These are draft minutes that have not yet been approved by the council. The minutes are subject to change and will be confirmed at the next meeting.

T24/016 PRESENT

Councillors Gray, Johnson, Banks, Coan, Hartley, McCulloch, Robertson, Russell, Watson and Wood.

A Keppel-Green (Town Clerk) and Cllrs Dalzell and Mears

 

T24/017 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

All members were present.

 

T24/018 DECLARATIONS OF MEMBERS’ INTERESTS

No member declared an interest in any item.

 

T24/019 PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

No members of the public wished to speak.

 

T24/020 CONFIRMATION OF PREVIOUS MINUTES

It was RESOLVED to confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 17th June.

 

T24/021 REVIEW OF YEAR-TO-DATE INCOME AND EXPENDITURE

The year-to-date income and expenditure reports were noted.

 

T24/022 TOWN CENTRE MANAGEMENT REPORT

The committee expressed its thanks to the Town Centre Manager for their work and comprehensive report. The report was noted.

 

T24/023 TOURISM STRATEGY

The report prepared by Savills and the draft action plan was noted.

It was RESOLVED to establish a working group to develop a revised action plan.

It was RESOLVED to appoint Cllrs Banks, Hartley, Johnson and McCulloch to the working group.

 

T24/024 BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT DEVELOPMENT STAGE

It was noted that it was unlikely that an external funding source would become available to deliver the development stage but that this would be clarified following the government’s budget in October.

It was RESOLVED to include provision for commissioning the development stage in the committee’s draft 2025/26 budget noting that the committee would give further consideration as to whether to commission the work at a future meeting.

 

T24/025 TOWN CENTRE MASTERPLAN: FEASIBILITY REPORTS

Cllr Dalzell left the meeting. Cllr Watson left and rejoined the meeting during the discussion.

It was RESOLVED to endorse the following conclusions of the report and note that the matters will be progressed by the Town Centre Masterplan working group:

  • The approach of restricting through traffic as proposed in the From Top to Bottom Street report is not the solution to the challenges in the town centre due to the knock-on effects on town centre traffic flows.
  • It would not be feasible or cost effective to upgrade the unadopted section of Moorside to an adoptable standard.
  • It should be feasible to develop an access into the Princess Street car park from King Edward Road. This would reduce through traffic on Princess Street and enable this car park to be used during the Makers Market (and similar events) as well as presenting the opportunity to create a more active frontage to King Edward Road.
  • The creation of a public square outside the Old Town Hall would not be feasible due to the changes required at the junction of Princess Street/Bexton Road/King Edward Road leading to excessive queuing. A day-time pedestrianisation of this space is likewise not feasible due to the volume of traffic passing through the town centre during the day.
  • The creation of a public square at Canute Place is feasible and should be progressed. Whilst a scheme which makes Canute Place one-way (and would provide a larger public square) would not be feasible due to its impact on traffic flows, a scheme retaining the two-way traffic (and a smaller public square) would be feasible.
  • There are a number of constraints to the development of a multi-storey car park on Tatton Street car park which affect the business case and would either require the car park to operate at a net cost or have a substantially increased tariff (which it is considered would be detrimental to its use and therefore undesirable). However, the Town Council considers that the importance of increasing parking provision is such that this scheme should be investigated further and could be made more affordable through the allocation of/securing of planning contributions and central government funding for town centres.
  • The studies developed a potential solution to the pedestrian/vehicular conflict within the town centre of widening pavements and creating a level road/footway surface with materials delineating pedestrian/vehicular areas. These proposals need to be developed in more detail, in particular assessing the impact on parking provision, and be taken forward to public consultation.

Cllr Gray voted against the resolution.

Cllr McCulloch left the meeting.

The meeting was adjourned for a five-minute recess.

 

T24/026 CHESHIRE EAST COUNCIL PARKING CONSULTATION

It was RESOLVED to object in the strongest terms to the proposed introduction of evening and Sunday parking charges, expressing that the proposals would fail to make a significant impact on the borough council’s financial challenges but would detrimentally impact the local economy, that if the proposal was taken forward Silk Mill Street car park should remain free on Sundays and expressing the changes would particularly impact low earning hospitality and retail workers.

 

T24/027 STRATEGIC PLAN

Progress in delivering actions under the 2024/25 action plan was noted and it was RESOLVED to approve the draft action plan for 2025/26.

 

T24/028 COMMITTEE BUDGET 2025/26

It was RESOLVED to approve the draft budget as submitted with the addition of a budget for the BID development stage.

Cllr Watson voted against the resolution.

 

T24/029 OUTSTANDING MATTERS LOG

The log was noted.

 

T24/030 QUESTIONS TO THE TOWN CLERK

The Town Clerk responded to questions undertaking to contact businesses with externally facing clocks to seek their operation and advising that the crimes reported in Tabley were unlikely to be connected to the crime reported in the town centre.

 

T24/031 DATE OF THE NEXT MEETING

It was noted that the next scheduled meeting will be held on 11th November 2024 at 7:00pm.