Minutes 3rd February 2004

Minutes of Meeting on 3 February 2004:

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

1. Present

Secretary - Lucy Smith
Honorary Chairman - James Slattery-Kavanagh - Quotes
Honorary Solicitor - Geoffrey Harding - Bennett, Welch and Co
Sharon Baldwin - Town Centre Manager Upper Norwood and Anerley
Pat Ryan - Croydon Councillor
Frank Lissimore - Amphlett Lissimore
Geoffrey Gibbs - Gibsons
Kevin Carleton-Reeves - Transport Consultant
Serge Ismail - Numidie Bistro
Daphne Kellet - Art Dealer
Mary Kennedy - The Tanning Shop


2. Apologies

Honorary Secretary - Peter Runacres - Thornton Springer
Press Officer - Caroline Streek - Streek's Publicity and Communications
Lorenzo Nargi - Lorenzo


3. Minutes of Previous Meeting
4. Matters Arising

a) Memorial for Doug Barnes.
Sharon Baldwin has spoken to the leader of the council. The Rotary Club are looking for a location for a rotary monument so it would be a good idea to link up with them. Bromley are ready and waiting for a planning application to come through. The Chair said he favoured a disc in the pavement as it was less open to vandalism.

b) Christmas Lights
Sharon said that if the Chamber wants to be part of what happens next year then it needs to let her know. The plan needs to be ready by April. It was mentioned that there was a lot of apathy and anti-council sentiment among the traders and the feeling was that the council should fund the lights rather than the traders. Sharon said it is the intention that it should be funded by the council but some of the more successful schemes in other towns have been funded independently.

Pat Ryan said there used to be no lights when he first became a councillor. Not that the council won't do it, but wants the traders to be involved. Geoff Harding said that most of the businesses in the triangle are small and they make a very small profit and haven't got money for Christmas lights. He made the point that we are different to Europe where every trader has to belong to the Chamber and pay to be a member. Sharon said that the lights switch on could bring in revenue for restaurants. Pat congratulated Sharon for the switch on of 2003 and said it would give a good base for the future. Martin Wheatley (seconded from central government to Croydon council) was present at the switch on and was impressed with the area. The Chair said all should support Sharon so that her post continues to be funded. Sharon highlighted the fact that her post was joint funded and that she will be based at the library because it is a geographically central point. She has access to Croydon, Lambeth and Bromley council offices.

c) Christmas Party
Very well attended and all had a good time.

d) Public drinking ban
No one had raised drinking in public as a problem in the triangle. Pat Ryan said it might be rolled out in Thornton Heath and South Norwood.

Geoff Harding proposed the minutes of the previous meeting and Sharon Baldwin seconded them. The minutes were adopted.


5. Chairman's Review

5.1 Freepost Address
Chamber will have a lasting address which is cheaper than a PO Box. It costs 0.5 pence on top of the postage itself and will be important for the survey of parking and pavements.

5.2 Promotional Pens
500 pens have been produced to generate awareness of the Chamber and will go out with the survey. Also distributed pens to Safeways and the Post Office. The Chair asked all at the meeting to take away a handful of pens and get them in circulation in the area.

5.3 Parking and Pavement Survey
This is taking longer to organise than planned. The Chair has been working with Sharon to get the maps together. The timescale for replying is a couple of months so that it doesn't drag on as project and to enable all commentary to be passed onto the council. Daphne said that the Chamber should be aware of all the other planned transport links. It was hoped that the survey would fit in with the review of the one-way system. Sharon reiterated that the comments from the survey would be taken on board by the council.

Daphne brought up the issue of recruitment and asked what contact the Chamber of Commerce wanted with larger businesses. She said that she thought the Chamber should try and involve these companies in a real way. The Chair pointed out that some of them are members of the Chamber (e.g. Ambrose, McDonalds). Sharon said that if the Chamber made itself visible to big business they will take notice as it is in their policy to be community lead. Geoff said that we need information on the problems before we go to the big businesses. The Chair asked all to distribute the surveys with the pens and encourage people to fill them in. There should be a box on the survey to tick whether respondents are commenting on the day or night peak.

5.4 Review of Constitution
This new constitution will be introduced at the Annual General Meeting (AGM). It details the dates that subscriptions are due. The Chair will make the proposals and circulate them at the next meeting. The point was made that the Chamber needs to tap into other businesses e.g. people who work from home. Sharon said that a business forum could be set up but that it hasn't been yet because there are so many different groups in the area. It was agreed that everyone should bring a friend to the next Chamber of Commerce meeting.

