'Save us from superstores'

New evidence of the damaging effect supermarkets can have on traditional high streets is revealed in a survey today.

Two thirds of people questioned feel they have had less contact with people in their neighbourhood since a branch of a large chain opened in their area, while 61 per cent said the arrival of a big-name supermarket had led to the loss of local businesses.

Half of the 1,000 people quizzed for the survey, for the New Economics Foundation think tank, said they worry about the dominance of the big chains and their effect on smaller high street traders.

The battle between superstores and local high street shops is now being played out in Marlow, Buckinghamshire, where locals are fighting the construction of a new Waitrose supermarket, claiming it could devastate towncentre trade.

The historic town - where Jerome K Jerome wrote Three Men In A Boat - is one of the prettiest in the South-East, and its Georgian centre retains a good mix of independent shops. There is already a small Waitrose in the high street, but the company plans to double the size and start selling a wide range of non-food merchandise.

Waitrose director Nigel Keen said: "We have consulted extensively with local people and wherever possible our plans reflect the views expressed by the local community. The new Waitrose will help retain trade within the town centre with a far wider selection of fresh foods and groceries than our current shop."

Alex Collingwood lives 250 yards from the proposed superstore and is a ward councillor for the area on Wycombe council, which will decide the planning application.

He said: "Marlow attracts visitors and shoppers from far and wide for its wide range of specialist shops, mainly onebranchfamily-owned businesses. Waitrose... want permission for 25,000 square feet which will enable them to sell non-food items, competing directly with the nearby specialist shops and threatening their viability."

David Pearce, chairman of the Marlow Chamber of Commerce, fears that a Waitrose selling not only food but also kitchen and home wares and clothing, and with its own restaurant or café¬ would be disastrous for the town. "It would become the only destination for shoppers coming to Marlow," he warned.

He claimed that nearby Henley, where Waitrose won permission for a similar expansion 10 years ago, is "still suffering", adding: "We want to keep Marlow's unique character, and must avoid making the same mistake here."

However, the British Retail Consortium, which represents supermarkets and smaller shopkeepers, said: "It's competition - this is what keeps the retail sector thriving and variety and choice is what keeps the customer happy.

"Stopping supermarkets and chain stores coming into our towns or curbing out-of-town development will never in itself secure the existence of local shops and the character of the town centre. Often, many smaller retailers find it difficult to survive and it's nothing to do with supermarkets - it's more about high property costs and business rates."