Glossop Library - consultation concerns

Image via WikipediaAfter hearing on High Peak Radio an announcement around consultation on proposals for Glossop Library, I contacted the county council to find out when the details of the consultation will be on their website and was surprised to get the following reply :

As the proposed relocation of the library is a significant improvement to a statutory service there are no plans for a formal consultation process at this time

Now given that this contradicts the statement on the radio earlier in the day I've queried it with officers at the county council and will let you know of their reply.

Samas Roneo / Glossop Road - Housing Consultation - Feedback Forms

Following on from Monday's post on the consultation event, I advised that BNP Paribas would be emailing a feedback form, however they have now advised the following :

I refer to a resident’s request last night for further feedback forms. The feedback forms have been purposely designed to obtain feedback from people who attended the exhibition and had the opportunity to view the scheme. For this reason, we feel it would not be appropriate to send out feedback forms to people who did not attend the exhibition. Alternatively, however if people have any queries or would like information about the proposals they should feel free to contact us. Notwithstanding this, there will be a further opportunity for local residents to view the development proposals at a second consultation event once the planning application has been submitted. There will also be opportunity for local residents to submit their views to High Peak Borough Council once the application has been submitted and the planning application documents have been made available on the Council’s website.

Now whilst there reply is not entirely helpful, it does seem to indicate that they will be going ahead with submitting a planning application at some point in the near future.

Samas Roneo / Glossop Road - Housing Consultation

This afternoon from 4.00pm until 7.00pm in the GRA Office, a consultation organised by BNP Paribas on behalf of Astor Property Group took place.

The consultation was around proposals from the above to seek planning permission for 95 houses on land including the former Samas Roneo Warehouse on Glossop Road.

The consultation took the form of the below display boards, with attendees been asked to complete a questionnaire (copies of which will be available here tomorrow - once it's been emailed through).

It will be interesting to see what happens next - in terms of whether they go to the next step of submitting a planning application, as many of the folk attending today event seemed in opposition to the proposals, but in addition to concerns around the proposals there was also a number of questions the proposers of the scheme were unable to answer, as they will only be seeking outline permission with the actual 'builder' to come forward at some later date.

If you have views, comments or questions on the scheme please let me know - and as and when I have any further details on what's happening around this proposals I'll let folk know as soon as I know.

High Speed Rail - What about the local links ?

There's a fair bit of talk in a number of the papers at the moment around the Governments current consultation around a high speed rail line between London and the north.

In addition to the bits in the papers, a number of council's in Greater Manchester have also passed or are in the process of considering passing motions supporting the £32billon plans, which have the potential to boost the North West's economy by £1bn a year and create 10,000 jobs in the north.

The proposals also have the potential to cut journey times to London to 80 minutes along with adding extra capacity to the rail network overall.

Now whilst I generally support the principal of improving rail journey times and links to the South and believe that the potential benefits these links could bring are worth it, even if the scheme receives unanimous support the first phase of the network to Birmingham wouldn't open until 2026, with Manchester being a few years later in 2032, and I'm concerned that this one scheme would suck up all all available funding leaving very little to improve local connections such as making a reality of proposals like Gamesley station, and a whole host of other proposals to improve rail links across the High Peak.

Samas Roneo Site - Housing Consultation

BNP Paribas on behalf of Astor Property Group are holding a consultation on proposals from them to build up to 95 homes on the former Samas Roneo Site and adjacent land between the site and the Bluebell Pub.

The consultation is set to take place on Monday 24th July from 4pm until 7pm in the Gamesley Residents Association Office and you can download a copy of the information leaflet about the consultation by clicking here (it's in PDF format - and you can download a adobe reader for free from www.adobe.com).

I expect the proposals if they move on to become an actual planning application will raise a mixed response from local people and the planners.

I would expect a welcome to proposals that will sort out / remove the 'ruins / remains' of the former Samas Roneo warehouse, but with both the former warehouse and most of the adjacent land being put forward for development both being classed at current as land for industrial / employment use will the proposals meet the requirements of planners ?

and the winner is (prize draw)

As a thank you for taking part in the consultation 'climate energy' who are the contractor with responsibility for 'programme delivery' were running a competition to win a camera and other prizes and again following the close of the fun day at 2.00pm, the following lucky winners were drawn from the box :

1st Prize - Camera - David Leary

2nd Prize - Pack of solar garden lights and energy saving kit - Kirsty Roberts

3rd Prize - Remote control sockets - Pauline Brannan

The winners will be contacted on Monday and the prizes are available for collected from the GRA Office

and the winner is .....

