Stop the Supermarket
by
Helensburgh Community Council
Stop the Supermarket
by
Helensburgh Community Council
Helensburgh Community Council
Case Owner
Helensburgh Community Council's role is to give the town community a voice and take whatever action is necessary for its interests.
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Helensburgh Community Council
Case Owner
Helensburgh Community Council's role is to give the town community a voice and take whatever action is necessary for its interests.
Helensburgh Community Council needs your help in opposing Argyll and Bute Council’s decision to put a supermarket on the town’s waterfront. The community has repeatedly opposed supermarkets on this site over the past 30 years.
Over 5000 people have signed our petition opposing a supermarket on the waterfront since Argyll and Bute Council announced they had approved a supermarket developer for the site on August 15th 2024.
Argyll and Bute Council have not listened to the community over the past year and continue to ignore the town’s opposition to their decision. Council meetings, where key decisions have been made about the supermarket's site, have been held in secret. Questions from the public have gone unanswered. Requests for meetings with Councillors have been ignored. The leader of the Council also refused to meet with the Community Council.
However, we can oppose Argyll and Bute Council's decision on the supermarket's site with a legal challenge. We have not come to this decision lightly, but the strength of community concern and opposition needs to be heard by Argyll and Bute Council. By stopping the process now we could prevent Argyll and Bute Council entering a time consuming and expensive planning process that may ultimately be referred to the Scottish Reporter for a decision anyway (which was how a supermarket application in 2000 was rejected).
We know this is an expensive process and, at a time when money is tight, we know it will be hard to raise money for the costs that this will incur.
With the community's help, what we have done so far is:
- Opened a crowdfunder, via GoFundMe, to raise money for the initial stage of the judicial review.
- Submitted a request, via Harper Macleod solicitors, for a judicial review to the Court of Session (October 2024)
- Had approval from the Court of Session that the judicial review could proceed (December 2024)
- Sought legal representation that is affordable for the community to complete this process (January to May 2025)
- Engaged Gilson Gray solicitors, along with Roddy Dunlop KC and David Welsh as counsel (June 2025).
The next, and final, step in the process is the substantive judicial review hearing, on 4th July, at which the case will be heard in the Court of Session. Subsequently the judge will deliver his decision.
We are very grateful to all who have donated to the GoFundMe campaign, which has allowed us to get this far. Some donors have asked that we open a CrowdJustice page, to allow donations through this mechanism and we are now doing so.
The money raised through this crowdfunder will be used by Helensburgh Community Council for:
- Legal fees from raising a judicial review in the Court of Session against Argyll and Bute Council’s decision to appoint a supermarket developer for the waterfront.
- Court fees for this judicial review.
If we are successful in opposing this supermarket development then we will work with the community to enable a Community Asset Transfer so that the waterfront can stay in public hands. The community can then create a space which can be used by all our residents and visitors.
As above, we are in the final stage of this judicial review, and your urgent assistance would be very much appreciated to raise the final £25,000 that we require to ensure the costs of this challenge are met.
We are grateful for any contribution you can make to this cause.
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