Supermarkets and local Co-ops

The meeting on Monday night went very well, lots of concerns were raised about the possibility of a new supermarket being located on the Curriehill site and far from adopting a NIMBY, anti-development stance, most people actually expressed a desire to see housing for older people here as a way of allowing older people to stay in the area while helping to encourage more turn over of family homes locally. Since the developers declined to attend it hasn't been possible to convey the concerns or discuss other options. Hopefully that will happen soon.

At the other end of the "retail foodstore" spectrum, I visited the Broomhouse Fruit & Veg Co-op the other day. Excellent local project with superb staff and a committed band of dedicated local volunteers. The shop is the obvious, visible presence in the community (at Broomhouse Market) but they also deliver a range of other service such as working with local schools to discuss healthy eating and making children more aware of where our food comes from. In common with other voluntary sector organisations, concerns about funding make it difficult for them to plan for the future but they're certainly worthy of support and promotion.