Thank you to everyone that has attended the Energy Efficiency Programme Consultation that has taken place during Friday and today.

One of the aims of the consultation event, aside from giving locals a chance to find out more about the scheme, was to pick what colour the majority of the houses within the scheme will be done.

To do this the area of Gamesley where the works will be completed was split into three areas, with a vote of those that attended the consultation event picking the colour.

Well after all the votes were counted this afternoon following the close of the event at 2.00pm the result are as follows :

Zone 1 – (which includes Hurdlow, Tissington, Monyash, Ashford, Bakewell, Totley, Wardlow, Langsett) - picked option 2

Zone 2 – (which includes Shelden, Combs, Longnor, Hucklow, Haddon, Hollins, Elton) - picked option 3

Zone 3 – (which includes Winster, Eyam, Heyden, Cromford, Rowarth, Whitwell, Alport, Brailsford, Calver, Wessington) - picked option 1

If you want to have another look at the samples for your area, the samples picked above are available for viewing in either the GRA Office or the HPCH office on Winster Mews.

Local's will get a chance to see the colour of the bottom half of option one, within the next few weeks, when a 'show bungalow' at 17 Wessington Green (near the shops) is completed, further details will be advised on this as soon as available.

If you have any questions on the scheme or you want further details, please let me know, or alternatively information leaflets / details will be available from the GRA Office or HPCH offices, and within the next few weeks as work starts on the scheme Casey's the contractor carrying out the works will have an office in what was the clinic on the shops.

Engergy Efficency Open Day

If you want to know more details about the Gamesley energy efficiency scheme, which is taking place over the next year to house on the 'electric' or 'Wimpey No fines' side of Gamesley you can attend an open day which is on today until 7.00pm at the shops on Gamesley or a family fun day running from 10.00am until 2.00pm tommorow again on the shops.

One of the main things that is been consulted on, at todays and Saturday's event is what color 'the walls' of homes will be once the additional insulation is added.

For these purposes the area where the work is being completed has been split into three areas with a vote being held with the most popular of the below choices been the color for that area.

The choice of colors for the scheme is as below :

Community Conversation

This Thursday evening (30th June) from 7.00pm until 9.15pm sees the Gamesley Community Conversation take place in the GRA Office on Winster Mews.


The community conversation is an event run by Rural Action Derbyshire and Planning with People to look at what the local Core Strategy on planning issues such as housing etc will mean for the area over the next 20 years.


Conversations’ have already taken place in Buxton and Chapel-en-le-Frith and will run in Whaley Bridge and New Mills during July.


The conversation event will go through a process getting people’s views on the area and also about what they would like to see in the future.


The process is set out in a booklet called : Shaping the Future of Gamesley: Conversation Booklet – which is available at the event or from the GRA Officer or online from : http://www.highpeak.gov.uk/neighbourhood/communityconversations/Gamesley%20booklet.pdf

Please come along on Thursday if you can, or if you can't attend but have any comments or views on the event please let me know.

Local Planning Application’s

Image via Wikipedia

If you click on the issue’s / campaigns link on the menu above, there is an option to display current planning applications in the Gamesley area of which there are currently two.

One is for Glossop Caravans, the other for a extension to a house on Alport.

If you have any issues or concerns over these applications, please let me know – click on the get in touch option on the menu above for ways to get in touch.

Gamesley Residents Association

You will (or should) have recently had a leaflet through the door advertising a drop in session about the GRA taking place in the Gamesley Sport and Community Centre on Tuesday 25th January from 11.00am until 12.00noon.

The session which has actually being organised by the Health / PCT folks, aims to give you an opportunity to help plan and organise some future events and activities which they hope to be running in the local area in the near future.

If you can’t attend on Tuesday but would like to find out more, you can call in the GRA Office on Winster Mews or get in touch by phone on 01457 857770.

