We spotted this piece in the latest Solihull Observer. Having directly experienced Sainsbury's brand of consultation, it really struck a chord with us. Sainsbury's - take note - customer service begins before you even open your doors. Although as the majority of your customers will be drawn in from miles around Dorridge, perhaps the views of your nearest neighbours are not a priority?

Editor's comment

15 June

Waitrose and its project partner Kimberley Developments should be applauded for their revisals of plans for a new supermarket in Knowle.

Far too often the public consultation process is merely that - a process paying lip service to the people it involves but one that will ultimately make no difference to the plans originally set out.

Waitrose on the other hand has listened to the people of Knowle and gone back to the drawing board to devise a scheme based on the feedback from the people it consulted.

Hopefully others will take this lead in future public consultations.

Following our recent meeting with Sainsbury's planning and PR team, to discuss the merits of our respective plans for Dorridge, it's become increasingly clear that Sainsbury's are adamant that they cannot and will not REDUCE THE SIZE of the store to something you'd typically find in a community like Dorridge.

DROVS firmly feel that despite talk of community consultation and fulfilling the local shopping need, Sainsbury's are concerned with just one thing: maximising their own commercial rates of return.

On that basis, we've written the following Open Letter to Sainsbury's CEO, Justin King...

28 June 2011

Dear Mr King,

Sainsbury’s Dorridge – an Open Letter

We recently had a meeting with a team of Sainsbury’s people led by Jaime Powell, Regional Town Planning Manager, to review the DROVS alternative plan for a smaller supermarket in Dorridge. Your team updated us on aspects of the scheme that you have changed during the consultation process.

We were told that Sainsbury’s remained adamant that the store can be no smaller than the one presently projected (about the same size as Morrisons in Solihull). The reasons were, firstly, that the size is the minimum required for a ‘weekly shopping trip’ and, secondly, that anything less would not be viable given Sainsbury’s need for a commercial rate of return on its large capital investment.

On the first point, your own research shows that many Dorridge people do their weekly shopping at Tesco’s in Knowle – which is only about one-third the size of the store you offer, and now Waitrose are proposing to set up a foodstore there with a sales area much less extensive than your proposal. We therefore cannot accept that local need demands a town-centre size shop.

The second argument, about commercial viability, is your imperative. It is why your scheme involves cramming the supermarket into every available inch of space, and why you are talking about the store having a catchment area of 24,000 people (and no doubt this is a minimum).

We agree that the store must be profitable. That would help protect its future – and of course other supermarkets have come to Dorridge and failed. But the size of your current plan is part of the problem: it involves building right up to road frontages all round and with a covered service yard and rooftop parking – all expensive construction features. We believe that if you reduced the store’s size to something nearer other local foodstores it would still be highly profitable. This is a prime site, and the store would attract a loyal and enthusiastic customer base, especially if it becomes part of a more agreeable design plan.

We therefore ask you to reconsider your position. Sainsbury’s have given ground on other aspects of the scheme: for example, you have conceded that the dual carriageway on Station Road should remain; and, following an appeal from Caroline Spelman MP, you have signalled that in Dorridge you would use a number of sustainable design features.

To go one step further and change the scheme to provide for a smaller store would not only allow a better design, with more light and air and more in keeping with a village environment, but it would meet the objections of many hundreds of Dorridge people.

You may say: we have spent six months in consultation on our plan and we don’t want to change it now. However, you should recognise that in that time strong support has emerged for our view that the proposal is too big and will swamp the village not only in its physical presence but also in its traffic and environmental impact. If you signal that you are prepared to consider a smaller scheme, we will work with you to find a prompt solution, using the feedback which has been built up over the last six months. This can then be put to the planning committee.

Sainsbury’s is a fine company, and we would welcome your presence in Dorridge. You have a good reputation. Please do not spoil it by forcing an overlarge store on the village against the wishes of so many of its residents.

This is an ‘open letter’, so we are making it available to the press and other interested people.

Yours sincerely,

The DROVS Committee

Mr Justin King,

Group Chief Executive,

Sainsbury’s Supermarkets Ltd,

33 Holborn, London EC1N 2HT.

cc. Ms Jaime Powell

Ms Amy Kershaw

Rt. Hon. Caroline Spelman, MP

Councillor I. Courts

Councillor A. Mackiewicz,

Councillor K. Meeson,

Mr Paul Watson, Strategic Director – Regeneration and Development, Solihull MBC.

25 July 2011

What price convenience? Exactly!

Squeezing too much in?

This week's Solihull News letter's page carries this inspiring limerick from someone calling themselves the Bard of Arden...

A line too far

18 July 2011

Consultation: more than 'lip service'

Editor's comment

30 June 2011

An Open Letter to Justin King, CEO Sainsbury's