I will try to use as much primary research as possible because this way there is less chance of a bias opinion, whereas, if it was secondary it may be altered slightly from its original plan. Primary sources would include:
- Pictures
- Diagrams
- Sketches
- Questionnaires
- Surveys
Secondary data that could be collected are:
- Newspaper articles
- Information on the history of Abergavenny
- Research in the library
(see appendix)
On the first day of arrival, I set of to the High street of Abergavenny Town and carried out a questionnaire (see appendix) to ask local shopkeepers as well as shoppers. Many of the shoppers that where questioned were either commuters or residents of Abergavenny. The majorities of the shopkeepers were from out of Abergavenny and got to work by car. The questionnaire that was carried out was done during school hours so many of the people that were asked were elderly mostly above the age of twenty. One of the main questioned asked was ‘did you know about the proposal of building of a McDonalds near to the Hardwick roundabout?’
I also asked different sexes for there views on the proposed McDonalds, thinking that they may have different views, the men may prefer the idea because it is a quick and easy way to get food, but woman may prefer not to.
During the questionnaire, I also asked people were they came from and how they got to the town centre. I concluded with a result showing that the majority of shoppers come to the town centre in cars, but they are also living within the bounds of Abergavenny. This result would be useful in finding out whether a drive-thru McDonalds would be useful or not and as concluded, it would be as many people come in cars rather than walking.
The results that were collected through out this period were also very biased, this is because every one that was asked was over the age of 20, and older people are more concerned with their health then the younger generation. The younger generation would have preferred there to be a McDonalds in Abergavenny, but then again they may have preferred it to be closer to the centre, maybe on the high street.
The basic layout of the questionnaire for shopkeepers can be seen below:
The layout for the questionnaire for shoppers is below:
Still while the survey in the town was being undertaken we went into a local fish and chip shop, ‘Aergavenny chips’ from were we collected our data for prices, we displayed these in a table as seen below:
During the visit to the actual site of the proposed McDonalds a quick traffic survey was done to see how much traffic flows on the ‘Heads of the Valleys Road’ and on ‘Monmouth Road’. The tables used for the surveys were identical as the same variable of data was o be collected, the table is shown below:
The results to this table can then easily be displayed in a graph.
The methods of collecting were efficient enough to devise a reasonable explanation, although there were a few complications on the way, these included:
- Rude and impatient questionnaire’s
- Many business’ only offered one group there answers and did not want to be asked any more
- Some places denied us access due to too frequent use like the Information Bureau.
Not all was bad though many people co-operated well and we got reasonable replies, work on the field was also very good as there was no one stopping us from taking pictures and drawing sketches although we were stuck for time so we had to be organized well.
I will also be using the website to find area maps of the proposed site; I will edit these maps and replace road names with my own markings.
We also visited a local Estate Agent where we obtained a lot of information. There were a lot of extremes in house prices in Abergavenny. Houses ranged in price between £6000 these were houses that were poorly maintained and were away from the CBD, the upper end of the market had properties which were £300,000 +. These houses were mainly in the middle of the CBD and boasted many amenities such as barns and stables up to 6 bedrooms and 4 living rooms. But we found that the average house price within a radius of 3km from the CBD was around £157,000. These houses included:
- Detached house
- 4 bedrooms
- 2 reception rooms
- Utility room
- 2 toilets
- Refurbished Kitchen
- Conservatory
- Garage and drive
- Gardens front and rear.
Section 3 Representation of data:
From my first two questionnaires I found the results that can be seen below:
For the shopkeeper’s questionnaire:
For the shopper’s questionnaire:
From these two tables it is clearly visible that it was mainly shopkeepers that were informed about the proposal of the McDonalds. Again it is visible that many of the shopkeepers also would have rejected the idea, there for the decision for the McDonalds to be built would have been bias. The business’ in the town that are eating establishments may have found that it would have been a threat to them leading onto more marketing competition and this could lead onto a fall in customers. The only way to get customers back is by dropping prices of products; therefore, the profit will decrease. Companies then would have to be careful not to fall below the threshold limit.
Also, although not written in the tables, the people that opposed to the idea of McDonalds from the shoppers point of view were rather elderly. From this I conclude to say the elderly people would rather have the town stay small and simple, but the younger generation would prefer for the town to grow and the McDonalds would be a good way to start modernizing.
The graph above shows the approval of the McDonalds and as predicted Shopkeepers were against it more than the shoppers, again this could be due to competition and loss of customers.
The following results are of the vehicle count on the roads of A465 and the A40:
The graph above and below shows a traffic survey for 5 minutes, with a total of 133 vehicles passing around the site of McDonalds proposed site. Estimating, if the McDonalds was to be built in the area the traffic count might have been higher for the cars, vans and motorcycles, therefore, increasing the traffic bulk. This could cause trouble with safety issues because the area of Abergavenny where the site is located has a small estate with a patch of grass used as a playing field and this would be dangerous for children playing out.
Another survey was carried out to compare prices of McDonalds food to that of a local Chip Shop, the results are as follows:
Even by the results seen there would be confidence within the Chip Shop, but when a big Multimillion company is compared to a local chip shop there is no comparison. Even if the chip shop has cheaper values and better quality food, people would prefer going to a place that is well known, and because the McDonalds would be new into the town people would want to go and explore it. This would show within in the sales of other food establishments.