Regeneration Select – Glossop special

Tuesday evening saw the second trip of the week over to Buxton.

This time for a meeting of the Regeneration Select Committee, which although taking place in Buxton the agenda for the meeting consisted largely of items about Glossop, with reports on the design and place making strategy, and the review of Glossop parking.

Image via Wikipedia

The Glossop design and place making strategy, started off proceedings and essentially this document is the condensed views of the various folk that attended workshops earlier this years to give their views on the general direction of Glossop in ‘planning terms’ no doubt (the cynic in my thinks) as it fits into the view from the consultants hired to put the strategy together.

The reason the cynic in me thinks this, is to a certain extent the end output of this process is get a document that will be used as ‘supplementary planning guidance’, so to a certain extent, aside from the specific details relating to location etc, a certain amount of the details relate to more generic planning terms, rather than a clear general vision for Glossop.

Anyway the next step is for the ‘strategy’ is to go back out for public consultation, and it will be interesting to see, how many of the folk who attended the earlier workshops will view the ‘strategy’ as having met the views they fed in.

This next stage of the ‘consultation’ will be mainly online with copies of the strategy being sent to those who attended the workshops along with various local, regional and national organisations.

If you want you can get an early preview, of the strategy by viewing the committee report which was circulated as part of the agenda and includes a copy of the strategy at : http://www2.highpeak.gov.uk/council/agenmin/regen/part1/20110118/05.pdf

One element a number of the Glossopdale members in attendance (well the Labour one’s anyway) flagged was the need for the two ‘missing’ or not ready yet reports covering the Glossop Town Hall Complex and Wood’s Mill to be circulated amongst Glossopdale Councillor’s for comments before going to be ‘rubber stamped’ for approval by the executive, rather than the original recommendation which was for the executive member to approve them without other Councillor’s having seen them.

Next up was a consultation on the draft Derbyshire Local Transport Plan from 2011 to 2026, which to some extent for any actions to improve local transport in Glossopdale essentially relies on the Longdendale Integrated Transport Strategy (sometimes referred to as bypass 2.0) as put together by Tameside Council to by passed and implemented for anything to happen with limited explanation on any measures that the County Council will take to make improvements in the Glossopdale area should the LITS plan not go ahead or have it’s funding reduced.

Also missing on a slightly wider High Peak view was any consideration of measures to implement many of the issues that were identified for transport improvement as part of process we went through to consider the failed Greater Manchester Congestion Charge Process, a number of which (in my view at least) could well be implemented in these difficult financial times at little cost to either of the council’s.

Also as part of the local transport plan were the proposals for the Gamesley Station, which again unfortunately along with most of the actions for Glossopdale seems to have being left to Tameside Council and the LITS process to solve rather than a proactive lists of actions from the County as to how they will take steps to try and get any of these actions to happen.

Last up on Glossop night, was a report on the Glossop Area Parking Review, which aside from highlighting that on the whole there is enough car parking spaces available in the centre of Glossop owned by council, didn’t really tell you that much, it did however give the opportunity for several Councillor’s to raise concerns with issues tied into parking but necessarily directly under the control of the council, mainly around problems with taxi parking outside some of the taxi offices in the centre of Glossop.

County Transport Consultation – Last chance to have your say

Gamesley Councillors Anthony Mckeown and Dave Wilcox along with Hadfield South Councillor Bob Mckeown are inviting Gamesley residents to join them for their latest councillor’s surgery, which is taking place this Saturday morning (22nd January).

The Gamesley trio are reminding local residents to have their say on the current consultation that is being run by the County Council on Public Transport, which comes to an end on the 31st January.

Image by AnthonyMck via Flickr

Whilst the majority of concern locally has being about the proposals to cut the 397 service, the consultation also
covers possible cuts to services that are currently available with a gold or b-line card, such as the half fare for gold card holders on the train to Manchester.

Cllr Anthony Mckeown said "The proposals as they stand now, will have the effect of stranding some locals along with limiting how some locals can get around, and having your say on the changes is important and could make a difference to the end result".

Cllr Mckeown added "We've also revamped our Bus Watch scheme for collecting bus complaints, and you can pick up a copy of the new form from the GRA Office or online at www.anthonymckeown.info/buswatch".

