a democratic planners gathering around this campaign is being mooted<br><br>
<div class="gmail_quote">---------- Forwarded message ----------<br>From: <b class="gmail_sendername">Edwards Michael</b> <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:m.edwards@ucl.ac.uk">m.edwards@ucl.ac.uk</a>></span><br>Date: 2009/8/14<br>
Subject: tesco<br>To: Planners UK Network <<a href="mailto:pnuk@sheffield.ac.uk">pnuk@sheffield.ac.uk</a>><br><br><br>
<div style="WORD-WRAP: break-word">Dear PNUK
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<div>The Monbiot article in the guardian the other day and its spinoffs to the planners network and elsewhere has produced a torrent of messages and emails and it seems to me to reveal something where PNUK could be useful and focus the knowledge and commitment of a lot of us. I for one am only just discovering who we all are by reading their posts. Maybe someone should speak to Monbiot? Who knows him? <br>
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<div>Incidentally, in response to a flush of letters in the guardian this morning I sent them the following. Here it is in case they don't print it. It would have benefitted from a lot more polishing. Michael</div>
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<div style="MARGIN: 0px"><font style="FONT: 12px Helvetica" face="Helvetica" size="3">Dear Editor</font></div>
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<div style="MARGIN: 0px"><font style="FONT: 12px Helvetica" face="Helvetica" size="3">Monbiot's article on the Tesco threat (12 August) has unleashed a rich correspondence and a vast tumult of opinion ranging from anarchism to market fundamentalism in the online commentary (not to mention a rapid exchange in the Planners Network UK). Drawing on these strands I suggest the following:</font></div>
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<div style="MARGIN: 0px"><font style="FONT: 12px Helvetica" face="Helvetica" size="3">(i) Machynlleth, the home of Intermediate Technology, would be a specially good place to fight this battle;</font></div>
<div style="MARGIN: 0px"><font style="FONT: 12px Helvetica" face="Helvetica" size="3">(ii) A referendum has attractions but until Wales becomes a canton of Switzerland there is no legislative basis for it and, as Robin Harrison argues in his letter, it would be a crude way to resolve nimby conflicts with wider interests;</font></div>
<div style="MARGIN: 0px"><font style="FONT: 12px Helvetica" face="Helvetica" size="3">(iii) A public inquiry could be the best way to have a really serious debate but if the local council lacks the nerve or resources to refuse Tesco (and thus trigger an appeal) the campaigners should press the Secretary of State to call in the application for an inquiry and for his own subsequent decision on the evidence. The local authority could then take part without the threat that costs would be awarded against them;</font></div>
<div style="MARGIN: 0px"><font style="FONT: 12px Helvetica" face="Helvetica" size="3">(iv) The campaign would have to confront the fact - which the market fundamentalists stress - that many people, especially poor people, would value and use a Tesco because of its low prices and reliable quality. On this point they would have to show how supermarket prices are artificially low, understating the environmental costs of their activities and the effective subsidy to their supply chains from under-paid labour around the world and government subsidies for low pay at home;</font></div>
<div style="MARGIN: 0px"><font style="FONT: 12px Helvetica" face="Helvetica" size="3">(v) It would be wise to develop a counter-proposal, at least as a fall-back. They should identify a site within the existing centre where a small supermarket would be welcome and press the council to insist that the harm it does is minimised - for example by making sure that the car parks benefit all the shops equally - and that there are maximum benefits - for example ensuring that 'locally sourced' goods are delivered direct, not via Avonmouth.</font></div>
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<div style="MARGIN: 0px"><font style="FONT: 12px Helvetica" face="Helvetica" size="3">If we want to change the world we have to start somewhere and Machynlleth looks good.</font></div>
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<div style="MARGIN: 0px"><font style="FONT: 12px Helvetica" face="Helvetica" size="3">Michael Edwards</font></div></blockquote></div></div>
