The planning committee of Carmarthenshire County Council will be put to the test at their next meeting on Thursday, February 2.
The committee will decide whether to give approval to supermarket giant Sainsbury’s for their proposed new Llandeilo development.
The supermarket chain has carried out a determined campaign to develop a superstore on the edge of Llandeilo.
The planned store is in excess of 25,000 square feet and dwarfs all other retail outlets in the area.
Objectors fear that, instead of creating much-needed jobs, the plan will kill off the smaller competition.
‘Save Llandeilo’s Future’ is an active campaign group fighting the proposed development.
The campaigners have highlighted the negative impact giant supermarkets have had in other parts of Wales. The campaigners are demanding that the county council protects Llandeilo as an important gateway to the Tywi Valley.
Lead campaigner Tim Shaw said: “It is a well-known fact that wherever the mega stores go they create unemployment over the short to medium term.
“Once the stores arrive, they systematically reduce prices until they eliminate the competition, and our high streets become boarded up ghettos.
“There is nothing to suggest that Llandeilo and the rural surrounding area will not be decimated by this proposal.
“Shops will close, and local jobs will be lost.
“The creation of jobs is a total nonsense, as can be seen in Ammanford and Machynlleth.
“The supermarkets do not create jobs. They destroy them – as well as local businesses.”
Llandeilo brewer and businessman Simon Buckley (pictured) is backing the ‘No to Sainsbury’s’ campaign.
He said: “If this proposal is given planning permission we will see high levels of pollution almost doubled, traffic gridlock and it will become impossible for companies such as mine to operate from Llandeilo.
“You are left with the clear understanding that this supermarket will do nothing for the area, other than to destroy local businesses and the town of Llandeilo.
“The planning committee’s own retail impact study says there is no demand for the size of the planned store in all of north-east Carmarthenshire, let alone Llandeilo.
“Planners have previously identified the site for job creation.
“A yes vote will mean that the development can be legally challenged and referred to the Ombudsman.
“It’s time for our county councillors to think of those who have invested in the town, the people who are employed by them and the fledgling tourism trade that will be destroyed by this development.
The planning meeting will be held at the County Hall in Carmarthen at 10am on Thursday, February 2.