The surgery will run from 9.00am until 10.00am and locals are welcome to call even if they don’t have a particular issue or grumble to raise with the councillors, it takes place in the Gamesley Resident’s Association Office on Winster Mews on Gamesley

Councillor Mckeown also said "Don’t forget that councillors aren't just available at surgeries and if you can't attend our surgery in person or at all, we still want to hear from you and there's a variety of ways you can get in touch by going to my website at www.anthonymckeown.info/getintouch for further information."

Area Forums

Tonight saw a meeting at Chinley of the area forum’s sub committee, which is looking at a number of issues, tied into the area forum setup not least the area forums themselves.

For the purposes of tonight’s meeting it considered amongst other items an earlier executive report which had concluded that the existing several meeting’s a year would be abandoned and just one a year would take place.

However the committee tonight reached the view that instead of the one meeting a year the limited resources would be better placed supporting councillor’s doing work within their wards rather than on a limited consultation meeting that recently very few people have attended.

How this will work I’m not yet entirely sure / convinced but, as we don’t have the resources available to make the area forums proper decision making bodies in a fashion like the District Assemblies in Tameside it may be the best use of limited resources, however if you have a different view on the future of area forums I’d like to hear them.

Next up for the sub committee will be to consider issues around the going local funds followed by issues around the community fund.

Area Forums Review

Tonight saw the first meeting of a task and finish group which will review the council setup for Area Forums, along with a few other bits that are related to what the area forums cover including the ‘going local’ and ‘community’ grants funds.

The reason for the review follows on from a paper that went through the select committee process with little opportunity for consideration or comment earlier in the year that effectively abolished the existing area forum setup and replaced them with one meeting per year.

The group will get a chance to review this decision in a sense, by having a look at what the proposals are for what the one meeting of the area forum will cover, we will also get a chance to have a look what else can be done with them.

When the first started the area forums were intended to involve the public more in decision making by providing an opportunity for some decisions to be taken at a local level with the public involved, however they soon ended up as a talking shop with little purpose, with the most recent Glossopdale one seeing 30+ people in attendance but only 2/3 were actual members of the public, the rest were an assortment of councillor’s, officers, police , and various other public sector folk.

This group will give an opportunity to look at what role area forums should play in the future and if we should be trying to get decision making more local, if you have any views on what the future role of area forums should be, please let me know.

Heritage at Risk – Wren Nest and the High Peak

Last Wednesday (7/7/10) saw the release by English Heritage of this year’s heritage at risk report.

The report which is produced by English Heritage covers a variety of aspect including listed buildings, ancient monuments, battlefields, ship wrecks and even certain parks and gardens.

Across the East Midlands there has being a reduction of the number of buildings on the register since 2006, and it will be interesting to see, once the full impact of the decisions being taken by the new Condem coalition government will slow that reduction in buildings being taken off the at risk register.

Locally within the High Peak, there are now four buildings on the register, as opposed to the three that made the list last year.

The three buildings that made last years list are the Crescent in Buxton, Stodhart Tunnel in Chapel en le Frith and Torr Vale Mills in New Mills. Overall there has being little change in the situation during the last year for the Crescent and Torr Vale Mils, but Stodhart Tunnel is now upgraded from a priority C to a B, due to continued damage to the tunnel from water and trees on the site.

Image via Wikipedia

The new entry for the High Peak is the trans shipment warehouse in Whaley Bridge, that when first built in 1832 was used to trans ship goods from the Peak Forest Canal to the Cromford and High Peak Railway, it’s listed a priority C building with the roof badly needing repairs.

The final entry of note for the area is an interesting one around the state of the Wren Nest Conservation Area, which the report lists as at risk and ‘deteriorating‘.

I comment that this is interesting because in the recent workshop that I attended looking at the vision for Glossop, the majority of the groups in the first session didn’t necessarily view the Wren Nest area as being part of Victorian Glossop (in a sense) with it featuring Tesco’s and the various newish stores and it would be interesting to see if the proposals that come back from the two workshops session on the future vision for Glossop, take account of this concern from English Heritage on the need to ‘save’ the Wren Nest Conservation area.

Further details and a copy of the at risk report are available from the English Heritage website at : http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/