Notes
of Action from Risborough Area Business Group Monthly Meeting
Held
at
Attendees
Graham Wiles Chairman
Pam
Pitcher Hon Sec
Bill
Bendyshe-Brown Hon Treasurer
Members: J.Vessey
(Ariel MS), I.& J.Mackinson (The Old Station B&B), S.Hollings (The
Plough, Cadsden), K.White (Ken White Assoc), P.Jeffries (Spruced-Up), M.&
J.Thomas (?), D.Robertson (Robertsons of Risborough), S.Barker (Inca Studio),
A.Brown (Softech 2000 Ltd), M.Adlam (Adlam Reprographics), C.Waterton (WDC),
M.Pitcher (PAM Ltd), L.Adlam (Lance Adlam Architects), C.Williams (Business
Link), H.Brown (Pickles Delicatessen), P.Keen (Hypnos), B.Clark (J.H.Clark
Butchers), J.Hughes (Corporate Comms), A.Smith (J.Smith & Sons), S.Marriott
(Risborough School)
Guests: R.Powell
(WDC), M.Mansfield-Williams (CEAC), J. Bowerman (Grundon), L.Revill &
F.McNab (David Lock Associates)
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Item |
Topic |
Action |
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1 |
Chairman’s Opening
Remarks The
Chairman opened the meeting by welcoming everyone to his first meeting as
chairman of the RABG and said it was rewarding to see our biggest attendance
yet. His aims are to 1.
promote interaction 2.
achieve objectives, not just talk! 3.
introduce new ideas. He
then welcomed our speakers for the evening. |
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2 |
Apologies for Absence Apologies
received from Sarah Palios (The Paddocks), Julie Murdock (Business Link),
Dawn Curry (Slippers in the Rain), Bob Clarke (Birtchnells), Steve
Wilkinson(Wilkinson James), Carl Etholen (CAE Sales & Marketing), Tanya
Sturgess (Sturgess Services), Richard Jeffries (Spruced-Up) |
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3 |
Minutes of the meeting
held on With
the addition of apologies received from Mike & Pam Pitcher, the Minutes
were agreed as a true record. |
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4 |
Matters
arising from Minutes not already covered by the Agenda Item 4 – CCTV Bill Bendyshe-Brown reported that matters
have been delayed again. Action
ongoing No other issues |
B.B-B. |
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5 |
Overview by Richard
Powell (Wycombe District Council) on business recycling issues in Risborough WDC
has an obligation only to collect household waste. They may
collect from businesses at a reasonable charge. If a business requests collection, WDC’s
policy is to involve a contractor and add an overhead to the cost. Waste is defined by its origin and it is
illegal to dispose of business-generated waste at collection banks provided
for household use. Currently there are
no targets for business waste.
However, it is in everyone’s interest to reduce the amount generated
as landfill is becoming more scarce, environmental standards increasingly
onerous and the cost of disposal is rising.
The £15 per tonne tax is set to rise by £3 per year for the next 6 years
at least. Businesses
and households all have a duty of care to store and dispose of waste
correctly. In
the questions that followed, Richard said he was also responsible for car
parking issues in the town. Attention
was drawn to drip tray waste in summer and smells down the High Street that
have been reported to WDC Environmental Health. He was asked to consider maintenance of
seals when awarding local contracts. Richard
can be emailed at richard_powell@wycombe.gov.uk |
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6 |
Presentation by
Marylene Mansfield-Williams (Operations manager of CEAC - Corporate
Environmental Advisory Centre, based at BCHC, CEAC
was started in 1997 as a non-profit making organisation to provide ‘free’
advice and support on environment and waste management issues. They offer on-site assessments and will
make recommendations on how to improve recycling and, for large producers of
waste, meet their legal responsibilities regarding packaging requirements and
WEEE recycling targets. Some
330 million tonnes of waste are produced each year of which 9% is
household. CEAC
preaches a code of good practice in order of : Reduce/reuse/recycle/energy
recovery/disposal with disposal being the bottom line. This code is in line with other
initiatives: BREW
: business resource efficiency & waste WRAP
: waste & resources action plan Marylene
encouraged all businesses to review their approach towards waste - recycle as
much as possible - purchase only recycled items. She emphasised that every business has a
duty of care to enquire and check whether their collector disposes of waste
legally. She
recommended various websites for more information: www.egeneration.co.uk : waste
exchange & recycling directory The
presentation was followed by a short discussion with members. Marylene’s
PowerPoint presentation is attached to these minutes. She
can be contacted at ceac@bcuc.ac.uk |
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7 |
Presentation by
Jonathan Bowerman of Grundon Grundon
is a family business established in 1929 with a turnover of £55m. They currently have 250 vehicles, 12
quarries and 6 landfill sites around the country and company policy is to actively restore land, plant trees
and reintroduce livestock Grundon’s services
include: Dry
waste - they introduced the Wheelie bin, ·
Skip services ·
Compaction equipment ·
Specialist waste management services ·
Clinical & pharmaceutical waste ·
Fluorescent tube recycling services - recycle
97% of each tube ·
Fly-ash treatment centres ·
Handling special/hazardous waste including
aerosols, spray paint, batteries, fire extinguishers ·
Mixed glass collection ·
Builders skip waste recycling - 80% of which
gets recycled ·
They are building Material Recovery Facilities
(MRFs) to take mixed waste, separate
it into kind and recycle as much as possible.
All non-recyclable material is then burnt to produce energy, enough to
supply a small town. Jonathan
can be contacted at marketing@grundon.com A
short discussion followed the presentation.
