Buxton Traders Chair: Sam Copley, Secretary: Roger Floyd - TopicsExpress

Buxton Traders Chair: Sam Copley, Secretary: Roger Floyd Notice of Meeting There will be a meeting of Buxton Traders at 5.30pm on Monday, 10 March 2014 at Chippy’s Plaice, Spring Gardens. The meeting is open to anyone concerned about the economic situation and well being of small independent traders in Buxton and its outlying areas. Agenda 1] Introductions Councillors Rachael Quinn, Chris Payne, Jean Todd and Godfrey Claff have been invited to attend. 2] Apologies for absence 3] Minutes of the meeting of 27 March 2013 4]Matters arising from the minutes 5] The Fine Food Fare It has been argued that the presence of this market by Turner’s Memorial was likely to increase footfall in Spring Gardens and therefore could only be of benefit to its retailers. Recent experience, however, has thrown this presumption into doubt and we now need to examine its possible repercussions on our members more closely and perhaps ask the Council to tighten the conditions under which it operates. 6] The Case of the Missing Consultation At a meeting on 10 April 2013 the Borough’s Retail Sub-committee refused Terry Crawford’s recommendation that Buxton market should be moved to Spring Gardens. You will remember that Mr Crawford is the Borough officer in charge of markets [amongst other things]. The sub-committee agreed that, prior to taking a decision on this matter, everyone that it might affect should be consulted. The retailers on Market Square and Spring Gardens, market stall-holders and the general public, all should be approached for their views on the issue. I was at the meeting and that was quite definitely its intention. The responsibility for orchestrating this survey fell to Mr Crawford. However, when the sub-committee next met on 13 June, all he had produced was a questionnaire solely aimed at the man-in-the-street. Apparently he had made no provision for consulting the other groups. He had also decided that the questionnaire provided an ideal opportunity to win support for his own view that the market should be moved to Spring Gardens. The document promotes this proposal but makes no mention of any alternative. This may have seemed to him good idea at the time. However it would have nullified any claim the questionnaire might have subsequently made to neutrality or objectivity. The sub-committee decided that the document needed amending. On 2 October the sub-committee decided to delay any consultation until after Artisan Markets had run pilot markets both in Spring Gardens [7June 2014] and on Market Square [5July 2014]. Mr Crawford’s report to the Retail Sub-committee meeting on 5 March 2014 recommends that third party suppliers [such as Artisan Markets] should be engaged to run the markets in High Peak and this should be done as rapidly as possible as the Borough is losing money on all of them. As the only supplier in sight is Artisan Markets, the borough is likely to attach considerable weight to its preferences. In these circumstances we need to remind the Council of our views and interests as there is a danger of them being overlooked. 7] Roddie Mclean’s proposal to revitalise the market where it has always been - on Market Square. 8] AOB 9] Date of next meeting Roger Floyd 3 March 2014