Richard Boden
'10 ways to create a better world - don't shop at supermarkets' leaflet available from Richard Boden c/o Wyecycle, The Greenhouse, Unit 2a Briar Close Industrial Estate, Wye, Kent TN25 5HB Tel: 01233 813298 Fax:01233 813298 Email:info(at)wyecycle.org
Richard was involved in setting up Wye Farmers Market and is happy to offer advice to anyone interested in setting up a farmers market. He is also the instigator of 'National Don't Shop at Supermarkets' Day which takes place annually on 4th September.

Norman Baker
How Green is Your Supermarket? (2003)
The report is based on responses from the 'big nine' supermarket chains to questions from Mr Baker on packaging and waste, sourcing and energy use. Some gems from the report; supermarket lorries travel the equivalent of two return trips to the moon every day, in 21 years the supermarkets have produced enough plastic bags to cover the whole of England.
Published by the Liberal Democrats and available to download at:
http://www.libdems.org.uk/index.cfm/page.homepage/
section.home/article.6271

Joanna Blythman
Shopped: The Shocking Power of British Supermarkets Fourth Estate 2004
Looks at the enormous power and influence that a small number of big supermarkets have over the food that we eat. As part of her research she worked on the checkout at Asda and she uncovers some unsavoury facts about life on the till, about instore bakeries, supermarket buyers bullying tactics and the impact of the supermarkets on our diets and pockets.

Competition Commission
'Supermarkets: A report of the supply of groceries from multiple stores in the United Kingdom' Volumes 1-3, 2000
http://www.competition-commission.org.uk/rep_pub/reports/2000/
446super.htm#full
This extensive report has a lot of useful information on supermarkets, but in particular see:
Chapter 12:Land and Planning Issues - sections 12.3 Planning Policy for supermarkets; 12.43 Determinations by local authorities; 12.51 Local planning authorities' reasons for refusal; 12.53 Appeals and called in applications.
Chapter 13:Social and Environmental Issues - sections 13.1 Summary and 13.2 Recommendations from the DETR report 1998 'The Impact of Large Foodstores on Market Towns'.

Corporate Watch
'What's wrong with Supermarkets?' 2004
Available from Corporate Watch, £2.00 + 50p postage or download at:
www.corporatewatch.org.uk/?lid=1910
'A Rough Guide to the UK Farming Crisis' 2004
Available from Corporate Watch, £2.50/£5.00 + £1.00 postage or download at:
www.corporatewatch.org.uk/?lid=1910
Supermarket profiles including Tesco, J Sainsbury and Asda
www.corporatewatch.org.uk/?lid=217
Contact Corporate Watch, Office 14, Unit 6, Wilmer Industrial Estate, Wilmer Place, London, N16 0LW.
Tel: 020 7923 7082
Email: mail(at)corporatewatch.org.uk Website www.corporatewatch.org.uk

Council for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE)
CPRE has a number of reports which look at the alternatives to supermarkets: Food Webs (2002), a report on local food networks in East Suffolk, which demonstrates the importance of local shops and services to rural communities. Free with A4 SAE or download from CPRE website. Local Action for Local Foods (2002), a campaigners guide to promoting local foods including influencing key players such as local retailers, supermarkets and restaurants; the processes involved; sources of information and how to tailor a local action plan. Best used in conjunction with Sustainable Local Foods (below). Cost £3.50 or download from CPRE website. Sustainable Local Foods (2001), a campaign briefing which aims to reconnect consumers with farmers and producers. It helps to empower the public to make informed choices about the food they eat and the way it is produced and distributed; to gain recognition of the benefits of a local food economy and encourage more support for local food initiatives. Cost £3.50. They also have a general guide to campaigning, Getting Organised and Getting Results which can be downloaded from their website.
CPRE, 128 Southwark Street, London, SE1 0SW Tel: 020 7981 2800 Email: info(at)cpre.org.uk Website: www.cpre.org.uk

