traffic on Hart St, a residential area which since the one way system is already very busy. As the heart of Ulverston is within the conservation area, do locals really want a cheap supermarket sited so close to it?
Posted by E on 4 May 2010 at 22:35