That is a problem I see with parking in Exmouth at the moment, not enough and what there is is not for long enough to park, shop, enjoy a coffee and window shop. That is from my experiences anyway, I have developed my own parking route to find unlimited parking so I can do all the things I need to get done. Then again, my uses are different to others as I mainly go down town for the site and personal. What are peoples thoughts? I think 250 spaces will be created for ASDA at the planned site but is this enough? If not, where do we need more?

I do see what you and others are saying Sceptic, however, I still don't think it's a bad thing! I don't see how Asda will block the view of the estuary over the railway line as, from the plans I've seen, it will just be in place of the current leisure centre and bus station. If they do rebuild the leisure centre along there as well (as shown in the plans) then yes, I will agree that the views will be compromised.

I can also see the sense in the report you've spoken about... as I said earlier, I believe people will go into town to shop from Asda (and vice versa, although not so much) as I have done in the past.

Those people, like yourself, who regularly use the town centre shops for meat & veg, will most probably continue to do so... the majority already go to Tesco and they are the ones that will shop at Asda instead.

On the issue of democracy, I can see why you'd be upset (I didn't live in Exmouth at that time having been away for 10 years). I do wonder how many the 'silent majority' consist of though as of the dozen or so people I have spoken to, 90% are all for Asda coming to town.

I can totally understand why people don't want the store on the estuary (I am often down there snapping photos of the sunset myself) and that is should be developed for more 'green' activities, but, Exmouth needs a new supermarket and there doesn't appear to be any where else suitable to put it.

As for expanding Tesco... I'd rather see Asda (or any other supermarket for that matter) come to town rather than see Tesco increase their continuing monopoly.

I recall many similar _object_ions to Tesco when it was built almost 20 years ago...

The Asda where I lived (Grantham) charge £1 for 2 hours parking which is refunded if you spend over £5 in store. As far as I know, there is nothing to stop you from getting another ticket once your 2 hours is up (in fact, I was told that for £5 you could park there all day, but I don't know whether that was true).

Good Morning All,
Lin, if you have a look at the latest plans from Asda you will see that they intend to use the whole estuary site north of the car park for their store, the sports centre and swimming pool and housing. These buildings will, in effect, put up a barrier that will remove the view of the estuary from the main road.
As to the silent majority, if I honestly thought the majority were in favour then I would accept the majority verdict and try and argue for minimal impact of the development. The fact is, and it is verifiable, every test of public opinion has been against such development.(sorry Admin I don't believe the online poll has any validity and is too easily manipulated) The largest petition in Exmouth's history ended up with over 10,000 people saying they were against this type of development.
I know people who are for Asda but they have never shown themselves in any significant numbers; they are I suggest largely the wishful thinking of councillors supporting the project. If people felt strongly that we should have this development why are we not seeing groups campaigning for it? They would have the backing of Asda and find it far easier going than those who oppose it.
Parking. I think the problem is best demonstrated by trying imagine adding the sort of numbers who presently park at Tesco, to those already using Imperial Road car park. Where could they go, there just isn't room. As the car park would be Asda's, those wanting only to visit elsewhere would be disadvantaged. (By the by, on the Newton Abbot car park notice board there was no mention of a way of exceeding the 2 hrs max).
I find it ironic that a main reason for some wanting a new superstore is that the existing ones are not meeting our needs. It wasn't that long ago that Somerfield and Tesco were the answer to our problems, now they are the problem. Where will we go when Asda is the problem?
It was good to see a letter from some youngsters in the journal, after all, it is their heritage at risk.
Can you imagine what other places in the country would give for beauty spot like the estuary side? I honestly believe that there are better ways of meeting the town's needs than dumping an almighty retail shed on it.
Can we at least agree that Exmouth is too important to take a gamble with, that we should not allow any significant development unless it can be proved beyond reasonable doubt that a development will benefit and not harm the town and its amenities? We are getting biased views from the developers, they tell us about the jobs that will be created but not the ones that will be lost in the town (studies funded by the supermarket industry embarrisingly show that this sort develoment brings a net loss of 276 jobs to a town). Such biased views can be expected from the developers but our councils should be testing the evidence and not acting as promoter, judge and jury.

Skeptic, the forums are here for views of everybody and anything, as long as they are not insulting or advertise companies or _link_s that are not relevant. So in regards to the polls, please do not feel like you have to say sorry for what you think. The important part is getting people views up in writting on a public forum. I have passed _link_s to both the town manager and town clerk for this thread so please rest assured, they are reading what is said.
Did anyone manage to get to the Tesco expansion presentation today?

sceptic wrote:
Good Morning All,
I honestly believe that there are better ways of meeting the town's needs than dumping an almighty retail shed on it.

Can you please elaborate on this? My biggest gripe is that those opposed to the development don't seem to be coming up with new ideas. Imo Exmouth really does need another major supermarket as the 2 we have now aren't adequate most of the time so a location still needs to be found.

If people felt strongly that we should have this development why are we not seeing groups campaigning for it?
I did toy with the idea but I wouldn't know where to start! It's not that I'm all for the development (it's certainly not in ideal location, but then wherever they built it, it would upset somebody) but as I said above, there doesn't appear to be any other viable solution so I thionk we should go with this one.

I'm afraid I didn't get to the Tesco meeting... too busy emergency clothes shopping in Exeter for the kids while they're on school holidays!