Existing shops will close if a new food store opens on a key site on Helensburgh’s waterfront, the town’s community council warned tonight.
Yesterday it was revealed here that Argyll and Bute Council had decided on two preferred bidders for the site in front of the new leisure centre on the basis that new retail was ‘critical’ for the town.
But Helensburgh Community Council, whose own bid including a skatepark and family-friendly facilities appears to have been rejected, says a survey produced by the council’s consultants is flawed.
A report by Argyll and Bute officials said the bidders selected were ‘the best value for the council’.
And acting convener Peter Brown said: “We feel this underlines that the council’s process has not been to deliver what is best for the community, or what the community has asked for, but rather to sell off our waterfront to the highest bidder,” he said.
Mr Brown said a study produced by Avison Young, consultants employed by Argyll and Bute, was flawed as it did not include all the existing retail floorspace in the town and It is based on a telephone survey of residents’ retail behaviour 17 years ago.
“There is no apparent local knowledge in the creation of the report, and so the retail spend in our own local shops is unknown,” he said.
“When we use the correct retail floorspace figure, it is clear that any additional convenience (food) store on the pierhead will cause our existing shops to close.
“It is also obvious that any calculation based on 17 year-old data for comparison (non-food) stores should not be relied upon.
“Bidders were asked to allow for the skatepark to be retained on the pierhead, as the council had promised to the community.
“Yet A&BC are pushing ahead in spending money with their preferred architect on creating plans for a skatepark at Kidston Park which, as evidenced by the skatepark at Kirkmichael, will not be used properly, and will exclude the very members of our community that we want to be at the centre of our town.”
Providing a replacement skate park was a condition of planning permission for the new leisure centre which was built by Argyll and Bute Council.
The officials’ report will be discussed at the council’s area committee meeting on Tuesday, though three sections will be heard behind closed doors.
Interviews will the be held with preferred bidders, ‘supported by Avison Young’ with the final decision being taken by the council’s policy and resources committee.
That committee has 16 councillors, only two of whom are from the Helensburgh and Lomond area.
It is fairly obvious that the site is being sold to the highest bidder who will swell A&B’s coffers with a one-off fat cheque or an annual rent. Existing retailers will lose trade. Helensburgh is a seaside town not far from the largest city in Scotland and on a major tourist route. Use the site to give visitors and locals a reason to come into Helensburgh centre and spend some money in existing shops, restaurants and pubs. If it has to go to yet another supermarket make restoring and maintaining the pier part of the deal.