5.5 Membership and Finances
31st March is the new subscription date and all old members would be synchronised with this date. 30 people aren't members but are currently receiving information in the post. Next month they will be asked to pay or just read online. The membership fee will stay at £25.


6. Upper Norwood Joint Library
This is currently being refurbished. The Chair attended a brainstorming session with local groups/people in the area. The library is interested in what local businesses want out of a library e.g. meeting rooms. If anyone has any views they should contact the library or the Chair. The refurbishment has been jointly funded by Lambeth and Croydon. The timescale for completion is the end of April/first week in May. The libraries are also looking for revenue streams from outside.


7. Westow Street/Hill Junction
The Chair reported there had been no change with this situation (i.e. light sequences, traffic direction and lack of pedestrian crossings). It has caused constant problems and puts extra traffic onto the one way system. The leader of Croydon Council together with other councillors will get this changed. Transport for London will not be making any changes until the review comes in. The Chair attended the Norwood Area Committee to make his complaints but Lambeth Council said they don't have any power to make changes. Sharon promised that it would be put right and that the Chief Planner will be looking at it at the end of March and by end of July/beginning of August it will be sorted out. They are well aware that this is a key problem and Sharon has had assurances that it will be fixed. To make views known, write to Ian Simms and flag them up.


8. Wilkinson Eyre/CPC Glass Building in the Park
There has been a discussion of this project on the forum of the Virtual Norwood website (http://www.virtualnorwood.com) The Crystal Palace campaign existed to fight Bromley on the multiplex. Philip Kolvin was Chairman for the campaign and he recently approached Wilkinson architects with proposals for the park. The proposals have been gunned down in the media, but it is nevertheless a proposal. There are other projects in the pipeline which have not been submitted for planning. Sharon said there are eight other schemes in total and the plans for each will be displayed in Dulwich Picture Gallery. She encouraged everyone to look at the plans and debate the issues. The Chair said he had contacted Philip about parking and was told that there would be few parking facilities as part of his proposals as he wanted to discourage parking.

Members brought up the London Olympic bid and the fact that Crystal Palace is not mentioned. Sharon said that the athletics track needs to be up and running in three months. The lease of Crystal Palace Park is to return to the Greater London Authority (GLA).

Kevin suggested members should write to Barbara Cassani at Canary Wharf tower about the East London Line Extension (address to be passed on to the Chair for those interested in doing so). The design is to be completed by 2008 and now has stalled because of the politicians. If the park goes to the GLA then all these issues will be looked at together which can only be a positive thing.

Daphne said she was worried that the triangle would suffer 'death by strangulation' and wanted links to come from Brixton. She said that what happens in the park and the top site is integral to the transport system. If there was a big development the transport would come. Geoff said that the reason the Palace won't be linked to Brixton is because the Victoria line doesn't have the capacity. Kevin said that all the people using the bus are the same people getting on the tube at Brixton. Daphne said we should get Paul Wade on the Chamber (involved with the Trams) as the tram is bypassing the Crystal Palace area.

Pat Ryan suggested people write to Tessa Jowell about these transport issues. He also said that if Ken Livingstone gets the park then the Chamber should invite him down to speak at a meeting.


9. Any Other Business
a) Amphlett Lissimore new contact details
Frank Lissimore distributed his change of address cards. From Monday, February 9th 2004 the contact details for his Crystal Palace services are: Greystoke House, 80-86 Westow Street, Crystal Palace, London SE19 3AF - Tel 020 8771 5254

b) Crystal Palace fun fair
Pat said the fair in Crystal Palace over Easter creates misery and people should be telling Bromley council. Daphne said that if Croydon came up with another option instead of a fair then they might take note.

c) Radio Scheme
Sharon said that she had the finances available for a radio scheme so she needed to know if anyone wanted a radio. They will cost £100 each but she has some to give away for free. Mary (The Tanning Shop) has good visibility and would be interested in a free radio. The radio scheme needs to be marketed to other traders in the area.

d) Film locations
Croydon Marketing and Development Ltd are interested in using the area/or business buildings in film work. Contact Linda Dyos on 020 8686 2233, website http://www.croydonfilmcommission.com

e) Farmer's Market
A Farmer's Market is interested in coming to the Palace but they need a site. Several suggestions were made, but there were issues about size of site available in the triangle.

f) Relocating artist
The studio in Beckenham is closing down and Sharon is introducing the artist to the Antenna studios. If anyone has any other suggestions on relocation please let Sharon know.

Date of next meeting - Tuesday 2nd March 2004 at 7pm, Lorenzo's Restaurant (First Tuesday in the Month)