Minutes of the Risborough Area Business Group
Held at
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Attendees |
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President :L.Adlam
:L.Adlam Architects |
B.Bendyshe-Brown :B3CS |
B.Aldridge
:Alternative Tools |
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Acting Chairman
M.Pitcher :P.A.M. |
S.Marriott :PR School |
L.Vaughan |
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Hon Sec P.Pitcher
:P.A.M. |
A.Smith :J Smith &
Sons |
J.Hughes :Corporate
Comms |
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H.Brown :Pickles
Delicatessen |
M.Thomas :Coppins
B&B |
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Item |
Topic |
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1 |
Chairman’s Welcome The chairman welcomed everyone and
introduced our speaker Chris Holden from Trading Standards, and visitor Liz
Vaughan. Liz then explained that
having been a retailer for 27 years, she was actively looking to open a shop
in Risborough or near-by. She would
appreciate any help or advice on buying or starting her own business. |
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2 |
Apologies for Absence
received from:
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3 |
Minutes of the meeting
held on The minutes were agreed
as a true record. Matters arising: Bill
Bendyshe-Brown & John Hughes updated the meeting on the Park Mill Farm
enquiry. A WDC study had been carried
out by Peter Wilks in 2004, updated in 2006.
It ruled against this development as there was no requirement for increasing
the local population, and additional housing on the proposed Park Mill Farm
scale would be detrimental to the High Street. Without additional infrastructure, people
would shop elsewhere where parking was easier. Risborough was described as a vibrant area
with above national average spends for a market town, economic investment and
a rosy future! Unfortunately David
Locke & Associates had not consulted Peter when drawing up the Risborough
2035 study. Bill offered to get a copy
of the WDC report. There
were no further matters arising. |
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4 |
Presentation: Chris Holden: Senior
trading standards officer, BCC Chris
has been with Trading Standards for 15 years and is their lead officer in matters
of civil law. BCC Trading Standards department
(TS) has 40 people handling issues of weights & measures (specialist section),
fire & furnishing regulations, counterfeiting, doorstep selling, trade
descriptions act, and enforcing the consumer credit act. Approx 12,000 Bucks residents contact the
department each year. Chris gives
advice when court action is involved.
There has to be a balance kept between traders and consumers, scams
and unfair trading practices. If
appropriate, information is passed to the Office of Fair Trading on behalf of
consumers. Chris showed several
examples of illegal products & practices: ·
child’s furry toy
which, although it carried the ‘CE’ mark (the lowest level of acceptance of
European certification) had fur that could easily be pulled out. TS helped track down the supplier and got
it banned. ·
electrical toys have to be checked for
safety. TS subscribes to the Rapex
system which disseminates information Europe-wide on problem products. ·
rogue traders: an example in ·
scales that had been illegally weighted ·
counterfeit watches. Counterfeit goods are a problem as there
are so many on the market. The buyer
may not consider it a problem provided they get an acceptable bargain. eBay is a favourite market place for
selling counterfeit goods as genuine articles. ·
sub-standard towing rope that was potentially
lethal. ·
‘grey’ imports, genuine products made to a
lower quality, are difficult to manage as buyers’ expectations can vary
widely. TS
also monitors food safety and labelling and uses the Public Analyst in Trading
Standards is very keen to work with local businesses and give advice where
needed. They publish JoTS (Journal of
trading standards) with informative articles that can be copied and used free
of charge. The
discussion that followed raised the question of problem emails. Email Alert can be contacted to get on
their list to receive warnings. TS
also sends out alerts and works closely with Crime Stoppers and the Police. TS
can be contacted at 08454 040506 or tsd@buckscc.gov.uk. For
enquiries on JoTS, contact 01296 383357 or jeldridge@buckscc.gov.uk. Consumers
needing advice should ring 08454 040506 or log onto www.consumerdirect.gov.uk The
RABG secretary has copies of JoTS Winter 2007 available on request. The
chairman thanked Chris for his most interesting and informative presentation. |
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5 |
RACA Visitor Project: John Hughes In
2005, 85 different projects were identified for improving the visitor
experience in Risborough. As a result
the Visitors Project was started with funding from SEEDA. The main objective is to attract more visitors
to Risborough and the surrounding area, and shoppers into the Town Centre. All the local action groups are involved. Plans
include putting up information boards, improving signage, building a visitor DVD
and website and upgrading the weekly market.
