Revamp
of Heywood Cemetery complete
A series of
works to improve Heywood Cemetery have been completed, with new entrance gates,
improvements to paths and landscaping helping to create a more welcoming
environment.
The work
follows improvements which were made last year to the remembrance garden where
people can erect a plaque in memory of a loved one and scatter cremated remains
in a natural woodland setting.
Visitors will
see new signs, new kerb edgings and extensive resurfacing of pathways as well a
refurbished entrance, with work having been carried out on the stone gate
structure and supporting walls.
Councillor
Jacqui Beswick, Cabinet Member for Housing and Environment at Rochdale Borough
Council, said: “Heywood Cemetery is an important facility for local
people, so it’s important that it is well cared for and kept in top condition.
The recent improvements will make visits to the cemetery as pleasant as
possible for our residents and allow them to reflect in an attractive setting.”
Anybody who
would like to enquire about the cemetery or remembrance garden can email bereavement.services@rochdale.gov.uk or phone 01706 645219.
Heywood 1940's Day
The 1940's were brought back to life in Heywood Town Centre last weekend and the event was a huge success bringing thousands of visitors into Heywood Town Centre and even gaining coverage in the national press! You can read a copy of the Daily Mail article here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2673340/Blast-past-Residents-village-pretend-1940s-donning-GI-uniforms-polka-dot-dresses-day-celebrate-Armed-Forces-Day.html
The Heywood Business Group organised the event to coincide with National Armed Forces week and activities throughout the day included a veterans parade, military procession, live music, dancing, entertainment, market stalls, tombolla's, fancy dress, children's entertainment and so much more!
A German Messerschmitt fighter - the only one in the country was also on display along with classic cars, jeeps and military tanks.
HEYWOOD TOWN TEAM MEETING
The annual event, which is now in it's sixth year has grown year on year and is firmly putting Heywood on the map!
Here are a few of the photo's taken from the event. To view more photo's from the day and see if you can spot yourself, please visit the Heywood 1940's Day Facebook page:
 |
| Military parade marching through Heywood Town Centre to mark national Armed Forces Week |
 |
| Thousands of people lined the streets of Heywood for the annual 1940's Day |
 |
| Staff at Tilly's Tea Room dressed up and joining in the 1940's spirit! |
 |
| The Mayor of Rochdale Councillor Carol Wardle enjoying the Heywood 1940's Day |
 |
| Fun for all the family - children's rides and entertainment |
HEYWOOD TOWN TEAM MEETING
Wednesday 26 February, 11am – 12.30pm
Boots, Heywood
MINUTES OF M E E T I N G
Attendees:
|
John Carney (Chair), John Kennedy & Graeme
Bowden-Witts – Heywood Business Group, Sue Coates – Community Rep, Mike
Goldrick – Mike Goldrick Blinds, Gary Smith – Heywood Leisure Centre, Cllr
Susan Emmott, Sonia Vitali – Dunnes,
Justin Ashton – The Heywood Pub, Debbie Storah – Boots
|
Apologies:
|
Helen Fearon – BOSE (Chair), Jim Dobbin MP, Linda
Kennion – Morrisons, Cllr Ray Dutton – RMBC, Julian Jefferson – Link4Life, Tracey
Knight – Heywood Township, Andrew
Bradwell – RMBC
|
In Attendance:
|
Frances Fielding (Minutes) – RMBC , Anthony
Jackson – RMBC, , Elaine Simons, Ruth Bailey – Business Rates
|
No.
|
ITEM
|
ACTIONS
|
1.
|
Welcome, Minutes from the Previous Meeting and Review of Actions
·
John Carney informed the Town Team that Helen Fearon has
suffered a heart attack. She still wishes to retain her seat on the Town Team
and will return as soon as she is well enough to do so.
·
JC agreed to stand in as Chair until Helen’s return.
·
In addition, Sandra Hobin – the branch manager at
Barclays has taken redundancy.
·
Barclays still wish to retain their seat on the Town
Team and FF / ES are awaiting details of the new contact.
·
The minutes of the previous meeting were agreed as an
accurate account.
·
There was one outstanding action regarding
environmental issues within the town.
·
Sue Coates offered to contact the Community Payback
Team to see if they can carry out a clean-up in the town once a month.
|
·
SC to contact
Community Payback Team re monthly clean ups.
|
2.
|
Structure of the
Town Team
·
With JC stepping up as temporary Chair whilst Helen
is absent, Sue Coates agreed to stand as the temporary Vice Chair.
·
The Town Team are still struggling to engage with Morrisons
and Subway, and it was agreed that more businesses need to be approached to
join the Town Team.
·
FF & ES have met with Sara Mehlem from Bakers
Outdoors who is willing to join the Town Team.
·
JC has also spoken with Yorkshire Bank who are keen.
·
The Town Team agreed to accept both new businesses to
the group.
|
·
SC to stand as temporary Vice Chair.
|
3.
|
Business Rates
Ruth
Bailey the Team Leader from Business Rates at Rochdale Council gave a
presentation on Business Rates.
