Minutes of the meeting of Visit New Mills held on 22nd January 2016
1) Present:
Barry Bate, Northe Slack, Mike Daniels, Beth Atkins, Sean Whewell
2) Apologies:
None
3) Minutes of the meeting of 14/12/2015:
With corrections to part b) of item 9) AOB – the 20 m.p.h. limit was not at Bank-end but Beard Crescent – were accepted as a true and correct record.
4) Matters Arising:
From 4)4)6) – Membership. Sean had spoken to Jan Smith and reported that she is happy to be involved with VNM as she is already working on the Carnival and will now lead on this.
Sean proposed Jan Smith as a new officer of VNM, this was seconded by Northe Slack and accepted by 4 votes FOR and 1 ABSTENTION.
From 4)4)8) – Carnival. It was reported that Jan Smith will provide future reports to this group concerning the New Mills Carnival. The next meeting of the Carnival Group is on 3rd February.
From 4)8) – Parking. Northe reported concerns about daytime parking across much of the centre of town. This is a problematic issue for many out-of-town shoppers.
From 4)8) – Mousley Bottom. Beth is awaiting the Countryside Review and will then bring back information.
From 4)8) – New Mills Juniors. Sean reported that discussions have started with New Mills Juniors F.C. concerning the upgrading of changing facilities. He and Beth will be involved in the discussions.
5) Correspondence
Northe reported that VNM had received a ‘Thank you’ letter from Stockport Ukelele Players.
Sean reported that VNM had received a ‘Thank you’ letter from Helping Hands Food Bank as a result of the last pub quiz.
Northe reported that there was now a regular exchange of information between VNM and the Volunteers Centre concerning event notifications.
Sean reported on receipt of an email from a member of the public questioning the accuracy of correspondence between VNM and New Mills Town Council in December 2014.
Sean reported on receipt of an email from S. McAllister confirming his donation of £100 to VNM. VNM will send a ‘Thank you’ reply.
6) Finance Update
Sean reported that since the last meeting VNM had received £300 from New Mills Town Council (from the Bonfire Night collection, thanks you to be sent to NMTC) and £83.25 from New Mills Festival (a donation towards the Xmas Lights).
The current account is in credit by £2028.46. VNM currently owes £200 to Howard Brothers for the hire of a fairground organ (awaiting invoice).
Following discussion it was agreed that the next significant expenditure should be
1) 50 new New Mills flags and poles and
2) a number of new ‘standard’ wall brackets to replace all of the (existing) small (under 50mm diameter) ones.
7) Web Site Update
It was reported that there had been 11,175 views on the website in the last 90 days and that there were currently 4,991 unique users. The Business Directory now had 68 individual entries.
In the last calendar year the VNM Facebook page had had 1,300,000 hits.
Northe stressed the need for new content and reported that the local photographer Tim Hensel had taken some (free) images of the Town Centre with the Xmas lights and trees in place. These are available for anyone to use in the promotion of the town.
8) Action Plan Update
Mike reported that he had done more work on the ‘transport issues’ of the Plan – especially in relation to street furniture, bike racks, street lighting, notice boards and signage.
9) Any Other Business
Beth reported that she now had the maps for the visitor boards – but was lacking ‘individual’ images to go with the maps. Mike will ask Pete Murray if he is able to provide some of these images.
Beth also reported that there had been a significant increase in lorry movements at Arden Quarry and that she was concerned about the effects that increased traffic had on the town.
Beth also reported that she had now distributed information about the future of the Countryside Service and asked members to consider this in advance of further discussions.
Beth also reported that she had recently attended a meeting about local tourism and that she will circulate notes from the meeting to members. There was a discussion about tours/ walks and the current ‘Walkers are Welcome’ leaflets – and the need to
link all such groups together so that visitors get the maximum benefit when they contact ‘New Mills’. It was agreed that this will be a separate agenda item at the next meeting.
Sean reported on the recent rock-fall in the Torrs Riverside Park. New Mills Town Council are currently seeking advice on the ramifications of the fall and they will report accordingly.
Sean also reported that High Peak Borough Council will cease to maintain New Mills Outdoor Market in about 3 months time. New Mills Town Council are currently in discussion with HPBC about this issue.
10) Date of Next Meeting
Monday 29th February 2016 at 11.00