The Devil Is In The Retail

Since the Westgate Centre expansion was “delayed indefinitely” thanks to the economic downtown (and, Westgate Watch can’t help wondering, the possible withdrawal of one of their major backers who may have decided Westgate was more trouble than it was worth?), there’s been some local debate as to what else could or should be done with the Westgate site. The Oxford e-democracy forum, for example, has been hosting a discussion about whether or not Oxford’s economic future lies in building more shopping centres (in addition to the stalled Westgate scheme, there’s yet another one planned for the St Aldate’s/Queen Street area).

One local commenter, Kaihsu Tai, wrote a rather interesting post on those boards, which we reproduce here with his permission:

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Ah, the devil is in the “retail”.

The top three industries of Oxfordshire, according to the Oxfordshire Economic Observatory run by the two Oxford universities, are: higher education, publishing, and motor manufacturing, with tourism not far behind. None of these are retail activities. Basic (micro)economics dictates that one use one’s existing assets, know-how, and competitive edge rather than trying to be a new entrant in an already-crowded market.

The suggestion that Oxford compete with the likes of Reading and Milton Keynes in retail is not very inspired: We are not going to do any better by selling wares made in developing countries, in chain-stores attended by local people paid barely above minimum wage, with most of the profits going back to headquarters in London or New York. Much better to have a knowledge-driven economy with people like strategic consultants, architects, artists, designers, engineers, academic editors, investigative journalists, etc. - what Oxfordshire has been good at for the last millennium. Lisbon Strategy anyone?

It may well be barmy to take Oxford down the retail-centric road. Councillor Mitchell and friends need to prove that they are otherwise; the same applies to the Labour-run City Council. Yes, local people need shops, but not that many shops in a unique city like Oxford. If you really want retail desperately and want to win out on it, you need to sell mostly things others cannot sell; then you need to find a way to keep the profits local. Retail or not, businesses pay rates to the councils. (By the way, the VAT and other taxes go to the central Government and then gets redistributed, not directly to the councils; but that is another long story.)

Following this line of thought, a sketch of what Westgate can become is: a department store (perhaps run by the John Lewis Partnership, or even better the Midcounties Co-operative); plus innovative local shops and restaurants (local! not chain-stores); with an artists’ village and a convention centre or theatre (maybe even with a resident orchestra, opera, or theatre company), capable of hosting largish conventions where new products, ideas, websites, cars, solar panels, government policies, can be launched;… plus some high-density residential units.

All right, if I write any more, someone will have to pay a consulting fee….

Kaihsu Tai

Jericho, Oxford

A Moment Of Sanity?

Here at Westgatewatch, we’ve long been alarmed by plans to “regenerate” Oxford with a giant shopping mall that relied on people driving miles across the county to buy vast amounts of branded consumer junk, what with the multiple threats of climate change and dwindling natural resources looming just over the horizon. Many of us felt that turning Oxford into a “regional shopping hub” reliant on endless, ever-growing consumerism and an infinite supply of cheap oil to keep its local economy afloat might not really be the smartest bit of long-term planning the Council had ever done.

Well, it seems that the Westgate Partnership’s financial backers have finally decided to agree with us (well, sort of). According to the Oxford Mail this week, the Westgate expansion plans have been “delayed indefinitely”, thanks to investor nervousness in the face of the “continuing economic slump”. Simon Ward of the Westgate Partnership has admitted that “The current market conditions have facilitated the need to review financing options for Westgate”. In other words, the people putting the money up have started to get cold feet about funding a mega-mall when people aren’t buying as much and are driving less. (Dare we even hope that John Lewis may have listened to the myriad concerns put to them by locals and put the brakes on this crazy scheme?) The proposed 2009 date for the beginning of construction is now pretty much stuffed. Westgate is, for now, absolutely not “a goer”.

The temptation to laugh wildly and dance in circles around a city centre London Plane tree is, of course, very strong. Before we charge out to our local independent off-licenses for a bottle of something celebratory and organic, however, we would do well to note the words of Steve Gerrish (of local climate action lobby group VOCAL) on an Oxford Democracy message board:

“…[T]he economic turn-down is affecting city centre regeneration projects all over the country…One possible consequence is that pressure could be put on the Council by the Westgate Partnership to make changes to the plan to protect their projected return on investment. For example, they might perceive that flats in the development for private sale might do well in spite of the downturn, and put pressure on to reduce the proportion of affordable housing, which is less profitable. They might put pressure on to remove features that they perceive as ‘nice to have’ but have been hard won by Councillors and planners.”

The Westgate Partnership - and the Council - have invested a lot in this project, and we can expect it to return in some semi-mutated form or other in the not-too-distant future. There are some other ominous quotes in the Oxford Mail article - apparently the Partnership are still “fully committed to the project”, and would be continuing with “site preparation” (which could, of course, mean tree-felling amongst other works).

The stay of execution on this monstrous project is wonderful news for the residents of Oxford, and we should all breathe a sigh of relief. However, this doesn’t mean we should relax completely. If and when Westgate rears its head again, we need to be ready to scrutinise whatever plans are being brewed, and challenge them if they’re still (as is likely) mind-meltingly, climate-trashingly, air-pollutingly, Oxford-floodingly awful.

In the meantime: enjoy lovely Oxford everyone, and support your local independent shops!

STOP PRESS: More good news - Gabriel, who kicked off this year’s anti-Westgate action by occupying a tree in Bonn Square, has had all the charges against him dropped. Apparently, the police decided that pressing charges would be “a waste of money”. Because arresting him in the first place was, of course, a brilliant way to spend public money.

