I have long argued that public sector organisations need to adopt a more commercial mindset and emulate practices that are commonplace in the private sector. Sadly, however, there are a growing number of cases where businesses are displaying behaviour that no one in their right mind should seek to replicate – whether they be answerable to the public or shareholders.
The recent actions of LiDL in my constituency are the very worst sort of approach that some companies choose to take. After having purchased the freehold of the Porcupine pub in Mottingham earlier this year (from Enterprise Inns, surprise surprise), it has sought to bulldoze through a deeply unpopular plan to demolish this historic building and replace it with one of its non-descript supermarkets. Needless to say, this heavy handed approach has incensed the local community, which is hardly the thing LiDL ought to be doing to an already well-established customer base that regularly shops at one of its branches a mere ten minutes down the road.
Lidl have displayed a dismissive attitude towards residents and elected representatives have even been refused access to Board Members to discuss this case at a more appropriate level. This sort of practice has no place whatsoever in Britain today and I would suggest that LiDL has rather a lot of PR ground to make up on some of its competitors.
This is not a typical case of NIBYs trying to save a non-viable pub. During my tenure as Pubs Minister I was always a realist and accepted that some publicans simply did not have the customer numbers to sustain a successful business. But in this instance, we have a village that has come together in unanimous support for one of its last remaining bits of community spaces. There has been a Porcupine inn on this site since the 1600s and it is alarming to think that Lidl are willing to unleash the wrecking ball before it even bothers to draw up plans for a replacement development – a development, I should add, that is by no means guaranteed to receive planning consent.
The Porcupine was demolished once before – back in 1922. During the re-construction of the building that remains in place to this day, customers were provided with a temporary public house on the forecourt! How sad it is, that today’s community is treated with such contempt and provided with nothing but unsightly blue hoarding cordoning off their beloved pub (the height of which, it turns out, is in breach of planning rules).
It is for these reasons that I decided to call an Adjournment debate in the House of Commons. Lidl needs a sharp wakeup call to realise that communities simply won’t tolerate being treated this way.
Over the coming days, I know that Bromley Council will give careful consideration to issuing an Article 4 direction on this site, which would give elected representatives the ability to determine this application to demolish the Porcupine, and allow residents to have a meaningful say over its future. I will also be urging Lidl to have a big rethink about its intentions towards this site.
Longer term, its Board Members need to take a far more active interest in how the company is being perceived by elected representatives and members of the public. Ultimately, a hint of accountability and openness would do wonders for Lidl's bottom line, and the sooner they realise this, the better it will be for customers who shop there, and the communities that are willing to accommodate stores in suitable locations.