Launching your campaign

Stage 1 - Know your enemy
Check the supermarket's own web site, also see the Corporate Watch web site for more information on major retailers www.corporatewatch.org.uk

Stage 2 - Build local support
Contact local traders, residents, environmental and community groups. Use the local press and distribute leaflets. You might want to contact some of the groups listed on page 8 for ideas for text for leaflets and other communications.

Stage 3 - Be clear about the planning process
When are the committee meetings; who are the committee members and which might be sympathetic to what arguments; which officers deal with the application; can you influence the full council meeting? It might help to draw a diagram of who makes decisions at various stages, and how they can be influenced. Often strong local opposition to a development, together with sound arguments, can persuade the planning committee to reject it.

Stage 4 - Dealing with Appeals and Public Enquiries
All too often the supermarket developers will go to appeal, and possibly a public enquiry. They don't like to be told 'no' and will use their financial muscle to get the best lawyers. If it gets to this stage you will probably need expert representation and advice - some useful planning and legal contacts are listed here.

Stage 5 - And if they win
Even if the store gets permission, the access roads could be refused, meaning that the store would not be viable. In several cases stores have been designed specifically to allow expansion at some later date (often despite assurances to the contrary) so be ready to fight again. Develop a campaign to support your local shops/reinvigorate the town centre, see the 'Loyalty to Leominster' campaign.
Finally, enjoy your campaign. Good luck!

A few campaign tips

Economic impact of out of town stores
The following extract from Lucy Nichol's briefing 'How can planning help the local food economy? A guide for planners'10 may be useful to persuade your local planner that out of town stores, whether urban or rural can be opposed under planning policy guidance if they can be shown to damage the local economy.

"Council planners can resist granting permission for developments that will undermine the local economy. While small independent shops often stock local products, supermarkets rarely do, and their centralised distribution systems mean that 'local' products may be transported hundreds of miles to depots and then back to local superstores. Research by the DETR (The Impact of Large Foodstores on Market Towns and District Centres, 1998) and the Environment, Transport and Regional Affairs Committee (Second Report: Environmental Impact of Supermarket Competition, 2000), found that new out-of-centre supermarkets have a serious adverse impact on existing independent shops in villages and town centres, resulting in their decline and sometimes their closure. The ramifications will go beyond the shopkeeper and have a negative effect on the local rural economy.
Resisting new supermarkets on this basis could be justified with reference to Planning Policy Guidance Note 6: Town Centres and Retail Development (1996) paragraph 1.16, which states that proposals for new out-of-centre superstores should be judged not only on their likely impact on the vitality of town centres, but also on the impact on the rural economy. However a recent survey by the Planning Policies Research Group has found that few planning authorities are using this tool, perhaps because there is no established methodology for measuring the impact on the rural economy. Any assessment of this should include the impact on local food producers; both those that sell directly to the public through farm shops and farmers' markets, and those who rely on local shops to sell their produce."

Office of Fair Trading inquiries into the siting of new stores
The Competition Commission report on Supermarkets made a recommendation that might be useful ammunition to support campaigns against some supermarket developments.
The Competition Commission proposed that the Office of Fair Trading should assess the development of large new stores on competition grounds framed in terms of drive time between stores. So if a supermarket wished to build a new store over a certain size (suggested 1,000sqm) within 15 minutes drive of one of their existing stores or significantly extend the grocery retailing of one of their existing stores, they would be required to apply to the Director General of the Office of Fair Trading for consent.

Nonviolent direct action
A useful tactic, which can be used throughout the campaign, is nonviolent direct action. This has been effective in stopping other developments around the country.
It gives a community the chance to impose direct financial costs on the corporation that has ignored its views. An early threat of direct action might also put the developer off, draw some unwelcome publicity for the corporation and boost your support among the local community.
Once one store has a foothold in a town or community, its rivals will be watching very closely, eager to pounce too. Towns rarely stop at just one major store. So even if direct action doesn't stop the store it's targeting, the next developer may not want to face that kind of opposition. Get in touch with your local Earth First! Group .