Sainsbury's Local on Hampton Wick High Street?

We have heard from multiple sources that a Sainsbury’s Local is going to open on Hampton Wick High Street, on the site of The Painted Furniture Company (ex Rose & Crown pub).

A licensing application has appeared on the window at 59-61 High Street. The application is the first indication that Sainsbury’s intend to open a store there.

This is a significant development for our High Street with positives as well as negatives to the development. Some will be in favour of such a development and others will be against.
The HWA does not have a view for or against on this issue and is instead focused on conveying available information to the community. We therefore set this out as far as possible below, to help residents, businesses and other interested parties form their own views. If you know of something we have missed then please do get in touch: info@hamptonwick.org.uk

Planning application

It is important to be aware that, in terms of planning control, retail units may now change from one type of shop to another without planning permission. So our understanding is that a change of use from a furniture seller to a supermarket does not need planning approval from the Council.

Licensing application

Although the change of use does not require planning permission, the licence to sell alcohol does have to be approved by the council.

Details of the licensing application can be found here. These state that the shop would be open 24 hrs/7 days per week and that the licensing request is to sell alcohol is 7am-11pm/7 days per week.
NB Actual opening hours and alcohol sales could be for less than the hours applied for.

Objections to the licensing application may be lodged with the Council until 8 October 2024. Details of how to object are here. If enough objections are received then the application may have to be considered by the Council’s full licensing committee.

Parking and loading

We are not aware that parking/loading is an issue that can be used for grounds to object to the plans, however, there is currently nowhere obvious where loading and unloading could take place. There are four parking spaces outside the Painted Furniture Company which could be repurposed into a loading bay but that would negatively impact on available parking. And then where would shoppers intending to use the planned Sainsbury’s Local park?

Pros and cons

We know already that there are a range of different views as to the desirability of a store of this kind on our High Street. Many residents will welcome the opportunity to have available a larger range of products and services more locally on the High Street. It could for example be a significant convenience for elderly residents. It could be argued that there might be spin-off benefits for other local businesses due to increased footfall. It might also be argued that increased competition on the High Street might be beneficial to local consumers.

On the other hand, a busy multi-purpose shop trading such long hours may bring noise and other social problems to the High Street, affecting particularly those who live on the High Street, and there are significantly more residential units on the High Street than commercial units. Some existing shops may fear the competition and may suffer as a result of same. It is likely that the character of the High Street would change with a dominant general-purpose shop which is significantly larger than most other trading premises. The High Street has been pretty much chain-free in recent times with most competing shops being single unit.

The Petition

It seems clear that the Planning Department of the council has no powers to prevent the change of use from one type of shop to another. The Licensing Department does have control over the sale of alcohol but presumably it will have to be consistent in its treatment of any High Street business wishing to sell alcohol including of course both Priya’s and the Post Office.

Taking a different tack, local resident Nick Rafferty has set up an online petition asking the shareholders of Sainsbury’s to “rescind this application and look for a location that will less negatively impact local business and residents”.

Click here to sign the petition on change.org.

Costa Coffee in Totnes

Although national retail chains do not often change their strategy in cases like this, we have found a precedent – the case of Costa in Totnes, Devon in 2012 – which could be seen to be somewhat similar. Click here to read the BBC news story.

HWA writes letter to Simon Roberts, Chief Executive, J Sainsbury PLC.

The HWA has written directly, by post and by email, to the Chief Executive of J Sainsbury plc (Simon Roberts). We have deliberately focused on one specific issue that will be of concern to everyone and which must be addressed by Sainsbury, namely loading. Click here to download a PDF of the HWA letter to Sainsburys. We will publish any response that we receive. We will also make sure that the Richmond Highways Department is fully aware of our concerns as it may be possible for them to bring pressure to bear, given that the matter is beyond the reach of the Planning Department.

Shop Local!

The best way to support our local shops and businesses is to use them. The HWA has been running a Shop Local campaign for a number of years – the exhibition we are currently running in the Library is our latest initiative to interest local people in their local High Street. Our successful Discover Hampton Wick Treasure Hunt in July was also aimed at getting people to explore what’s on offer locally.

We urge everyone in Hampton Wick to get out into the High Street, to discover what is special about our local shops and other businesses and to support them by shopping locally where at all possible.

We will keep a watching brief and bring you news of further developments as and when we have them.