The 1st phase is to ‘Put PR back on the map’ with walks and
cycling leaflets. SEEDA has given £40K
which needs matched funding as soon as possible. Heather Brown, Project
Manager The
weekly market dates back to Henry VIII’s time when a charter was given for a
market to benefit the town. In 1998
The Chamber of Trade set up a new ‘Charter’ market to be administered by the
Princes Risborough Market Traders Management Group. The plan was to create an attractive, busy
market offering goods other than available on the High Street that returned a
profit to the town. The original
contract required traders to pay in advance in 13 monthly instalments. Unfortunately
the market is not working as intended and is deemed a joke. A few local traders come regularly with
others turning up when they want to depending on conditions. The footfall in Risborough falls off
rapidly in bad weather, and market day, Thursday, is often the worst day of
the week for local retailers. The
market needs improving. A simple
survey has been carried out on footfall and turnover which appears to stay
relatively constant for the regular stall holders, approx £550 in total per
week (excluding fish stall). The
Town Centre Forum is currently addressing a range of issues which include: ·
providing stalls and awnings for traders to
use. £10K has been obtained from RACA towards
costs. However there are problems of
who puts up, takes down and stores the stalls. PRTC does not want to be responsible for
them. ·
the need for stronger management, perhaps RABG
could get involved ·
providing better attractions. A Continental market is planned for three
days in May ·
getting help from Risborough Rewards by
persuading the traders to sign up If a more
attractive market can be set up, the footfall should increase which would
benefit everyone. With Marks and
Spencer coming, this opportunity is a one-off which should not be missed. A proposal
was then put to the meeting: ·
the Princes Risborough Market Traders
Management Group to be reconstituted, consisting of a representative from
RACA (Heather Brown), one from PRTC and two from RABG (Lance Adlam & Bob
Aldridge). The Group to be responsible
for managing the market. Proposed
by Bill Bendyshe-Brown and seconded by Martyn Thomas, the proposal was
carried by 7 votes to none with 2 abstentions. |
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6 |
Meeting with Marks and
Spencer A
meeting was held on The
problem of parking was raised. Bill
Bendyshe-Brown announced that the back of the fire station will be used to
increase space at least temporarily.
M&S has promised to maintain a tidy building and surrounding
area. It is hoped the footfall in
Risborough will increase significantly and present an opportunity to local
retailers. Their opening hours will be
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7 |
RACA Action Group
Reports: As
most of the local issues had already been covered in the Visitors’ Project
presentation, the RACA reports were omitted. |
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8 |
Any Other Business ·
Stuart Marriott said the school’s board of
governors was planning an afternoon/evening to meet and greet local people in
order to raise awareness and interest in the school. It was suggested that the school might do
something before the start of one of our meetings, perhaps the one scheduled
for July 10th. Stuart to
liaise with the secretary to agree details and timing. ·
Ann Smith commented that she was very
disappointed with how few members had bothered to turn up for the meeting. Given the topics were of relevance to
retailers and businesses, what does it take to attract people to meetings? Perhaps if each person rang four others to
remind them, attendance might be improved. ·
Stuart Marriott suggested RABG might consider
Tuesday nights for regular meetings as this would fit in better with school
commitments. |
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9 |
Date of Next Meeting The next meeting is the social on Please let Heather Brown know numbers by email at hbpicklesdeli@aol.com or ring the
secretary on 01844 346687. Advance notice : Wednesday 16th May. Networking evening at If
interested, please email the secretary at pam@pamuk.demon.co.uk to book your
space or ring on 01844 346687. The
meeting closed at |
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Hon.Sec
Pam Pitcher |
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