Following the report in the Chronicle, October 14, the national chain Costa Coffee has announced that it is submitting a planning application to open a coffee shop in the vacant unit at 5 Victoria Road.
Despite its controversial aspects, this application appears likely to succeed, since there seems to be no good planning reason why it can be turned down.
However, Mr Ben Copithorne, writing on the company’s behalf, makes claims about the effects of this proposed development that are highly questionable and that illustrate a general problem regarding the future of retailing in Dartmouth.
In a letter to the town council, Mr Copithorne summarises his view of the supposed benefits of Costa’s proposal as bringing a ‘positive use back to vacant shop units’. The company, he claims, would ‘invest around £300,000, as
well as create 10 new jobs in Dartmouth, making a positive contribution to the town and its economy’.
The Dartmouth and Kingswear Society notes that this is the same rationale as the one rejected by the people of Totnes when confronted by a similar proposal by Costa last year.
On that occasion the company had the wisdom to withdraw the proposal in the face of community hostility. The company should explain why its sensible decision then has not informed its judgement now.
The fact is that this kind of investment by national and regional shopping chains is likely to destroy more local jobs than it creates and make more small shop units vacant than it occupies. The effect on local, independent shops and cafes, which contribute so much to the essential character of Dartmouth, is always damaging due to the inexorable rise in rent levels it generates.
There are many interests that welcome and profit from this particular aspect of the operation of a free rental market. But there are circumstances in which this freedom needs to be constrained, if not by law then by responsible and self-interested corporate judgement.
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