Maufant shop to close

A bit of a loss to the local community, the rStore at Maufant is closing. This means even more car journeys for shoppers. Why do hotels and shops get permission for Change Of Use when it affects the community so much? I can see that landowners will believe they have a right to do whatever they want with their land, sell the family silver and lose an asset for the sake of a one-off gain when selling their land for housing - but if farmers can't do what they want with their land and sell their fields in the Green Zone because the community doesn't want to lose the open land, then we've established a principle and I have to ask why do we allow beneficial facilities to disappear like this?

Here's a Crapaudvision video of a drive around the place.

As more and more of this happens (left to unchecked market forces), we will end up with fewer and fewer ( but larger) stores, to the detriment of everyone but company shareholders. People are forced to travel long distances to buy food, with the similar negative consequences as out-of-town shopping centers that kill off town centers. Will we take action before the entire island ends up as almost entirely housing, with no pubs, restaurants, hotels or shops save for a few in designated areas? That's the logical conclusion, because so many owners seem to prefer to sell land for housing rather than run a business or receive rental income. So much has been lost around the island in the last two decades - it saddens me and I hate to think how much more will go.