Finally onto the site of which the McDonalds is to be proposed, below is a street map locating the area:
The proposed site of the McDonalds is near to the residential area of Llanover Way and Gobannium Way off Monmouth Road. To reach the site you would have to travel through this area and this would ridiculously drop house prices in the area, even though we I was unable to ask questions the residents of this area this point would be very repetitious.
As you can see from this diagram, the only way to get to the McDonalds safely would be to build a bridge over the Dual Carriage way from the opposite side, this would mean the peaceful estate will now become non peaceful. If the McDonalds was to be built they proposed for it to be a 24 hour service therefore letting young youths with cars going out a night just to get food, this again would spoil what peace the estate has.As show again the bridge would go over the A465, the only way through would be through the estate, another aspect that would be unsafe is that the river Usk has a
flood plane, the bridge would have been built on the plane, which would cause damage to the structure, and it would need frequent servicing. Another danger of this being built were it would have been is, the area between the Heads of the Valleys Road and the estate is a playing field, and if there is traffic in that area it is unsafe for children to be plying there. Because there are a fair few families in this area, they may have pleaded against the appeal for safety reason.
Section 4 Analysis, interpretation and conclusions:
Coming back to the question of ‘why was planning permission rejected for the McDonalds?’ there are many answers:
- Safety
- Traffic
- Bias
- Change of generation
- Housing functions
- The actual proposed site
- Overall support
Safety issues that are involved within this work connected closely to the traffic, the main concern would be safety of children within the estate that vehicles have to travel through to reach the site. Because the area is a playing field, children will still want some were to play once it is constructed so they will go back to the field to find roads and this is very unsafe.
The traffic flow through the town could rise dramatically, if the site would go ahead people traveling all over could stop as they take a detour as the A465 connects the whole of Wales together. The McDonalds could attract more commuters than naturally suspected which would again raise the traffic flow, which could lead to tale backing.
The site on which the site is located is a flood plane of the river Usk, if this was to flood then it could damage structural work of the bridge connecting to the McDonalds site. This would instantly make the city council reject the proposal for health and safety regulations.
Another set of points that are connected are the Biasness of the results, it was mainly shopkeepers that new about the proposal so they could choose against or for. Obviously they would not support the proposal for another eating establishment that is much bigger than them in all respects. The younger people of Abergavenny were all for the proposal to build a McDonalds. Mainly because it was a globally established company and many people enjoyed eating McDonalds because it was cheap, tasty and convenient. One youth also raised the point that if McDonalds were to locate in Abergavenny they would be after staff and it would be a perfect opportunity for employment. It was also recognised as a place where local youths could socialise.
As the research was collected I found out that the older people were the ones that generally did not like the idea of the McDonalds, this could be because they like the town s a small community and simple.
The overall support for the proposal was low to start with, with not many people knowing and quite a lot of shopkeepers knowing there would have going to be a distinct answer, to decline the offer for a McDonalds to be built near the Hardwich Roundabout.
In newspaper articles that were collected (see appendix) it is shown that the proposal for McDonald’s was negative. The newspaper articles take into account that the proposed site is unsafe, and they also mention that there are already enough national groups in Abergavenny and they don’t need any more. I personally think that McDonalds would be the first multinational group to land into the area; this would lead to more job opportunities for the area although its unemployment rate is gradually decreasing. There are also the negative affects though, the site may attract many youths to the area leading to vandalism and crime.
While the idea of the McDonalds is great for job opportunities it is rather bad for the opportunities for those take away groups in the town already. The attraction would repel people against the smaller business’ and draw people towards the ‘multinational group.
I can conclude by saying that the position is good but the site is poor. There seems to be a limited amount of space for expansion. The river Usk also runs near the location and this is associated with rapidly flooding and there are measures taken which support this, so this would have been another risk that McDonalds would face, would they be prepared to locate in a spot that would become hazardous in inclement weather?
Evaluation:
I think that I worked well and efficiently and I was always setting myself targets to improve the quality of the data I was able to collect. Overall I think that the raw data that I have collected is reliable and well balanced. But in the future I would have liked to conduct more work with Secondary data. The primary data was good for ascertaining information of which I was almost certain. If I were able to carry out the very same project again I would change a few things.
- Allow more time for fieldwork
- More Secondary data
- I would have liked to talk to the Monmouthshire council and the planners who rejected McDonalds.
- Work in large teams where data can be collaborated better.
- Carry out more work on the transport system around Abergavenny and how this effect people passing into the main CBD.
From my work at Abergavenny I would say that the small market town has strong cultural features and aspects of a controlled society. The town’s older people are reluctant to give up old traditions.
If Abergavenny wants to become a ‘city’ rather than a ‘market town’, one big change that will have to be made is a larger population, also a big multinational company such as McDonalds will have to be introduced to the area.
Appendix:
Pictures
- This shows Greggs which could be a competitor with the McDonalds and also a multinational bank HSBC.
- Site of the Car Park, which was meant to be used by McDonalds. Notice the housing estate in the background
- A road sign, which is closely, situated to the site of the McDonalds it shows vital road links to adjoining places.
- This is the dual carriage way A465 where McDonalds would be placed on the left hand side.
- This shows the type of housing found in the estate near to where the car park and bridge to the site would have been situated.
Maps
- Shows the major roads leading to the Hardwick Roundabout which is connected to the A465.
- Shows the CBD of Abergavenny and its shops.
- This shows another proposed site of the Mcdonalds.
