Minutes 4th April 2006

Minutes of Meeting on 4th April 2006

CRYSTAL PALACE & NORWOOD CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
HELD AT 1ST FLOOR, LORENZO'S RESTAURANT, WESTOW HILL

1. Present
Honorary Chairman - Mervyn Hing - Silk Route Dry Cleaners
Honorary Secretary - Andrew Parfitt - resident
Honorary Treasurer - Peter Runacres - Thornton Springer
Kevin Carleton-Reeves - transport consultant
Yemi Dada - Palace Estates
Geoffrey Gibbs - Gibsons
John Greatrex - Great Exhibitions Ltd.
Geoffrey Harding - Bennett Welch
Mary Kennedy - The Tanning Shop
Karen Morgan - Crystal Palace Foundation
John Payne - Crystal Palace Community Association
James Slattery-Kavanagh - Quotes

2. Apologies

Mervyn said that he had received several apologies from those who would have liked to attend.

3. Minutes of Previous Meeting

Mary Kennedy should be added to the apologies.
Kevin Carleton-Reeves should be described as "transport consultant".

The minutes of the 7 March meeting were formally adopted.

4. Matters Arising

none

5. Chairman's Review

Mervyn Hing said that he would not reiterate all the points which had been covered at the January meeting. But in the coming year, the policy would be to have one guest speaker per meeting rather than several.

James Slattery-Kavanagh noted that reviews of past years could be found on the Chamber's website:
http://www.norwoodchamber.org.uk/2006/01/overview-1998-2005.php

6. Presentation and Approval of Accounts

Peter Runacres presented the accounts, which he said were open to inspection by any member.

There are currently 34 paid-up members. Although the Chamber had made a small loss over the year, it had comfortable reserves. The Chamber had made a donation of £75 to the Crystal Palace Foundation for the Victorian Weekend.

Mervyn thanked Peter and said that he had full confidence in the accounts, which were formally approved.

7. Election of Committee Members

Mervyn reminded the meeting that he would be Honorary Chairman on a fixed-term basis until December 2006. Peter said that he would be willing to stand for up to another twelve months as Honorary Treasurer, but would be happy to step down earlier if a replacement were to be found.

All the existing members of the Committee were re-elected in a block vote:

Honorary Chairman - Mervyn Hing
Honorary Membership Secretary - Mary Kennedy
Honorary Solicitor - Geoffrey Harding
Honorary Treasurer - Peter Runacres
Honorary Secretary - Andrew Parfitt
Webmaster - James Slattery-Kavanagh (for web site technical queries only)

Contact details are given at:
http://www.norwoodchamber.org.uk/2005/12/executive-committee-from-december-2005.php

8. Consideration of Resolutions

There were no issues raised on the constitution which can be seen at:
http://www.norwoodchamber.org.uk/2004/10/chamber-of-commerce-constitution.php




9. One-way system/ May 2006 local elections

Mervyn requested the Chamber's permission to issue a questionnaire to local businesses in the run-up to the local elections.

Mervyn said that it needed to be a simple objective survey, in order to maximise its credibility and response rate. Following discussion, it was agreed that more detailed responses to questions on issues such as parking, or asking traders to provide evidence of the effects on their accounts (the suggestion of Kevin Carleton-Reeves) would be left to a possible follow-up exercise.

The meeting approved the printing and publication of the following questions:

1) Has your business been affected by the One-Way System prior to Morrisons' closure?
2) Have the effects been positive, neutral or negative?
3) Should the Two-Way System be reinstated?

10. Any Other Business

Parking restrictions

Mary Kennedy asked why a CCTV van is able to park every day near her business on double-yellow lines without being ticketed. James said that he understood it to have a dispensation. More generally many considered that there was an urgent need for consistency and reduced complexity in the signage around the Triangle. James pointed out that appealing against parking tickets is often worthwhile - about 80% of appeals are successful.

Morrisons' site

James said that the Rapleys' website showed the property as under offer.
http://www.rapleys-morrisonspropertydisposals.co.uk/

James understood from a well-placed source that the new owner was "a respectable household name", but had undertaken not to give further details at this stage.

James noted that as the Rapleys' site shows the rent as being over £1,000 per day, the new owner would be likely to want to open the store quickly.

James also drew attention to a Croydon Council document of 6 May 2003 which noted that the Council had provided funding for four CCTV cameras in the car park which Safeway's would maintain. He wondered how the cameras were currently being used.

Crystal Palace Park

John Greatrex said that he had submitted a new planning application for the Crystal Palace Corner to be erected for the next five years. This had been agreed by the Westaway process. He invited the Chamber, local businesses and other groups to become associated with the project as "Crystal Sponsors". This would provide the opportunity for publicity and also ensure that the Corner would be a local project. John added that on June 10 there will be a small event to commemorate the anniversary of the opening of the Crystal Palace and launch the Corner project.

John Payne asked whether the ideas of the Crystal Palace Park Consortium for a butterfly house on the top site could be presented to a future Chamber meeting. Mervyn said that would be very welcome. John said that he would invite Michael Cross from the London Butterfly House at Syon.

The meeting ended at 8.10 p.m.

Date of next meeting: Tuesday 2nd May at 6.45 for 7 p.m., Lorenzo's Restaurant