Minutes 7th February 2006

Minutes of Meeting on 7th February 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
Peter Austin - The Norwood Society
Kevin Carleton-Reeves - Tubelines
David Chen - Paradise Gold
Yemi Dada - Palace Estates
Orok Duke - resident
John Greatrex - Great Exhibition 2001 Ltd.
Mustafa Huseyin - Crystal Pantry Café
Mary Kennedy - The Tanning Shop
Nicholas Kidd - trainee journalist
Frank Lissimore - Amphlett Lissimore
Sue Nagle - Triangle Traders
Lorenzo Nargi - Lorenzo Restaurant
Darren Parish - resident
Sharon Parry Baldwin - Town Centre Manager
John Payne - Crystal Palace Community Association
Craig Ryan - Lexographic
James Slattery-Kavanagh - Quotes

2. Apologies
Dr Nigel Harris - The Railway Consultancy Ltd
Dr Amit Patel - South Norwood Chiropractic Centre

3. Minutes of Previous Meeting

The minutes of the 4 October meeting were formally adopted.


4. Matters Arising

Sue Nagle proposed a motion of thanks to James Slattery-Kavanagh for all his hard work as Chairman. This was seconded by John Payne and formally adopted. James thanked local community groups for getting involved with the Chamber.

Mervyn Hing expressed his gratitude for the confidence of members in proposing him as Chairman and said that he looked forward to fulfilling his role, which would be on a fixed-term basis until December 2006.

5. Chairman's Review

Mervyn said that the objective of the Chamber was to represent the interests of all commercial organisations in the Crystal Palace area. He encouraged all those connected with business to participate in the Chamber in order to make it most effective.

5.1 Review of key points of discussions at 2005 meetings

James reviewed the highlights of the previous year's meetings. Mervyn noted that some issues were likely to resurface at this year's meetings.

5.2 Storage of Chamber of Commerce's materials

Mervyn said that the materials of the Chamber would be stored under a protective cover in a back room of the Silk Route Dry Cleaners.

5.3 Times of future meetings

The proposal by Mervyn that future meetings should begin at 6.45 p.m. and finish at 8.30 p.m. was seconded by Frank Lissimore and approved.

5.4 Update on Morrisons' site

Sharon Parry Baldwin said that the future of the Morrisons' site remained confused. She understood that two food retailers were potentially interested and that Waitrose were due to make a statement in the next couple of days to clarify their position. The planning policy had been made very clear that only a food retailer would be considered.

James said that he had contacted the Sainsbury's press office. They said that to the best of their knowledge they were not involved. In contrast, a similar contact with Waitrose had refused to confirm or deny rumours of their involvement.

Peter Austin raised concerns about the broken glass and rubbish in the car park behind the store. Sharon said that if the problem persisted the Council would consider issuing an Enforcement Order.



5.5. Topics for future discussion

The following items were proposed for discussion at future meetings:
i. Crystal Palace Park development and taskforce
ii. Sports Centre development
iii. Pedestrian crossings
iv. Condition of pavements and roads
v. Upper Norwood Library - concerns over future funding
vi. Business development programmes - GLL/LDA
vii. Environmental improvements in the Triangle
viii. CCTV and Safer Neighbourhood Team

6. East London Line

James said that despite the apparent lack of activity in the Crystal Palace area, the Transport for London website (www.ellp.co.uk) makes clear that the project is definitely happening, with details of the programme of works.

7. Possible Tramlink Extensions

Peter Austin said that he understood that the latest plans would bring the Tramlink extension up Anerley Hill to the top site and that consultation would take place this autumn. Mervyn noted, however, that there had been no official confirmation of this and that any extension would be unlikely to be opened before 2012 at the earliest.

8. Chip and Pin

James said that although the banks are insisting that PINs will be essential from February 14, they had failed to explain how counterfeiters may exploit the system. The website of Chip and Spin (http://www.chipandspin.co.uk) explains how retailers are vulnerable to the use of fake cards and advises that in the event of doubt they should seek online authorisation from the card issuer. Moreover, cards requiring a signature would still be issued to customers on request.

9. Crystal Palace Corner project

John Greatrex drew attention to the Mail on Sunday article about the Crystal Palace Corner project. If possible, he was keen to have the corner erected on the top site on 20 June to coincide with the anniversary of the opening of the Crystal Palace. He had planning permission and would welcome financial contributions from local organisations towards the costs of the project - he needed to raise another £25,000. Sue Nagle congratulated John on the extraordinary amount of work that he had done so far.



10. One Way System, New Parking Regime and Possible Red Route

Mervyn said that a new parking regime had been approved. But there was some uncertainty over whether or not the maximum stay at the east end of Westow Hill had been increased from 30 minutes to an hour: Peter Austin had a plan which showed the amendment having been made; Mervyn's plan suggested that this was not the case.

Mervyn said that David Wakeling (LB Croydon) had told him that they had no immediate plans to introduce a red route along Westow Hill as the road was not currently considered as "strategic". But recent experience in Bromley, Putney and Battersea suggested the need for vigilance.

James reminded the meeting that the Chamber withdrew from Croydon's consultation on the parking regime in protest at the unstructured consultation process and the lack of response to the Chamber's comments. He said that the proposals were insufficient. Sharon advised the Chamber to continue to put pressure on councils for improvements.

An informal survey by Mervyn found an unanimous conclusion amongst traders that the one-way system had been an unmitigated disaster. John Payne enquired what had happened to the planned study of its regeneration benefits, which were supposed to be the rationale for the proposal. James said that he was concerned that the media focus on the closure of Morrisons might be masking the underlying decline created by the one-way system. Many traders were locked in to lease agreements, so the focus by Croydon on vacancy rates gave too optimistic a view.

Mervyn said that experience in Blackheath suggested that concerted action by traders could make a difference. He encouraged local businesses and organisations to get involved with the Chamber in considering the best ways of gaining support for ending the one-way system. Sharon emphasised the importance of a collective and united response from traders.

11. Any Other Business

James noted that this was the highest attendance at a Chamber meeting in the past seven years. Mervyn thanked everyone for attending and encouraged those present to invite others to meetings and get involved.

Mervyn encouraged members to come up with suggestions about what could be done in the run-up to the May 2006 local elections to bring about a return to two-way traffic in the Triangle. The 7 March meeting would provide an opportunity to discuss possible actions and to agree a way forward.


The meeting ended at 9.15 p.m.

Date of next meeting: Tuesday 7th March at 6.45 p.m., Lorenzo's Restaurant