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TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; WHITE-SPACE: normal; LETTER-SPACING: normal; BORDER-COLLAPSE: separate"><span style="WORD-SPACING: 0px; FONT: 12px Helvetica; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; WHITE-SPACE: normal; LETTER-SPACING: normal; BORDER-COLLAPSE: separate"><span style="WORD-SPACING: 0px; FONT: 12px Helvetica; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; WHITE-SPACE: normal; LETTER-SPACING: normal; BORDER-COLLAPSE: separate"><span style="WORD-SPACING: 0px; FONT: 12px Helvetica; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; WHITE-SPACE: normal; LETTER-SPACING: normal; BORDER-COLLAPSE: separate"><span style="WORD-SPACING: 0px; FONT: 12px Helvetica; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; WHITE-SPACE: normal; LETTER-SPACING: normal; BORDER-COLLAPSE: separate"><span style="WORD-SPACING: 0px; FONT: 12px Helvetica; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; WHITE-SPACE: normal; 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FONT: 12px Helvetica; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; WHITE-SPACE: normal; LETTER-SPACING: normal; BORDER-COLLAPSE: separate"><span style="WORD-SPACING: 0px; FONT: 12px Helvetica; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; WHITE-SPACE: normal; LETTER-SPACING: normal; BORDER-COLLAPSE: separate"><span style="WORD-SPACING: 0px; FONT: 12px Helvetica; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; WHITE-SPACE: normal; LETTER-SPACING: normal; BORDER-COLLAPSE: separate"><span style="WORD-SPACING: 0px; FONT: 12px Helvetica; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; WHITE-SPACE: normal; LETTER-SPACING: normal; BORDER-COLLAPSE: separate"><span style="WORD-SPACING: 0px; FONT: 12px Helvetica; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; WHITE-SPACE: normal; LETTER-SPACING: normal; BORDER-COLLAPSE: separate"><span style="WORD-SPACING: 0px; FONT: 12px Helvetica; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; WHITE-SPACE: normal; LETTER-SPACING: normal; BORDER-COLLAPSE: separate"><span style="WORD-SPACING: 0px; FONT: 12px Helvetica; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; WHITE-SPACE: normal; LETTER-SPACING: normal; BORDER-COLLAPSE: separate"><span style="WORD-SPACING: 0px; FONT: 12px Helvetica; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; WHITE-SPACE: normal; LETTER-SPACING: normal; BORDER-COLLAPSE: separate"><span style="WORD-SPACING: 0px; FONT: 12px Helvetica; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; WHITE-SPACE: normal; LETTER-SPACING: normal; BORDER-COLLAPSE: separate"><span style="WORD-SPACING: 0px; FONT: 12px Helvetica; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; WHITE-SPACE: normal; LETTER-SPACING: normal; BORDER-COLLAPSE: separate"><span style="WORD-SPACING: 0px; FONT: 12px Helvetica; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; WHITE-SPACE: normal; LETTER-SPACING: normal; BORDER-COLLAPSE: separate"><span style="WORD-SPACING: 0px; FONT: 12px Helvetica; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; WHITE-SPACE: normal; LETTER-SPACING: normal; BORDER-COLLAPSE: separate"><span style="WORD-SPACING: 0px; FONT: 12px Helvetica; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; WHITE-SPACE: normal; LETTER-SPACING: normal; BORDER-COLLAPSE: separate"><span style="WORD-SPACING: 0px; FONT: 12px Helvetica; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; WHITE-SPACE: normal; LETTER-SPACING: normal; BORDER-COLLAPSE: separate"><span style="WORD-SPACING: 0px; FONT: 12px Helvetica; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; WHITE-SPACE: normal; LETTER-SPACING: normal; BORDER-COLLAPSE: separate">
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<div><b>A sustainable economy for London,<span> </span></b>submitted to the GLA by David Fell, Michael Edwards, Richard Lee, Jenny Bates, Richard Bourn and Darren Johnson. <a href="http://www.brooklyndhurst.co.uk/" target="_blank">http://www.brooklyndhurst.co.uk</a></div>
<div>Discussion about this on my blog (below) where you can also find a submission on<span> </span><b>research gaps in London Planning.</b></div>
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<div style="MARGIN: 0px">Michael Edwards, The Bartlett School, UCL</div>
<div style="MARGIN: 0px">22 Gordon Street</div>
<div style="MARGIN: 0px">London WC1H 0QB</div>
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<div style="MARGIN: 0px">blog & publications: <a href="http://michaeledwards.org.uk/" target="_blank">http://michaeledwards.org.uk</a></div>
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<div></div><br>-- <br>"We hear men speaking for us of new laws strong and sweet /Yet is there no man speaketh as we speak in the street.” <br>