Hayle Supermarket Wars and ASDA on South Quay.

How ASDA ended up on South Quay, Hayle.

As Mayor, and a Hayle Town Councillor for the last seven years, and active on Social Media I am becoming aware that many people did not follow the developments of the "Supermarket Battles" or the recent history of South Quay and Hayle Harbour, and don't understand how an ASDA ended up being built on SouthQuay, Hayle.

I recently posted an explanation on Facebook which has received some praise, so I will re-post it here to help people understand.

 The Harbour came into the possession of ING around 2004, and amongst the various plans and proposals, South Quay renovation was starting to look like being the last phase of the overall development.

Suddenly supermarkets took an interest in Hayle, because of its position on the road network and its potential catchment area. Morrisons wanted the Jewson’s site at Carnsew, Sainsbury wanted to build on Loggans Moor nature reserve and marsh, and ASDA wanted to build on the Rugby Club. All of these wanted to come to Hayle, but the Penwith Retail study of 2007, (and the later Cornwall Retail Study 2010) which was evidence the planners are obliged to rely on said there WAS scope for an additional supermarket in Hayle, but ONLY ONE.

This made it a “Battle of the supermarkets” but then ING joined in by proposing their South Quay site for a supermarket development, without any supermarket brand being signed up.

ING’s advisors had learned something that the local councillors, and people interested in planning were to discover. Sequential Tests.

These were and are strong parts of government guidelines on planning, and serve to ensure development is in the best, or least harmful sites.

The Retail Sequential Test stated that a supermarket development site closest to an existing shopping centre is the preferred option as it enable footfall to the supermarket to be close to existing shops so they have a chance to compete for the new potential customers. (This put South Quay in the lead.)

The Flooding Sequential Test meant that sites least likely to be flooded or most easily protected against flooding are preferred sites (This effectively knocked Sainsbury out)

The two proposals, ASDA and Sainsbury both on Marsh Lane, also had largely unresolved Traffic and Transport issues with the already overloaded roundabout at Loggans Moor/Carwin.

These were the planning issues and policies that set ING’s South Quay as the Number One preferred site for a supermarket development.

Added to that were the additional “Planning Gains” for the South Quay site of ING having to carry out the highly expensive repairs to South Quay and Carnsew Quay, exposing and excavating Carnsew Dock and the Carnsew Sluice, replacing the sluice gates and repairing the sluice tunnels (“Black Houses”) so a sluicing regime could be restarted, making contributions to road improvements around Hayle, contributing to the new railway station approach, building a bridge from its supermarket to Penpol Terrace shops, and new routes through ISIS Gardens to Foundry, public promenade all around South Quay and public entertainment and recreation areas.
The final benefit was ING’s offer to hand ownership and control of the harbour over to a Hayle body.|

The South Quay supermarket planning application was the clear winner on planning grounds.

Originally ING were negotiating with Sainsbury, but they dropped out when they got the Penzance Heliport site, then ASDA switched from supporting the Rugby Club site and came to South Quay.

Graham.

HAYLE SOUTH QUAY RENOVATION AND REPAIR TO QUAY WALLS

Long awaited repairs to Hayle's South Quay harbour walls and a repair to the collapsed section opposite Penpol Terrace Hayle are due to start in the next week or so.

Part of the general redevelopment of South Quay and the building of the iconic supermarket to be occupied by ASDA the quays have stood in a decaying and dilapidated state for decades but are now to be repaired and brought up to a safe and usable state including the large collapsed section that highlighted the air of neglect and decay.

This is also approximately the location for the footbridge from the South Quay 3 hour free parking area to the Penpol Terrace shopping area to improve access for locals and encourage ASDA shoppers to explore the existing character shops of Penpol and Foundry.

Graham.

The historic sluice gates  that used to be under the Swing Bridge in Copperhouse Pool Hayle, replaced by the current Flood Prevention gate many years ago were found buried near the Harbour Office during works on the new North Quay road and infrastructure.
They have been stored on North Quay while a use for them has been sought, but time is almost up, no-one has a use for them and they will soon have to be cut up into manageable pieces and disposed of.

The gates (pictured here on a foggy day in 1971)  were used for many years as part of the sluicing system of Hayle harbour to keep the navigation ways safe and clear for coastal shipping trade.
The gates would be a challenge to move as they are quite a size, unwieldy and 11 tons each!

UPDATE! After a fair bit of debate and a close vote Hayle Town Council agreed to have the sluice gates sited as a "feature" on King George V Memorial Walk, where they will be part of a permanant display with  planting and an information board.

Bridge over Penpol Creek, Hayle. CONSULTATION

Most of the past plans for developing Hayle Harbour have had the idea of bridges linking various parts of the harbour, and the current plans were no exception.

INGs proposals which changed as the ideas developed mainly showed a footbridge between the centre of South Quay and Penpol Terrace, landing on the grass bank, with a crossing to the shops on Penpol Terrace, integrating the new Supermarket car park with the existing shopping centre, in effect creating a circular route under the viaduct into Foundry Square and back around to the Supermarket, which will have North and South main entrances. This would mean that whatever challenges Foundry shops face from the new Supermarket could be balanced by a proportion of the new shoppers easily accessing the rest of the Penpol and Foundry shops and services before or after a Supermarket visit, using the 3 hours free car parking.

This bridge would link directly across the car park to the public footpath Rights of Way around Carnsew Pool, and down past the Weir to the Point.

A bridge at this location would be attractive, useful, and become an integrated part of the new shopping area.

This is mainly what has been pictured in press releases and on the Internet, so people could be forgiven for thinking it was what was going to happen.

IT IS UNDER THREAT THOUGH, of being ‘POACHED’ by the “Hayle Harbour Trust” originally formed to oppose the ING harbour development, formed from the “Friends of Hayle Harbour” who opposed the development, which in turn had been formed from the “Hayle Residents Association” who were at that time opposing the harbour development.

The Hayle Harbour Trust (HHT) seek to be the recipients of harbour land and property when ING complete the development and move on, hoping to become the body that owns and manages Hayle Harbour in the future. (There will be Public Consultation on that in 2013.)

HHT would like to take over East Quay, where Baumbachs Boat Builders are, Strawberry Blonde’s hairdressers, the shellfish processing warehouse and the old Gasworks/Tyre Services depot etc. They have evolving plans for east Quay, but as the existing owners may have their own ideas of what should happen, we are some way away from any concrete proposals.

HHT want the bridge for THEIR plans, sited at the sea end of South Quay behind Philps Pasty Factory and shop, to connect South Quay to whatever future development MIGHT (or might not) happen on East Quay.

How many shoppers would walk all the way from their cars to the end of South Quay, cross a bridge to have to cross the road somewhere near the Royal Standard Pub and that road corner to access the Penpol Terrace shops? Few if any I suspect, and I believe that NOT having the bridge across the middle of Penpol Creek damages the whole future of Foundry as a shopping area.

Let Hayle Harbour Trust seek the funding for “their” bridge themselves in the future, if their ideas ever come to fruition, but please don’t damage the future prosperity and viability of Foundry shopping area by ‘stealing’ the centre bridge over Penpol Creek!

There will be an EXHIBITION AND PUBLIC CONSULTATION on the siting of the bridge at Passmore Edwards Institute, Hayle on 13^th December 2012 from 12.0 noon, midday to 6.30pm which will be the basis for deciding where the bridge goes.

PLEASE DON’T MISS THIS CONSULTATION AND CHANCE TO HAVE YOUR SAY.

Graham Coad.