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ALNWICK ON LION SAFEWAY SETTLES! |
| The story of Alnwick's relationship with SAFEWAY is still one of the more odd stories of the 1990s. It has now been settled between the Duke, Safeways and the Council on the following terms: |
| Party | Result | Benefits to settlement | Losses in settlement |
| The Duke | He agrees to buy back the land he sold Safeway, at the price for which he sold it in 1995 | He is less unpopular in Alnwick
than he might otherwise have been. (although never forget who sold the
site to Safeway in the first place).
He has had five years' interest on the money. |
The land he sold back is now worth
less than he is geting for hit, but of course he sold the land with a planning
permission which, it now turns out, he should never have had.
Also, the land retains "hope" value for the future |
| SAFEWAY | They agree to sell back the site to the Duke for what they paid for it in 1995. They don't get interest or anything to reflect the increase in land values between 1995-2000 | People in Alnwick won't hate them
as much and may decide to stop boycotting them.
(they retain their monopoly in Alnwick anyway) |
They could have claimed more money.
(The fact that they haven't gives the lie to their original claim that they had no choice but to seek a maximum recovery, doesn't it?) |
| Alnwick DC | Have to pay legal costs and interest (these costs are to be paid by insurers) | Don't have to pay £millions in compensations | increased insurance premiums in future, probably |
| The People of Alnwick | Their local authority won't be (effectively) bankrupted. | They don't get a new supermarket
which they wanted (they just didn't want a Safeway.
Increased insurance premiums for the Council may impace on local services. |
|
| The DETR
(where John Prescott decided that Alnwick DC's decision was "grossly wrong" but whose own whose Government office for the North East never bothered interfering with the decision when it was first taken) |
Played no part in the negotiations | Just not bothered | None |
| Click
here to find out the full story:
Click here to see the archive "boycott Safeway" campaign. Pictures of
Alnwick
A Bob Mouser Production © 2000 |