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.

T24/044 PRESENT

Councillors Gray, Johnson, Banks, Hartley, McCulloch and Watson.

A Keppel-Green (Town Clerk) and S Curties (Town Centre Manager)

 

T24/045 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Apologies were received from Cllrs Coan and Russell (health) and Robertson (personal business)

 

T24/046 DECLARATIONS OF MEMBERS’ INTERESTS

No member declared an interest in any item.

 

T24/047PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

No members of the public wished to address the committee.

 

T24/048 CONFIRMATION OF PREVIOUS MINUTES

It was RESOLVED to confirm the minutes of the meeting 20th January, subject to typographical corrections.

 

T24/049 REVIEW OF YEAR-TO-DATE INCOME AND EXPENDITURE

The year-to-date income and expenditure reports were noted. The Town Clerk reported that further engagement was required with the operator of the Makers Market to understand the full impact of business rates on the profit contribution.

 

T24/050 TOWN CENTRE MANAGEMENT REPORT

The report was noted and the Town Centre Manager provided a further update on the Market Hall and banking hub. It was noted that the tourism strategy working group needed to meet.

 

T24/051 BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT – DEVELOPMENT STAGE

The Town Centre Manager gave a presentation on business improvement districts and answered questions from members. A representative of Groundwork, the prospective consultant, further answered questions.

Representatives of five town centre businesses spoke, generally welcoming the proposal to develop a BID with larger businesses expressing some concern about the cost due to their rateable values. It was noted that this stage would see the development of a business plan to enable businesses to determine if they support the specific activity the BID would undertake.

It was RESOLVED to approve the appointment of Groundwork to deliver the development stage at a cost of £31,500, noting the contract would be structured to enable early termination in the event that it becomes apparent a BID vote would fail and that it was planned that the cost of this stage would be recovered in the event of a successful BID vote.

 

The Town Centre Manager left the meeting.

 

T24/052 CARRY FORWARD OF GINNELS BUDGET

It was RESOLVED to request Full Council approval for a budget of £7,500 to be inserted into the committee’s 2025/26 budget to deliver a ginnels improvement project, utilising the current year underspend within the Christmas Illuminations budget.

 

T24/053 STRATEGIC PLAN

The status of actions was noted and it was noted that there were a number of areas where support from Cheshire East Councillors would be beneficial.

 

T24/054 OUTSTANDING MATTERS LOG

The log was noted.

 

T24/055 QUESTIONS TO THE TOWN CLERK

The Town Clerk responded to a question advising that he did not have any information on recent police activity at two local businesses.

 

T24/056 DATE OF THE NEXT MEETING

It was noted that the next scheduled meeting will be held on 19th May 2025 at 7:30pm