Does Alsager need an Out of Town Superstore? Sainsburys will soon be submitting a planning application for a new superstore with a filling station on the Twyfords site, a distance of less than a mile from the Alsager town centre. Is it All About Alsager? Or is it All About Sainsbury’s? With the new and larger Co-op coming on stream later this year Alsager is already very well served by supermarkets and convenience stores. Sainsbury’s business model shows that all they want is to monopolise trade and capture additional retail spend from our town and from other local centres with no plans to help maintain the local economy. Alsager will become a casualty in the ‘store war’ with the other Big Four supermarket multiples which together control more than 75% of the grocery retail market nationally (Market Data 2009). The local rural economy will be severely damaged. Out of town supermarkets draw wealth away from local economies and pass this to corporate headquarters. Recent research shows that only 16% of supermarket turnover is spent on local wages, services and purchases whereas local shops ‘recirculate’ a very high proportion of their takings within the local economy. £10 spent on local food is actually worth £25 to the local economy compared with just £14 when spent in a supermarket multiple. We know people already shop at supermarkets outside of Alsager and everyone has access to the internet. An out of town supermarket is simply not required in the current market conditions. No economist is able to predict that market conditions will improve significantly for at least 10 years so now is the time to stop the rampant superstore building to let local economies find their way through. Profit over People is a concept that simply is no longer working in today’s society. It supports the few and not the many. As a business model it destroys far more than it builds.. Greed is not good and it is time to stand up and do something different. DO SOMETHING NOW Don’t leave it to others to make your views known, you must write too. If you love living and being in Alsager and you want it to develop as a vibrant centre in the coming years, the coming weeks will be a crucial time for us all to act. SAY NO TO OUT OF TOWN SUPERSTORES no matter who it is. Please sign this petition and leave your comments to show your opposition to CAMSFC's plans to betray the local community. [Please note that after you have signed the petition you will arrive at a page requesting a donation. This is part of the iPetition site and it is optional and not required to register. Once you have arrived at this page your signature has been registered.]