Minutes 3rd May 2005

Minutes of Meeting on 3 May 2005:

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

1. Present
Honorary Chairman - James Slattery-Kavanagh - Quotes
Honorary Secretary - Lucy Smith - MyMatiz.com
Honorary Membership Secretary - Mary Kennedy - The Tanning Shop
Sharon Parry Baldwin - Town Centre Manager
John Payne - Crystal Palace Community Association
Kevin Carleton-Reeves - Transport Consultant
Dr Nigel G Harris - The Railway Consultancy
Francis Pons - Tamnag Thai
Elena Di Lorenzo - Palace People
Emilia Mazzilli - Palace People
Yemi Dada - Palace Estates
Marcus Graziani - Amphlett Lissimore

2. Apologies
Honorary Treasurer - Peter Runacres - Thornton Springer
Lorenzo Nargi - Lorenzos

3. Minutes of previous meeting
The minutes were proposed by Lucy Smith and seconded by Kevin Carleton-Reeves.

4. Matters arising
There were no matters arising.

5. Chairman's Review
The Chair attended the Norwood Society AGM last week. They have strong interest in the Crystal Palace Park. UNITs meeting was cancelled until later in the year. Many things are on hold until after the General Election.

5.1 Membership and Finances
We are waiting for a bank statement in order to carry out a head count of members.

5.2 Pens
Pens will be produced for handing out at the Victorian Weekend.

5.3 HSBC closure
There was no consultation on this by the bank. The Chair agreed to write a letter to HSBC on behalf of the Chamber of Commerce to express disappointment at the closure. The closing date is Friday 3rd June. There will be loss of the cashpoint too. In the past few years Crystal Palace has lost a Natwest and an Alliance and Leicester. To lose another bank reduces the trade in the area, there is also a security issue for businesses carrying cash further to alternative branches.

6. Alternative traffic management schemes
Parking arrangements are lacking, this needs reviewing. In the longer term changes in local council may present opportunities for change to the one-way system. Sharon brought a document about recommendations on parking written by Ian Simms. The proposals are to add three-four extra parking bays, relax parking on Sundays and make more accessible parking. It includes the plan to put a temporary build out on Gipsy Hill/Central Hill. The Chair said that the build out was not a sensible use of £5000. Croydon has the lions share of the triangle and they have responsibility for parking enforcement and traffic management.

On 17th May the five Borough Commanders are having a meeting about Crystal Palace Neighbourhood Safety Teams.

There was some discussion on how to get Church Road redeveloped and encourage new businesses into the area.

Trees - the Palace still has no trees as part of the one-way system. Sharon said it is not possible to dig down but the council can look at containers. Sharon will contact Secret Garden to see if funds can be raised through them. The weight of hanging baskets is an issue as it is not certain whether the lamp posts can take them. There was then some discussion about how local businesses could take the initiative and put up their own hanging baskets. Sharon would be able to produce guidelines on health and safety and public liability. She said that if the Chamber could come up with a scheme then she could get the council to agree it quickly. All traders were encouraged to ask around to get support for this e.g find a handyman who can put up brackets, find suppliers of hanging baskets etc.

Two students are coming over from Denmark and Sharon will get them to set up some business initiatives to find out where people walk, how many cars turn into certain roads and how many customers go into shops etc.

Frank Pons said that the demographics of the area were interesting, he had recently found information which stated there was a high proportion of gold card holders.

The Chair asked Sharon if she could find out the status on shop front grants. Sharon said there were a few enforcement orders out at present.

7. Any Other Business
Kevin Carleton-Reeves said that if countdown displays could be displayed in restaurants and bars this would be very useful for customers and businesses alike.

Sharon said there are a couple of rickshaws available which could be used to take people down to Crystal Palace Park in the Summer months. They are short of cyclists to operate them.

The lights outside the Royal Albert have been out for four weeks. It was also mentioned that on some sets of lights pushing the button didn't seem to make much difference.

There will be a Farmer's Market on 12 June which will be trialled on the top site (Bromley). There will also be a German and/or French market in the Autumn. Haynes Lane market are keen to host the Farmer's Market but this is not possible at present due to health and safety concerns about the building.

Christmas lights - if money is not collected from Croydon council for last year's lights then this will roll forward to next year. We have more lights to choose from including cross-road banners.

CRAC radio has been launched three weeks ago. Uptake from retailers is slow. Mary Kennedy will be getting hers on Friday. Community Officers have been withdrawn from the area but a new team is back on its way.

Trafalgar Day - Sharon circulated a brochure and asked whether Chamber Members wished to get involved.

Members list - this may be quite prominent in Google search listings for local searches, so being a member of the Chamber brings benefits in this way.

Croydon Business have offered to come and talk to the Chamber. The Chair said he had looked into affiliating with other Chambers and Business Networks but had not discovered worthwhile benefits for the Crystal Palace and Norwood Chamber of Commerce. Linking up with larger organisations would lead to significantly higher annual subscription costs and that probably wouldn't appeal to our local traders. Sharon said it would be good to hear what they had to say and not necessarily be an affiliate. The members of the Chamber present were also keen to hear to what Croydon Business had to say.

Queens Hotel lost its contract from the Home Office and will therefore revert back to a tourist hotel.

Date of next meeting: Tuesday 7 June 2005 at 7pm, Lorenzo's Restaurant (First Tuesday in the Month)