Bohemia Village Voice

Say No to Asda in Silverhill Gaby Hill speaking at a well-attended meeting in St Matthews church hall. Stuart Hill, seated left.

About a hundred people filled St Matthew’s Church Hall on 9th June for a public meeting and information evening, “Say No to Asda in Silverhill”.
The meeting was organised by Gaby and Stuart Hill, assisted by Caroline Robertson. Conservative Councillor for Silverhill, Matthew J. Lock, spoke briefly  at the meeting, urging concerned local residents to go to the relevant planning meeting at the Town Hall, sign the petition, and write letters. At time of printing, the planning office were unable to say at what date the Asda store would be on their meeting agenda. As well as informing the audience of Asda’s plans, the presentation covered traffic impact, health and environment, land use, the Hastings local plan, and how to object.
Describing the proposed plans, Gaby Hill told the audience, “the footprint of the  building is now larger than it was. They’ve increased their floor-space since their public consultation of last year. They have put in a pharmacy, which they previously said they wouldn’t. This will be in direct competition with Lloyds in Silverhill and Blooms in Bohemia Road ”
Stuart Hill said that there will now be a mezzanine floor with a café, a retail area, and room to expand the retail area, whereas previously this was only going to be offices for the staff. Gaby told the audience, “Ponswood was not supposed to have retail development on it, but the government expired this a few months ago.”
Stuart pointed out “Asda says that the site is semi-derelict, even though there is manufacturing going on there. It’s only semi-derelict because Asda paid Marshall Tufflex off.” Gaby said, “Asda claiming they are helping secure the future of Marshall Tufflex and its employees is a red herring.”
Stuart continued, “Actually Marshall Tufflex are very rich. They own lots of land in Hastings, so they don’t need this money.” Cllr Matthew J. Lock told the Voice, “There was another offer for the Marshall Tufflex land before Asda, but Asda offered more.”
After the presentation the floor was thrown open for audience discussion. Residents were concerned primarily about the detrimental effect on parking space in nearby roads and increased traffic. The second greatest area of concern was the damaging effect on local shops at Silverhill. Other worries included the potential for anti-social behaviour which would be encouraged by benches on the open space outside, and the concomitant decline of Silverhill as a community centre. Increased pollution was also a concern, both air pollution, noise pollution from increased traffic, and light pollution from the site. Several members of the audience raised the point that a sizeable plot of land is to be given to a Battle Road resident who has spoken in favour of Asda.
In answer to a comment from the floor that “Sainsbury’s and Tesco’s are out of town. So should Asda be” Gaby replied, “The government now say supermarkets should be in town centres to dissuade people from using their cars.” Stuart added, “i.e. this plan has government backing.”  More details at http://silverhill.lefora.com

ASDAs revised plan for its Silverhill store