Jonathan stressed that aerosols must not be disposed of in Wheelie
bins. |
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8 |
David Lock Associates
( Lawrence
Revill and Findlay McNab from DLA introduced themselves and outlined their
remit to establish and report on the Risborough 2035 study by the end of
January 2006 - “What should Risborough be like in 2035?”. This study is funded by WDC. Their
assessment so far was: Negative :
declining population; rising house prices; structure of town not ideal with
station detached from the centre; poor shop selection with too many charity
shops; lack of public functional space and through-traffic in the High Street Positive : strong
economic base; town centre acts as a core; relative affluence with disposable
incomes; strong historic character; creative business potential; attraction
as a half-way house for High Wycombe and Aylesbury; beautiful setting and a
realisation already that change is essential for Risborough to survive. They
then requested the views of the local business community. Heather Brown
stated her concerns re the viability of the High Street - loss of key
shops; rents too high; too many charities moving in; the increasing
‘bargain-hunting’ mentality of shoppers. Christine Williams said affordable business premises were
required; local businesses found it difficult to compete with the charities
for premises and restrictions on change of use of buildings caused problems. Bill Bendyshe-Brown added that there was
a mixture of ownership in the High Street, which affected the rents. John Vessey highlighted the need to let the market
operate and find its own level. John Hughes raised the issue of the cost of
parking and whether it should be free and the revenue from parking raised
another way. Was there a possibility
of getting all parking fees refunded? Lance Adlam said that with most shops being under
1000 sq.ft, potentially only niche type shops were viable although there was
a possible need for larger units. Barry Clark wondered why people actually wanted to
shop in Risborough. No pedestrian
facilities, problems with parked vans blocking the flow of traffic, no open
spaces. Mike Pitcher commented that 2035 was too far in the
future and it was time that these studies actually started delivering
solutions in the short term, i.e. within the next 5 years, as well as
planning for the longer term. Peter Keen of Hypnos said something must be done
rapidly regarding the station.
Potentially there are 1500 - 2000 additional shoppers and tourists per
weekend. Graham Wiles requested more facilities for
businesses to grow without having to leave the area to find suitable larger
premises There
was also general agreement that the younger generation needed proper facilities
within the town. The chairman in summary restated the need for
planning flexibility to encourage niche/craft type shops with large
catchments into the High Street, and echoed the view of many that if nothing
was done in the next 2 years then the centre of the town could die. There was a need to engage the various
landlords - Chris Waterton has a list. Anyone
with comments they would like to add can contact DLA at fmcnab@davidlock.com or through www.davidlock.com |
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9 |
RACA Action Group
Reports: Economic. Peter Keen reported that RABG and RACA
must work closely to avoid duplication of effort. There
should be : ·
short term goals such as free parking ·
long term goals to retain businesses &
jobs, bring in new businesses and people, promote tourism and the support the
stream train project. Peter
said he was looking for new members of his group and Bill Bendyshe-Brown,
Graham Wiles & John Hughes all volunteered. If anyone else is interested, please
contact him at Hypnos on 01844 348200 or
peterkeen@hypnos.ltd.uk. The next meeting is at Community & Housing. Heather reported that the group was already
addressing the issues of providing facilities for the younger generation in
the town and would welcome any suggestions.
Please contact her at hbpicklesdeli@aol.com Transport.
Graham Wiles reported that members of his group had experienced great
difficulty in getting copies of the LPT2 document. There were many transport issues but the
BCC public meeting had been badly advertised and poorly attended. Issues include ·
A4010 is not considered a problem road ·
Should there be an island at the zebra
crossing on ·
Problems at the New Road/Berryfield roundabout
with a possible zebra crossing for schools and the elderly ·
Should the bus stop in ·
Speed indicator on ·
Extension of the ·
Better sign posting ·
Management of the shrubs on the Askett
roundabout ·
Boy racer problems in car parks (rail
companies to be approached) Environment.
Youssef Safir was not at the meeting so no feedback was provided. The
committee is looking into the possibility of posting these reports and any
other information of general interest on the website. |
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10 |
Presentations
by Stuart Marriott & Heather Brown Due to shortage of
time, both Stuart and Heather offered to postpone their talks until the next
full meeting. |
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11 |
Any Other Business December Social meeting. The Hon Chairman announced that the
Christmas function would be held on 15th December at Inca
Studio are having a quilt show on 26/ Mark
Adlam is offering discounts on cards and 2006 calendars to members, please
contact him at info@adlamrepro.co.uk
or 01844 273600 Stuart
Marriott requested a representative from RABG to be a sponsor governor for
the school. Meetings every ½
term. Bill Bendyshe-Brown nominated
Paul Jeffries. Paul
Jeffries is looking for a waste piece of land that he can use for composting
and storage etc. Any offers please
contact him at paul@spruced-up.co.uk
or 01844 343783 John
Hughes and Stuart Marriott mentioned the Young Enterprise group from the
school who are selling calendars to raise money for children with allergy to
sunlight. Please would everyone
support, advertise and buy one! Mike
Pitcher mentioned the Hazlemere loyalty card scheme and suggested that
Risborough might do something along similar lines to get people into the High
Street shops. He offered to set up a
working group to look into possibilities and asked for volunteers. Contact him at mike@pamuk.demon.co.uk or 01844
346687 Bill
Bendyshe-Brown said that RABG should get more involved next year with the
Town Festival committee responsible for the Christmas lights. If local businesses gave contributions,
perhaps WDC would match with funding.
The Hon Sec to contact Reg Orsler. |
All Hon
Sec |
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12 |
Date for Next Meeting The
Christmas
Social is at Ercol on 15th December at The date of the next full meeting in January 2006 to be
advised. The venue will be The
meeting closed at |
All All |
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P.M.
Pitcher Hon
Secretary RABG 30
- 11 - 2005 |
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