Cotswold Co-op revolt: Villagers say plans for new store will ‘ruin ambience …

There is uproar over plans for a Co-operative store to open in South Cerney
Residents say it’s not in keeping with village which dates from Saxon times
One house in South Cerney has reportedly dropped by £70,000 in value
Row comes a week after it emerged actress Emma Thompson is backing a campaign against a Tesco store being built in Belsize Park, North London

Jim Norton for the Daily Mail

Published:
00:47 GMT, 7 February 2015

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Updated:
01:41 GMT, 7 February 2015

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Tucked away in the Cotswolds, the village of South Cerney provides the perfect getaway for families, pensioners and the odd celebrity looking for a more traditional way of life.

Grade II listed cottages and Audi TTs line the high street, where the tight-knit community comes together for cake sales and flower shows.

But, according to its furious inhabitants, this way of life could all now be under threat.

They are in uproar over plans for a Co-operative store to be opened in the heart of the village – where houses fetch up to £2million – claiming it will hit house prices and ruin the ‘ambience’.

Idyllic: The village of South Cerney provides the perfect getaway for families, pensioners and the odd celebrity looking for a more traditional way of life

Residents say the supermarket is not in keeping with the village, which dates from Saxon times, and could have a ‘reverse Waitrose-effect’.

The estate agent Savills indicated in 2013 that house prices in ‘Waitrose postcodes’ were 25 per cent higher than the UK average.

One house in South Cerney has reportedly already dropped by £70,000 in value – suggesting that, in contrast to a supermarket boosting house prices in the village, the prospect of one is being blamed for bringing them down.

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Cotswold District Council has already approved plans for a disused building to become a supermarket – despite 144 objections from residents.

There is uproar over plans for a Co-operative store to be opened in the heart of the village

Now there have been 168 objections to a new planning application to keep the shop open from 7am to 11pm every day of the week. Objectors have nicknamed it the ‘inconvenience store’.

The row comes a week after it emerged that Emma Thompson is backing a campaign against a Tesco being built in Belsize Park, North London.

The Oscar-winning actress claimed the feeling of the ‘villagey’ neighbourhood near Hampstead Heath would be destroyed.

Many of the 3,500 residents in South Cerney are fiercely proud of their village – founded in AD999 by Saxon settlers with a charter from King Aethelred II.

The river Churn flows past two pubs, while nearby is a 13th-century manor house, part of which TV personality Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen is renting.

Residents said the few local amenities – which include a post office, a fish and chip shop, a pharmacy, and a small Spar convenience store – were all they needed.

For the weekly grocery shop, many said they were happy to drive less than five miles to the large 24-hour Tesco Extra in Cirencester.

Mother of two Sarah Forbes, 40, said the supermarket would be ‘hideous’ and ‘completely out of keeping’ among the ‘quintessentially English cottages’.

Michael and Christina Pollard, both 69, have lived in the village for 32 years but felt ‘forced’ to put their four-bedroom house up for sale because of the plans.

Backing: Emma Thompson is giving her support to a campaign against a Tesco being built in Belsize Park, North London

Mrs Pollard, a retired college lecturer, said: ‘We brought our family up here. We have a nice, quiet life and that’s what we wanted to keep.’

Brian Viner, 76, and wife Anne, 68, have relished taking part in local flower shows and charity concerts.

Mrs Viner, a retired care worker, said: ‘There will be people outside loitering.

‘It’ll be worse when they know it will stay open till 11pm. They’ll sit there drinking, doing drugs, and goodness knows what.’

Local estate agent Christian Slade said the store would certainly have a ‘negative impact’ on house prices ‘directly affected’ by it, although he stressed it would only affect houses close by.

It is not known when the Co-op store will open. A Co-op spokesman said: ‘Our experience suggests that many customers appreciate being able to use our stores at times convenient to them.

‘Planning officials have concluded that the opening hours will not generate noise or disturbance that would impact upon local residents.’