GreenVoice: Not another Starbucks coffee shop?
29 May 2008
Why I don't believe Brighton needs another Starbucks... Ben Duncan
The Greens' parliamentary candidate for Brighton Kemptown constituency and local councillor Ben Duncan talks to a police officer at a protest against the St James's Street Starbucks. Pic: Henry Bruce (c) 2008
Ben explain
s why another Starbucks is bad news for Brighton people.
A lot of the arguments against Starbucks have centred on the way they do business.
There's plenty of anecdotal evidence, for example, that they aggressively seek to push local rents up and coffee prices down until local independent traders have been forced out of business...
...that they have refused to recognise trade unions or treat their staff fairly
..and that they don't seriously promote the fair trade products that their customers would really prefer to see bubbling out of their machines.
But for me these arguments aren't the most important ones.
I oppose the chain opening on St James's street chiefly because I believe in customer choice, the rule of law .
I also believe in the (however weak and flawed it may be) planning process - and most important of all, local democracy.
I'll explain what I mean:
Firstly, take customer choice. there are currently some 12 coffee shops on St James's street - many more in the surrounding area.
Every time a new store opens, trade falls a little in each existing store.
With the introduction of Starbucks, rents will rise and the inevitable result is that local independent traders are forced to close.
This will reduce consumer choice every time, until all that's left is Starbucks.
If people want to drink a starbucks coffee now, there are five other outlets in the city selling it, the nearest just a few hundred metres away.
Secondly, the rule of law.
Whatever you think the right decision should be, council planners have turned the application down.
They argued that opening a new coffee outlet would shift the balance from shops to cafés in a conservation area, contrary to the planning policies democratically adopted by the council.
In the words of the Argus newspaper leader piece yesterday, starbucks has every right to seek planning permission to open on st james's street, and appeal against the council's refusal.
But it should be respectful of the planning process and wait until the appeal process is complete before opening for business and taking people's money.
And then there's local democracy. there were almost 500 objections made to the council about this application.
Neighbours on Charles Street worried that the noise of the store's air conditioning units would keep them awake at night.
Local historians concerned that a Starbucks would damage the historical character of the east cliff conservation area.
Local traders scared of losing their livelihoods to trade unionists and fair trade campaigners.
It's not about whether these people were right or wrong, it's that the council has listened to local residents who cared enough to express their opinion - and that's what democracy is about to me.
Yes - people could have argued that they wanted the starbucks, and if they had, the council should have listened to them too.
But the fact is they didn't. not a single letter or comment supporting the starbucks application was received by the council during the planning process.
So I think the council was right to turn down their application.
I hope the government inspectors agree, and listen to local people when they make their final decision. meanwhile, i'm amazed that starbucks arrogantly think it's ok to ignore the rulings and open anyway.
Ben Duncan, Queens Park, Brighton
Visit Ben's blog at:
http://greenkemptownben.blogspot.com/
