The Facts
Sainsbury’s understands that the broad range of scheme changes, mixed with unfortunate rumours and misleading claims can get very confusing.
With this in mind, we would like to take this opportunity to clarify the following points:
| The Rumour... | The Truth... |
|---|---|
| Sainsbury’s will close its store at the centre of Solihull, attracting all its customers to Dorridge | Sainsbury’s has no intention of closing its Solihull store. The Dorridge development is for the local community, preventing the need to drive out to surrounding areas to shop at larger stores |
| In the future, Sainsbury’s will build a multi-storey car park on top of the store | A multi-storey car park is not possible both from an economic and construction point of view and is not being considered by Sainsbury’s |
| Sainsbury’s has increased the rents of all the remaining tenants to get them to leave | No rents have been increased and Sainsbury’s has worked with each tenant on an individual basis to understand their requirements and aspirations |
| The store has only been reduced by 15% | The 26% reduction quoted refers to the sales area, the size that will affect the number of people that choose to visit the store because it affects the amount of goods on offer |
| The store will result in seven, 38 tonne lorries every single day | The accurate figures are nine lorries a day. Only four of these will be 38 tonnes, whilst the remaining five will only be between 13.5 and 26 tonnes (further details can be found in the Service Yard Management Plan, which forms part of the planning application) |
| The store will attract customers from an extensive area | The catchment for the store extends no further than three miles from the centre of Dorridge |
| We will lose our pharmacy | The local pharmacy will be temporarily relocated near to the Arden Buildings during construction and then re-housed within the development to ensure it continues to serve the surgery patients |
| You’re making the doctors pay for the improvements to their facility | Sainsbury’s will be paying for all the works |
| The tax payer will have to pay for the highways improvements | Sainsbury’s will be paying for all the highways works |
| Sainsbury’s PR team have been commenting on the Silhillian Blog in an attempt to pose as local residents in support of the scheme | The only communications with the Silhillian Blog have been statements and comments to the editor. At no point has a member of Sainsbury’s development team commented on the blog |