The Waterfront is Getting a Co-Op!

Published: 2024-08-19
Updated: 2024-08-20

A few days ago Argyll and Bute Council provided an update to the ongoing waterfront development. They announced that they would be proceeding with the construction of a new supermarket on the waterfront. This was published by the Community Council on the 16th of August 2024, with a post linking to a piece by the Lochside Press, article here.

This news does include the fact that the waterfront bid has been completed, with Forrest Developments as the winning bidder, it does not confirm that the Co-Op will be moved there. But so far, all seems to point to that fact.

This supermarket will be barely bigger than the original!

From the council itself, courtesy of The Lochside Press:

There will be single-storey commercial units,
one large enough for a supermarket,
and additional smaller units;
an area for a skate park and space for additional car parking.

So on this site, which is 1.38 acres in total (just shy of 5600 metres squared), we’re going to fit in all of the above.

Parking

Adding in more parking is just about the worst use of land a town can choose. I’d highly recommend the book “The High Cost of Free Parking” by Donald Shoup, Wikipedia page here. I wanted to go into more detail on the base subjects of urbanism (and I will do that) but parking does not improve a town, it often kills high streets and should not be expanded in urban areas.

Even if you disagree about my views on it, the average UK car parking space is 2.4 by 4.8 metres (11.5 metres squared), with new guidance (due to ever increasing car sizes) recommending 2.6 by 5.0 metres (13 metres squared). Considering access roads required to get into the parking (~3 metres per lane), the maximum amount of parking spaces (this is with no Co-op and shops mind) in this area would be around 215 spaces. Seeing as we already have plenty of parking in the town. And it doesn’t generate meaningful revenue for the town (I will go into the finances of free parking in a future post). Why would we add yet more parking, it’s a massive waste of potential that would only make our potentially most valuable land as unproductive and ugly as possible.

Supermarket

With that in mind, the current size of the Co-op in Helensburgh (excluding parking) is about 2350 metres squared. That’s about 41% of the plot area on the waterfront. So for Co-op to gain area, more than half of the site would have to be dedicated to a new supermarket. Throw in a bit of parking and that’s it, the plot is used up. The council are kidding themselves and us if they state they are going to fit in anything else.

I guarantee the first thing to be axed in the plans will be the skate park and I severely doubt other shops will get in. You gain a slightly bigger supermarket, a bit of parking and as a town we lose a space that could have been used for a plethora of alternatives.

This also doesn’t address what will happen with the old Co-op’s venue. If a new site is built the old one will be sold. Unfortunately, due to its size, very few businesses would be capable of purchasing it. What’s most likely to happen is that it will sit empty for years. There are already a number of empty commercial properties on the high street. If a business could purchase or rent a smaller cheaper one, they will.

So we end up giving up what could be some of the most attractive and valuable pieces of land in the town for a slightly bigger Co-op, a now empty abandoned Co-op, and a bit more parking.

What could be done instead for Co-op

If there is truly a demand for a larger Co-op, we shouldn’t give up this prime piece of land. Behind the Co-op there is an additional plot of land right next to it. It is 26 metres in length, which would add an additional 730 metres squared to the property. I’ve done my best to visualise it here:

This would bring the old Co-op up to 3080 metres squared! Greater than what we would get on the waterfront, which would be at best 2800 metres squared, if half of the site is for the Co-op.

Additional Shops

Okay, so we have parking and a Co-op, let’s say we manage to fit in some shops as well. These are single storey so they won’t be very large, and there won’t be many of them. Why would we do this? There are already multiple commercial venues lying vacant in Helensburgh. The M&Co, the bookies on the waterfront, and the computer shop along West Princes Street are the ones that come to mind, although I’m certain there are more.

Why are we building new venues when we have ones primed for renovation and reuse?

Regardless, given the lack of transparency of the plans, we can only speculate as to how many shops there would be. I’d be surprised if any would be included. If the council manage to fit any in, the currently empty ones would never shift and reopen as something new.

By building more units whilst having empty ones, we will condemn the existing ones to rot and ruin.

Skate Park

Personally, I don’t believe the Skate Park will get installed. The council has delayed and deflected continuously, preferring to build parking and sit on empty land instead of fulfilling their promise to build one. The current one is a token gesture that is a fraction of the proposed size and although it gets good use, it would take a miniscule amount of effort to provide what was promised.

I would love to see a properly established skate park on this land. I believe it would be a massive draw for the town and a fantastic way to breathe life into the waterfront.

Potential Alternatives

And with that we come to the potential alternatives, what could a prime piece of land on the water become?

During the consultation last year, my impression was that the community wanted recreational and leisure space. It was a fantastic suggestion by the community, as we already have an array of shops and restaurants on the adjacent road - ice cream shops for kids, bars for adults, and restaurants for everyone.

We are primed to become a waterfront tourism town! A lot of people may be reticent when they hear that suggestion, but if we design it in a smart way, this area can service the community, as well as people visiting.

More and more people are staying at home for the summers. Given that Helensburgh has a decent train service that hits Edinburgh and Glasgow directly, add in something to draw those people in, we could really instigate a powerful economic boon to the town!

I think keeping the area somewhat adaptable would be wise, as it would allow us to host the events of the day. So a community park with benches and trees for shelter from the wind and rain, with a skate park to the side wouldn’t be a bad option. Make it a space for winter and summer fairs, galas, marches and events! Add in an agreement for businesses on the main street to sit out and have their customers enjoy the sun (when we get it). Maybe add in a few stalls for startup businesses.

It wouldn’t cost much to implement this, certainly less than a supermarket that we don’t need, and because we wouldn’t build anything too permanent we could adapt to the changing needs of the town. Maybe the skate park is a huge success, we could expand on it. Maybe people rarely use the tables for businesses, okay lets reduce them, maybe the opposite, add more! But all the time, we are encouraging people to live, shop and play in the centre of the town. This brings in jobs, this supports our already established businesses, and this encourages people to move into the area. All of which improves the council’s yearly budget!

It’s a win-win!

Next Steps

I will be submitting Freedom of Information requests to get the actual financial information of this development. I’m particularly interested in the tax revenue currently generated by the Co-op. What financial incentives the council may or may not be providing to make this development happen (preferential business rates for example)? If anyone already has access to this information, please email me at helensburghurbanists+source@proton.me. Your identity will never be disclosed to third parties.

If like myself you are not pleased with this development, please contact your local councillors and representatives to make your opinion heard! Together we can make the waterfront something special for the community, that benefits us all!

Conclusion

I hope you have enjoyed this ramble, and I truly appreciate the time you have taken to read this article. Admittedly, I wanted to spend time curating educational material on what makes a town great! But this waterfront news seemed so pressing I just had to jump straight onto writing this.

I will start to write more frequent material on Urbanism. If you are at all interested I will post links on the community pages. There is a Helensburgh Urbanists page here, if you have any feedback I’d love to hear it! And if anyone involved in the planning so far, please get in touch at helensburghurbanists@proton.me, I’d love an official response!

I hope you all have a great day!

Join the discussion here!

The Helensburgh Urbanist