Lymm Village Traders
Meeting Minutes 9th February 2009

Agenda
• Signage
• Christmas Late Night Opening - review
• Parking Consultation
• United Utilities
• Lymm DVD
• Co-Chair
• AOB

Attendees.
Mike Evans – Laura’s Choice, Anthony & Sarah Battersby – The Sweet Shop, Ann Johnstone – Lymm Festival Committee, Pam Hunter – Lymm Festival Committee/Parish Council, Hilary Hoyle – Arches, Phil & Sarah Sexton – Sextons Bakery, Mark Harrison – Harrisons, David & Patricia Skentlebery – Lymm Life, Charlotte Sumbland- The Cheshire Set, June Gittins

Signage

Phil Sexton & Anthony Battersby had a meeting with David Boyer from WBC about the proposed new signage for Lymm Village. WBC are prepared to contribute towards standard brown tourist signage but if traders wanted the more elaborate signs or footpath signage they would probably have to pay the extra cost. It was felt that current signage does not direct visitors from the Dam to the village centre.

Christmas Late Night Opening

This was very poorly supported, it was felt that there are just not enough browsing shops to attract people, and that maybe Sundays up to Christmas might be a better option to consider as more visitors are around at weekends, although it was clearly indicated in the survey some shops displayed that Sunday and evening shopping would only be supported by the minority of customers.
It was discussed how the customer survey could be used as a guide to approach businesses of the type most in demand, perhaps through business agents. Anthony was of the opinion that in the near future it may be fairly unacceptable for shoppers to travel too far afield and that Lymm needs to be ready for local shopping especially now the Government has plans for local regeneration. It was discussed about the possibility of events to boost local trade, possibly linking with Festival events, but this was thought to be unviable because of the cost & jurisdiction required. Pam & Ann from the Festival Committee said they had a useful contact, Rosemary Lavender, who was involved in promoting tourism in general.

Parking

There was a letter from Yvonne Cook updating the proposal for the parking scheme.
There were several objections from residents concerned about street parking and from village centre workers who did not wish to pay for all day parking. The council proposed a pilot scheme introducing Pay & Display on Pepper Street car park only, leaving Davies Way and Henry Street free.
It was expressed at the Traders meeting that the consultation was flawed, failing to mention proposals for double yellow lines on nearby residential streets or the possibility of permits for office and shop workers.
The way it was presented invited negative comments with people expressing their fears, while the silent majority of village users and customers would not be so keen to visibly endorse the scheme and give positive feedback, although probably believing it would go ahead anyway.
There were strong feelings that that while we are aware that the Parish Council is behind the Pay & Display scheme and generally support the Traders that we need to lobby them at the next meeting to take place the following evening to make our feelings known.
This feedback was also to be passed on to WBC.
Phil was to email the Parish Council the following morning expressing our anger and concern, and to encourage as many traders as possible to attend the meeting.
It was felt the scheme in its watered down version will just push the problem elsewhere and not discourage car sharers, the main culprits in taking up many spaces in the car parks unnecessarily.
There was a suggestion that if shop keepers were to put a petition on the counter asking for signatures from customers supporting a total Pay & Display scheme it would demonstrate the feeling of the majority of Village Users.
Lymm Life was prepared to put an article in the next issue voicing our concerns, but the outcome of the council meeting would have to go in the following issue.

United Utilities
After the recent incident leaving a pool of raw sewage in the village centre outside the Sunken Gardens, there was a poor response from traders making a claim against United Utilities. Phil Sexton, who was severely affected, was only awarded £50. Apparently UU left traffic lights erected on Dickensian morning and the Police were ready to cancel the entire event unless they were removed.

Lymm DVD

Floyd Hamlet productions did a short presentation inviting Lymm Businesses to get involved with a DVD featuring short profiles of them with the option of an editorial with pictures to promote their business. The distribution is expected to be between 12K - 15K and be made available to visitors and customers of estate agents, plus it would be featured on the Lymm website. A percentage of proceeds would go to locally based charity Steps.
However during the compilation of the minutes the project has been shelved due to lack of takers. Floyd Hamlet will resurrect the idea next year.

Co-Chair

Regretfully co-chair Anthony Battersby has to stand down due pressure of work, so there was a call for anyone to volunteer to replace him. If anybody is interested in sharing the workload, evening meetings especially, please contact Phil.

A.O.B.

A suggestion was made that the stone flowerbeds outside what used to be Oddbins could be demolished and replaced with 2 short stay parking spaces. It was expressed that the lack of parking greatly contributed to the demise of Oddbins.

Charlotte from the Cheshire Set said they were planning a competition package for the prom at Lymm High school and asked for support from other shops in the form of prizes. This would also be a good promotion for village traders.
The meeting closed at 7.30