What a CP Out

If you haven’t seen the Oxford Mail’s headline today, it says: “Westgate Is A Goer”. The Compulsory Purchase (CP) of Abbey Place has been approved, giving the developers legal permission to knock down the street of sheltered housing that was standing in the way of their mega-mall plans.

This is not unexpected news, but it’s still very disappointing. The Abbey Place residents have been treated disgracefully throughout this whole affair.

The full details of the CPO decision have not yet been released - the headline result was leaked early to the Oxford Mail, presumably by the developers or the Council planning staff. This is a typical tactic for “controlling” a news story. The Council and Capital Shopping get to make the big media splash on their own terms, and by the time the full report - and any details or judgements that might reflect badly on the developers or the Council - becomes public, the media has moved on and the story is forgotten. If there are any interesting nuggets in the full report, you can be sure you’ll see them on Westgate Watch as soon as we’ve got hold of a copy…

We need to remind everyone that Westgate is NOT a “Goer” - it’s passed one more legal hurdle but it can still be stopped, or radically changed. See the press release below, which has gone out to the local media.

There’ll be more news very soon on how to help with the campaign - in the meantime, if anyone wants to write letters to the local press pointing out that the plans can (and should) be stopped, it all helps!

Campaign photographer threatened by security guard

During the successful action which took place on Saturday one of Oxford Against Westgate Expansion’s photographers was threatened. While campaigners were inside the Westgate centre, the security guard pictured right, working for Advance Security who we understand to be contracted by one of the shops in the centre (possibly Primark) approached Jon Leighton, grabbed his camera and said if he took any more photos (of the security guard) he would smash his camera on the floor.

There were a number of witnesses to the incident and one passer-by was shocked enough to step in and argue Jon’s case. English law does not require photographers to ask permission to photograph someone in a public place, and a certified security guard should really know this. In any case, smashing another person’s camera would be patently illegal and pretty stupid. The incident was reported to the Westgate centre manager, and a complaint will be made to Advance Security.

Jon Leighton is available to speak to the media - please leave a comment.

Campaigners Celebrate Westgate Delay With Street Party Protest

Saturday March 29th 2008

Campaigners took a pirate ship, a dozen inflatable sharks and a samba band into the Westgate Centre today to celebrate a significant setback for its planned expansion. Building work on the expanded Westgate - which Oxford residents say will increase traffic, flooding and greenhouse gas emissions - has been postponed until 2009.

Local campaigners drew large crowds on Cornmarket and around (and inside) the Westgate Centre with the musical stunt, which had a watery theme to raise awareness of the flooding risk to neighbourhoods in West and South Oxford. They launched a new petition, calling for a full Environment Agency flooding assessment for the expansion plans. The campaigners were also distributing a “Real Consultation” document, to find out what Oxford residents really want to see in the middle of their city.

 

Westgate Delayed! More Info

The Westgate Partnership have announced a significant delay to their efforts to expand the Westgate Centre. The building work, which was due to start in June, has been delayed until January 2009. The “pre-commencement works” - which we understand to include tree-felling and an archaeological dig -  have been put on hold until summer 2008. All this means that they’ve had to put the opening date for the completed shopping centre back two years, to 2012.

This is how they explain it:

“The Westgate Partnership has chosen to delay the start of pre-contract enabling
works pending the confirmation of the CPO [Compulsory Purchase Order of the Abbey Place homes] and general site assembly issues. Confirmation of the CPO is expected at the end of May 2008.” [their full statement is copied at the end of this post]

Westgate Work Halted Until End Of May

Westgate Watch has just heard that the work at Westgate has been temporarily halted in the light of the ongoing public enquiry. Yay!

Our source says:

“The Westgate work has had a temporary stop put on it due to te result of the CPO Public Inquiry being delayed until the end of May. So, they can’t just assume they will be allowed to demolish people’s homes to make way for their car park”

Update: The BBC are running the same story.

In the meantime, don’t forget that there will be a demo on Saturday - the 29 March from midday onwards.

Anti-Westgate Fun This Saturday

Saturday 29th March 2008 - From midday onwards
Party Against Westgate Expansion

The plan to triple the size of the Westgate shopping centre will mean:

More flooding
More climate change emissions
More traffic and air pollution

…and loads of other problems too. The plans have been decided
undemocratically and building work is due to start in June.

We can still stop this, if we act fast! Get involved in the campaign for a
saner, greener city centre. Meet on Cornmarket from midday on Saturday
29th March. Samba band, petition launch, info stall, and the chance to
have your say in the Alternative Consultation.

Bring yourself and anyone you know who cares about the future of our city.
Banners, costumes, and musical instruments are very welcome!

For more information, contact the Oxford Against Westgate Expansion campaign on oxfordagainstwestgate@activist.com.

Westgate Watch: Where the masterplanners come to get the truth!

We’ve had pretty good comments on this blog so far. But one grumpy so and so always has to go and ruin it. Someone calling themselves Paul Lumdog posted a badly spelled whinge in reply to our flashmob post. So we set our cyber-sleuths on Paul’s trail and found, rather interestingly, that Paul was posting from a computer belonging to Westgate Masterplanners Allies and Morton. They’re sort of mega architects from London and they clearly feel a bit threatened by Oxford people not wanting them to build a triple sized ecodisaster of a shopping hellhole in our beloved city. We hope Paul will want to share more of his incisive blog commentary - the more he does the less time he’ll have to foist hideous shopping centres on us!

Protest: Saturday 29 March, 2PM

Please forward to your friends, family, boss, ex-girlfriend, dog, etc

Oxford Against Westgate Expansion has collectively decided to hold a protest on the 29 March at 2PM. The event will be a fun, creative and family-friendly event focused on raising public awareness about the widely criticised plans which would triple the size of the current Westgate shopping centre.