Boycott urged in Haltwhistle store parking row

Apr 21 2008 by Ben Guy, The Journal

PLANS for a £2m library and community centre in a Northumberland town have been thrown into doubt after supermarket chiefs refused to allow scaffolding in their car park.

Funding has been secured for the refurbishment of the former Mechanics Institute in Haltwhistle, but bosses at the neighbouring Co-op say they can’t afford to lose 12 of their 20 customer parking spaces for a year. Yesterday the Co-op said it had tried to accommodate the county council plans, but Haltwhistle councillor Lawrence Thompson suggested that residents of the town boycott the store in protest.

The only alternative to the scaffolding would be to use an industrial crane, but that would cost a prohibitive £250,000.

He said: “We are hoping that by going public with this it might put a degree of pressure on the Co-op, but it is a delicate balance because we don’t want to create such a storm that they totally switch off.

“I am hoping for some negotiation. Both the county council and the Haltwhistle Partnership have tried to engage in dialogue, but so far we have had nothing back.

“My understanding is that they are supposed to be a caring and sharing organisation that wants to support the community but they are certainly not demonstrating that. I am flabbergasted by it. I personally can’t support an organisation that doesn’t support the community.”

Coun Thompson added that if the Co-op were to engage in discussions he was confident a solution could be found.

Dr Graham Ridley, chairman of Haltwhistle Partnership, which is managing the project, also criticised the Co-op’s stance, describing the store as “intransigent”.

Funding for the project has come from the Heritage Lottery Fund and Northumberland County Council.

The development would have preserved the original stone building and provided office space for community groups as well as the library.

A spokesman for the Co-op said: “Our store in Haltwhistle has only a small car park at the front of the property, with spaces for just 20 vehicles. We were approached with a plan that would have meant losing 12 out of the 20 spaces for a period of a year.

“This proposal involved the spaces being used for storage rather than scaffolding.

“The remaining eight spaces would be insufficient for our customers, especially for such a length of time, and so unfortunately we were unable to agree to this request.

“As a community retailer, we support the community whenever we can and have tried to accommodate the council’s other requests on this project. This included giving permission to carry out test drilling.

“However, agreeing to this latest request would significantly damage our business, not just for the proposed 12 month period but also beyond.”