ASA Adjudication on ASDA Stores Ltd

Ad

A four-page regional press wraparound, for a supermarket development, included several maps and images of the proposed development and local area, and described the benefits the development would bring to the local area. Text on the front page stated “ASDA’s proposals include a new store, new homes and investment in local roads and infrastructure. The proposal will also include funding for local community services - with a particular focus on youth facilities”. The “Proposed New Barnet development site plan” was pictured, as was a map, which marked out the proposed ASDA store, the existing Sainsbury store and the sites of the proposed, approved and existing Tesco stores.

Issue

The complainant challenged whether:

1. the artist's impression of the proposed development was misleading, because it suggested that the development would be much smaller than it actually was;

2. the maps were misleading, because they exaggerated the size of competitors stores and implied that the proposed development was much smaller than it actually would be; and

3. the claim "the proposal will also include funding for local community services - with particular focus on youth facilities" was misleading, because the complainant did not believe provisions for additional youth facilities were included in the planning application.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

1.  ASDA provided documentation setting out their proposed planning application, including statements, maps/plans and photographs.  They stated that they had worked with Barnet Council planning officers for nearly four years on proposals for this vacant, six acre, contaminated brownfield site, but that the scheme had been recommended for refusal.  They said they had heavily invested in pre-application consulting and the ad was produced to conclude a public consultation process.  They said the artists impressions used in the ad had also been submitted in the planning application to Barnet Council and to the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) and they had not raised concerns that the artists impressions were misleading.  They provided a statement from their architects and explained that the architects used several techniques to produce the 3D images, including computer-aided design, based on importing ordinance survey data and using supplied heights and levels, to ensure accuracy.

2. They stated the map reflected the actual site of the store and was a reduced version of a scaled plan submitted to the Council.  They said the dotted line showed the precise location of the store, and the wider scheme and site layout were shown in the proposals detailed in the ad.  They said the plan was not intended to contrast scale or provide detail on the size of the proposals and no floor-space figures were provided.  They said the plan identified the position of the ASDA store on their site. They considered this was a fair and accurate representation, because identification of the entire site could have been misconstrued as ASDA seeking to promote its store as being in a town centre location.  They felt that was an important planning and policy point, as other supermarkets were also seeking to develop in the same area.

3.  They stated that the decision to contribute particularly to youth facilities came as a result of feedback from the local community and they had submitted a statement of community involvement with the planning application which showed how seriously they took community engagement and how extensive the public consultation had been throughout the planning process.  They said the document set out their intention to contribute to a range of services and facilities for young people and included provision for pre-schooling and education, indoor/outdoor and recreation facilities and health and social care facilities.  They explained that that was not a definitive list, but a framework for negotiations and the extent of contributions would be subject to requirements in other areas. However, a sum of £100,000 had been allocated for youth facilities on top of the contributions they were already going to make.

Assessment

1. Not upheld

The ASA consulted Barnet Council Planning Department about the advertised proposal.  We understood that artists impressions were often submitted as supporting documents to give an indication as to how the final development would look, but that such images did not form part of any final approval, because that final approval would be based on scaled plans and elevations.  We understood that the method for generating images used ordinance survey data as its basis and the images showed the correct number of storeys.  We acknowledged that the images would try to show the development in the most flattering light, but understood that the images in the ad were fairly typical of artists impressions for planning applications.

Because the images were generated from accurate ordinance survey data and because we considered that most people would understand they were artists impressions intended to give an indication of the final development, we concluded that they did not provide a misleading impression regarding the size of the development.

On that point, we investigated the ad under CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation), 7.1 (Truthfulness), 18.1, 18.3 (Comparisons with identified competitors and/or their products) and 19.1 (Other comparisons), but did not find it in breach.

2. Upheld

We understood that the map on page 2 entitled "Proposed New Barnet development site plan" was a scaled-down version of the site plan submitted as part of the application and did not consider that it was misleading.  We noted that the map of the local area on page 4 outlined the proposed and existing supermarket stores in the area and understood that it correctly showed the proposed ASDA store floorspace, but that the ASDA application also included housing, community floorspace and additional commercial floorspace, which was not shown on the map.  We therefore understood that the proposed site area was more extensive than that shown in the map.  We noted that the area marked out as "Existing Sainsbury store" included the existing Sainsburys store, but also parking space, office space and other ancillary areas.  In addition, we noted that the floorspace marked as the proposed Tesco site was not definitive, because no application from Tesco had been submitted or approved at the time of publication.

Because it was not clear that the marked-out area relating to the ASDA store included store floorspace only, whereas the marked-out area relating to the Sainsburys store included store floorspace and additional buildings, and because the marked-out area relating to the proposed Tesco area was not based on an approved plan which could be confirmed, we concluded the map was misleading.

On that point, the ad breached CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation), 7.1 (Truthfulness), 18.1, 18.3 (Comparisons with identified competitors and/or their products) and 19.1 (Other comparisons).

3. Not upheld

We understood that Barnet Council were seeking a number of contributions to mitigate the impact of the development and that the application had included proposed contributions towards education, libraries and lifelong learning and that those were standard requirements for all applications which had an element of housing.  We noted that ASDA had provided documentation which showed that the proposal included provision for contributions to pre-schooling and education, including a bus stand for a new secondary school, libraries and recreation facilities, including a childrens play space.  On that basis, we concluded that provisions for additional youth facilities were included in the planning application and the ad was not misleading on that point.

On that point, we investigated the ad under CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation), 7.1 (Truthfulness), 18.1, 18.3 (Comparisons with identified competitors and/or their products) and 19.1 (Other comparisons), but did not find it in breach.

Action

The map and key on page 4 must not appear again in their current form.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)