The evidence is that it will result in a net loss of employment as the current
trend in supermarket trading is to increase space and reduce jobs. The
resultant loss of local jobs will mean a negative impact on employment and a
loss of shopping diversity.
When Sainsbury’s obtained planning permission to expand their Ashton Vale store
by 52% in Dec 2001, they had 500 employees and told planning officers they
would increase staff by 250, so today’s staff should total 750.
(Sainsbury’sTravel Plan - Aug 2002 page 6, 3.5.1/3.5.2).
In fact, the public were informed (2010 consultation leaflet) that Sainsbury’s
now have 388 staff and planned to create 400 new jobs while Council officers
were informed they have 354 staff (of which 278 were part time) – nearly 150
staff LESS than before their previous expansion.
With the new relocated store, they plan to increase their staff by 450 (of
which 280 part time p96 Officer’s report). How can we rely on this figure? In
the past eight years, despite an expansion, Sainsbury’s have reduced their
staff by 29% from 500 to 354 and staff per square foot of retail has fallen.
Supermarkets expand to take market share and to reduce staffing per square foot
by introducing changes such as self scanning and internet sales.
The figure of 450 new jobs given to Planning Officers (up to 804) is not
credible. It defies common sense and runs counter to industry wide practice and
past practice on the Ashton Vale site. Sainsbury’s Ashton Gate with 450 new
staff and a ratio of 1 staff member per 124 sq ft would be the sole new
supermarket in the UK planning to increase staffing per sq ft. By comparison
Tesco are currently expanding their Yate store by 78,000 sq ft (from 29,000sq
ft to 107,000 sq ft). At 29,000 sq ft they now employ 320 people and claim they
will increase their staff by 270 –increasing their ratio from 1 staff member
per 90 sq ft to 1 staff member per 181 sq ft.
We don’t believe local job predictions because they are exaggerated for the
purposes of getting planning permission. A new 9,185sq metres (100,000sq ft)
Tesco store in Beeston Nottingham is said to be creating 420 jobs (ratio
1:238). A new 111,000sq ft Sainsbury’s store at Great Homer Street in Liverpool
is said to be creating 500 jobs (ratio 1:222). Stop Sainsbury’s has researched
other planned supermarket expansions in the UK and believe that a new
Sainsbury’s 100,000sq ft superstore if built now would employ a maximum of 450
staff (ratio 1:222), about 100 more than today. In four year's time when the
new Sainsbury’s is actually built and technology has moved on still further, it
may employ even less staff. So in 2015, we expect that Sainsbury’s in Ashton
will employ less staff than they did in 2002.
It is estimated that every new supermarket reduces local retail jobs by about
200 elsewhere and this being a particularly large one, it would have a more
adverse impact. A 1998 study by the National Retailer Planning Forum (NRPF)
examining the employment impacts of 93 superstore openings between 1991 and
1994 found that they resulted in a net loss of more than 25,000 jobs or 276 per
store opened. We fully expect more local jobs to be lost due to competition
from Sainsbury’s than new jobs created at their new superstore.
Figures from the House of Commons and the Competition Commission show that
there has been a net loss of food retail jobs (1.3m in 2005 down to 1.1m in
2008) despite a 14% growth in food grocery revenues over the same period. In
particular the major supermarkets have increased their revenues by 23%, whilst
convenience stores have seen their revenues reduced by 19%.
In 2006, an All-Party Parliamentary Group produced a 90 page report
highlighting the problems facing the small retailer. They found that although
the major supermarkets accounted for almost 80% of food revenues they only
provided 60% of the jobs. They calculated that every £100,000 spent with the
supermarket chains supported one worker, whereas the same money spent at small
convenience stores produced double the employment.
In 2008, the Competition Commission published updated research as part of their
investigation in the Grocery Market (3) which showed that revenues in the
grocery market had increased by 14% to over £110 billion. The supermarket
chains now had 85% of the revenues and had seen their sales increase by 24%.
Convenience stores meanwhile had seen a drop in income of almost 20%. So
ingrained is the idea that supermarkets create jobs that the major supermarkets
can now get away with promising the same jobs twice as Sainbury’s have done.