South Wales Evening Post - 20 June 2008
Gorseinon traders have been celebrating victory in their fight to prevent a giant £25 million Asda store opening in the town.
An Assembly planning inspector has thrown out the huge supermarket chain's appeal against the refusal of planning permission for the store.
Asda wanted to develop a store on the brownfield site at Heol-y-Mynydd.But Gorseinon Chamber of Trade has battled the scheme for four-and-a-half years. Now, finally, they have secured victory.
Chamber spokesman Phillip Sillick said: "It hasn't really sunk in yet. I have spoken to some of the traders and they are delighted hey can see an end to it all. There will be no appeals, nothing further. It has taken us four-and-a-half years."
Success in the David and Goliath battle between the small shopkeepers and the multi-billion pound empire Asda, owned by American company Wal-Mart, has secured the future of the town's small shops, says the chamber.
Mr Sillick added: "We want to say this brings relief to the traders in Gorseinon. It enable s them to expand their businesses and encourages other people to come into Gorseinon. A lot of people have held back over the last year because they didn't know whether to come there."
Trader Frank Moruzzi said: "The inspector found there wasn't a need for it, and they had to prove there was a need before it would be acceptable."
Mr Sillick said: "People believed we couldn't win. They said Asda had too much money. Well, we've done it."
Some 5,200 people supported the chamber's campaign against the store.
Planning inspector Stuart Wild said in his appeal decision that it was "most likely that the Asda store would operate as a one-stop shop.
"The levels of linked trips would be unlikely to compensate for the probable degree of trade diversion from the existing district centre. In these circumstances, the proposal would be unacceptably harmful to the vitality, attractiveness and viability of the Gorseinon district centre."
