Local shops have called on the supermarkets to stop using misleading claims about job creation to boost local support for their development proposals.
ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) unveiled a new study that “exposes the tricks of the trade” employed by the major retailers seeking to “charm local communities and councils into approving their new store proposals”.
The study calls on evidence from academics suggesting the “hundreds of jobs created” notion is based on inconsistent forecast criteria, ascribes equal value to all types of job from full time supervisors to ‘Saturday kids’ and takes no account of the likely loss of jobs from shop closures arising in other retail developments.
In one current example, traders in Bishop’s Waltham, Hampshire, fear for their livelihoods after plans for a 30,000 sq ft Sainsbury’s store were submitted earlier this month.
Sainsbury’s has claimed that 250 jobs will be created by the new store, but Andrew Grover, chairman of the local Chamber of Trade thinks differently.
“Such a large supermarket would inevitably reduce footfall on the high street and put many local traders businesses at risk leading to inevitable job losses,” he said.
The ACS has written to the chief executives of the big four supermarkets, local councils and planning minister Bob Neill calling for a “new and consistent methodology” for basing any job claims.
ACS chief executive James Lowman said: “While supermarkets claim to bring prosperity and employment to a town, we know all too well the damage that can be done to high streets if the wrong supermarket is built in the wrong place. Local businesses often have to cut staff and some even are forced to close as a result of a new development nearby.
“We hope that this study will alert local councils to the tactics used by supermarkets to push their applications through. Bold employment claims are often essential to a development being approved under new planning policy6, so exposing the truth behind these figures could be crucial to the survival of Britain’s high streets,” he said.
Source: ACS