Ethical Consumer
Ethical Consumer Magazine: Stopping the One-stop Shop Issue 97 Nov/Dec 05 £3.75 rates the big supermarkets according to their environmental and social impact
Research Supplement: Supermarkets Issue 97 Nov/Dec 05
contains ethical records for the supermarkets covered in the magazine including references, company ownership and contact details and background data that could not be fitted into the magazine.
Back issues available from ECRA Publishing Ltd, Freepost, NWW978A, Manchester M15 9EP Tel 0161 226 2929 Email: mail(at)ethicalconsumer.org Website:www.ethicalconsumer.org

The Ecologist
Special report 'The Shocking Power of Supermarkets' September 2004
A series of articles by food writers Joanna Blythman and Felicity Lawrence on the power of the major supermarkets and their impact on the food we eat.
Available from The Ecologist, Unit 18, Chelsea Wharf, 15 Lots Road, London, SW10 0QJ Tel: 0207 351 3578 Fax: 0207 351 3617. Extracts from the report are also on the Ecologist Website www.theecologist.org

Felicity Lawrence
'Not on the Label: What Really Goes into the Food on Your Plate' (2004) Penguin.
A series of in depth investigations into the production of some of our commonest foods (including bread, coffee, lettuce, apples, chicken and prawns). It exposes how the food industry has caused the deterioration of the British diet, environmental damage and urban blight, and how it starves smallholders in Africa and Asia and exploits illegal labour in Britain.

Friends of the Earth

FOE has a dedicated planning website (www.yourplanningrights.co.uk) which includes the following resources: 'A Local Campaigner's Guide to the New English Planning System' which aims to help you participate in the new local planning system in England; 'How to: Use your Rights in Planning Applications', gives advice on how to engage with the planning system and planning applications; 'Your Right to Challenge: Judicial Review' gives info on how to seek a judicial review of a planning decision.

Also on the Friends of the Earth main website there are further planning resources: a guide to how to influence community development plans with respect to retail policy 'Local Development Frameworks and your Community: Retail Policy'
www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/real_food/resource/experts.html;
'Why the New PPS6 could damage town centres' MP's briefing (November 2004) explains why the new government policy statement will prevent the regeneration of town centres
www.foe.co.uk/resource/briefings/pps6_damage_town_centres.pdf
and 'How to Oppose a Supermarket Planning Application'
www.foe.co.uk/resource/briefings/
campaigning_against_supermarkets.pdf

FOE's 'Real Food' campaign focuses extensively on the supermarkets and their impact on consumers, farmers, local communities and the environment. See the 'experts' section of the Real Food pages of the FOE website
www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/real_food/resource/experts.html for numerous reports on the impact of supermarkets including 'The Tesco Takeover '(July 2005) 'Checking out the Environment - Environmental Impacts of Supermarkets' (June 2005) and 'Good Neighbours: Community Impacts of Supermarkets' (June 2005)

George Monbiot
'Captive State: The Corporate Takeover of Britain' MacMillan, 2000.
This book looks at how corporations (including the big supermarkets) are now so powerful that they have co-opted, largely willing, governments to do their bidding, at the expense of democracy and environmental protection. Also see George Monbiot's website www.monbiot.com which contains an archive of his Guardian newspaper opinion pieces on food and farming.

OTDOGS
'Save green spaces from destruction by food giants: a practical guide to local action' (1994). Available from OTDOGS £3.40, post free c/o John Beasley, 6 Everthorpe Road, London, SE15 4DA. Tel: 0208 693 9412.

