Save your local stores (From Basingstoke Gazette)

Save your local stores

9:57am Friday 26th June 2009

• Print
• Email
• Share

Sir.– I am really heartened to see your ongoing commitment to championing the cause of local communities. Your article in the recent Thursday Gazette – “Shop us your favourites” – caught my attention and I really hope it gets the residents of our borough to stand behind their local retailers.

I am not against the bigger stores but when, like the residents of Rooksdown, you have for the past decade-and-a-half not had the much-promised and, as yet, undelivered basic benefits such as a local shop, primary school, community centre and even a permanent site for our surgery, you really appreciate what other communities have.

I only hope your campaign causes other communities to realise what excellent local services the small and medium-sized retail enterprises offer to their communities.

Rooksdown may only be two miles from the town centre but when it comes to those everyday essentials, without a local shop you are constantly having to plan ahead for the simplest of things. Whether you have a young family or a hectic work-life, every consumable has to be planned for and bought in advance – or else you have to trek to other communities to get what you need.

It may seem like a minor complaint, but believe me, if like many of my ward members, you don’t have access to a car, or only one car which is used for work leaving you stuck at home all day, knowing your nearest local shop is in Winklebury or Popley doesn’t really help at all.

It’s easy to take for granted what already exists. I really hope Gazette readers don’t underestimate the value of their local shops and show their support through your campaign.

If in the meantime, any retailer out there wants to express interest in the provision of a local shop in Rooksdown, I’d be happy to put them in touch with the local agents.

We have recently been told that it could be between another two to four years before we get a local shop. I suppose after a decade and a half of waiting that seems like light at the end of the tunnel. Then again, I suspect it’s just that expectations have been worn down after years of just waiting.

–Councillor Karen Cherrett, Rooksdown, Basingstoke.

• Print
• Email
• Share