NEF
Ghost Town Britain: the threat from economic globalisation to livelihoods, liberty and local economic freedom (2002). This report shows how, over the past two decades, the construction of large out-of-town shopping centres and waves of high street bank branch closures have driven many people away from town-centre shopping, resulting in the loss of thousands of independent traders. £15.00 or download from the website.
Ghost Town Britain II: Death on the High Street (2003). An update on their earlier report, including the loss of green spaces and community spaces. £10.00 or download from website. Clone Town Britain: The loss of local identity on the nation's high streets (2004) £7.50 or download from website.
Clone Town Britain: The survey results on the bland state of the nation (2005)
£10 or downloadable from website.
Will Wal-Mart eat Britain? and what can we learn from US communities fighting back? Transcript of the NEF alternative mansion house speech 2005, delivered by Stacy Mitchell, leading light of the Institute for Local Self Reliance, and author of the Hometown Advantage is packed with examples from the US of communities and authorities fighting big retail. Free to download from the nef website: www.neweconomics.org
For briefings contact: NEF (New Economics Foundation), 3 Jonathan Street, London, SE11 5NH Tel: 020 7820 6300 Email: info(at)neweconomics.org Website: www.neweconomics.org

Sustain
'Eating Oil: Food Supply in a Changing Climate' (2001). Includes lots of statistics on food miles and why local/regional food systems are best. £12.00 + £1.00 post & packing.
'A Battle in Store: A discussion of the social impact of the major UK supermarkets' (2000). Download from website.
'Local Food; Benefits, obstacles and opportunities' (2002). Download from website.
Contact Sustain, 94 White Lion Street, London, N1 9PF Tel: 0207 837 1228 Fax: 0207 837 1141 Email: sustain(at)sustainweb.org Website: www.sustainweb.org

The Land is Ours
Beating the Developers: An Activist's Guide to the Planning System (1999)
A bit out of date now, but some useful tips on fighting planning applications. Download from their website www.thelandisours.org/pubs/agp2.html

War on Want
'Asda Wal-mart Alternative Report' (2005)
A review of Walmart’s record compared and contrasted with its corporate social resposibility rhetoric, with a particular focus on labour rights and development issues. Download from their website
www.waronwant.org/asda

www.asdawatch.org - website set up by War on Want in association with the GMB union to monitor the supermarket chain's practices, particularly its labour practices and treatment of overseas suppliers.

www.everylittlehurts.org.uk - was set up in response to Tesco's national programme of closing community post offices. It's designed to let people know about the scale of Tesco's post office closure programme, to let local campaigners that they are not alone in the face of the Tesco juggernaut and to provide a resource for those opposed to Tesco's closure programme.

www.tescopoly.org - the website of an alliance of seven national organisations concerned about the excessive market power of Tesco including Banana Link, the GMB and War on Want. The website brings together many campaigning resources from different sources.

www.walmartwatch.com - website dedicated to providing information and ideas for action against Wal-Mart. Set up by an alliance of organisations, Wal-Mart Watch aims to connect and support the many efforts by groups already underway across the US and serve as a catalyst for coordinated action to challenge the world's largest retailer.

www.breakingthearmlock.com - The 'Breaking the Armlock' alliance of 15 national consumer, development, environment and farming organisations is calling for legislation to curb the power of the supermarkets. The Alliance is currently campaigning for a mandatory Code of Practice for the supermarkets in their dealings with suppliers and an independent and proactive watchdog. The alliance has other long term demands including a moratorium on Tesco's growth.

www.supermarkets-sweep-up.com - a blog keeping an eye on supermarket behaviour. A great source of news and information including newspaper articles.

www.hometownadvantage.org - A wealth of information on the methods used by community groups and local authorities across the US to fight the advance of big retail and support local economies. Also includes The Hometown Advantage Bulletin a free monthly email newsletter reporting on efforts across the US to stop chain store proliferation and support locally owned, independent retail businesses.

www.keeplouisvilleweird.com - "Keep Louisville Weird" is a grassroots public awareness campaign, begun by a small but growing coalition of independent Louisville, Kentucky business owners who are concerned with the spreading homogenization of their hometown. The campaign aims to encourage people to patronise independent, locally owned shops and businesses.