·
The Re-evaluation which was due to take place in 2014
has been postponed until 2017.
·
In the meantime, the Government have announced a
Retail Relief from 01 April that will reduce £1,000 of the Rates Payable for
businesses with a Rateable Value under £50,000.
·
There will also be 50% Rate Relief for 18months for
new businesses moving into premises which have been unoccupied for the past
12 months.
·
The Small Business Rate Relief Scheme has also been
extended for another 12 months.
·
From April / May, Rochdale Council will be launching
an online facility to view / pay Rates Bills.
·
Businesses also have the option to spread the cost of
their rates bill over 12 months rather than 10.
·
The Town Team thanked Ruth for her presentation.
·
The Town Team discussed the options of offering a
Business Rate discount for new businesses moving into the town occupying an
empty shop.
·
It was decided that with the new Retail Relief scheme
and the 50% Rate Relief for new businesses occupying empty units, not to
proceed with a local business rates discount scheme in Heywood.
|
|
4.
|
Town Team Logo
·
GS circulated the 3 x short listed logo’s produced by
the Year 9 students at Holy Family secondary school.
·
It was agreed that the shortlisted designs would not
be suitable to reproduce as a corporate logo but could be used as a banner
for branding purposes.
·
It was agreed as a compromise to select the logo
designed by Jack Greenwood – a Graphic Design student and Heywood resident
from Hopwood Hall College as the Town Team’s corporate identity, and to use
the design produced by Oliver Gibson from Holy Family school as a brand
banner.
·
The Town Team approved 2 x tablet devices for both
winners and AJ agreed to arrange a presentation ceremony for both students.
·
The Town Team suggested approaching Lisa Gray to see
if she will publicise this in the Heywood Advertiser.
|
·
AJ to purchase 2 x tablet prizes.
·
AJ to organise presentation ceremony.
|
5.
|
Smart Windows
·
The Town Team reviewed the proposal produced by City
Dressing and agreed to proceed with 2 of the empty units: Former Beddows Unit
(next to Sweet & Yummy Gifts) and Home Elegance.
·
It was agreed that the Beddows Unit could be
transformed as a Sound Wall and the Home Elegance to promote the events,
attractions and history of the town.
·
FF agreed to contact Jeremy from City Dressing to
progress.
|
·
FF to contact City Dressing to pursue Beddows & Home Elegance
units.
|
6.
|
Draft Visitor
Guide
·
FF confirmed that RMBC have agreed to fund the
graphic design and printing of 1000 Heywood Town Centre Visitor Guides.
·
Shop listings in the Visitor Guide have been
circulated to the Town Team and comments have been sent to FF by email.
·
It was suggested to list the shops in alphabetical
order.
·
The leaflet delivery date
is 25th April and these will be distributed to town centre shops,
accommodation providers, the Leisure Centre and visitor attractions.
·
The text to promote the
local history / places to visit and interesting facts is currently being
produced and will be circulated via email for comments.
|
|
7.
|
Town Team Community
Event
·
AJ circulated an invitation to the Community Event
which will be held on Thursday 20 March, 10.30am – 12.30pm at TOPS Business
Centre
·
All Town Team members are asked to attend and invite
any businesses / community groups / individuals who may be interested in
attending.
·
The purpose of the event is to inform the wider
community on progress of the Heywood Town Team and give this wider group the
opportunity to put forward their ideas.
|
|
8.
|
TOPS Funding Request
·
JC decided to withdraw his
funding request for Heywood in Bloom / Incredible Edibles.
|
|
9.
|
Any Other Business
Military Parade – Sunday 24 August
·
JA informed the Town Team
that the Heywood Veterans are organising a huge military parade which will
involve 100 Grenadier Guards marching through Heywood town centre on Sunday
24 August to commemorate the 100 year anniversary of the First World War.
·
The event is expected to
attract a huge number of visitors which could be in the region of 10,000
people.
·
The Feel Good Festival in
Rochdale will be held the following weekend and they promote events in the
run up to the main festival.
·
FF agreed to contact the
event organiser – Debbie Hernon to find out if this event can be publicised
as part of the Feel Good programme.
·
The Town Team discussed
whether an event could be organised on Saturday 23 August to have a weekend
of events planned for Heywood.
|
·
FF to contact Debbie Hernon about publicising the Military Parade in
the Feel Good Festival programme.
|
10.
|
Time & Date of Next Meeting
The
next meeting of the Heywood Town Team will be held on Tuesday 01 April, 4pm – 5.30pm, Tilly’s Tea Room (inside Mike
Goldricks Blinds).
All
members of the Heywood Town Team are invited to attend the Heywood Town Team
Community event being held on:
Thursday 20
March, 10.30am – 12.30pm at TOPS Business Centre, Hind Hill Street, Heywood.
|
HEYWOOD TOWN TEAM
MEETING
Wednesday 26
February, 11am – 12.30pm
Boots, Heywood
A G E N D A
ITEM
|
|||
11.00am
|
Minutes
of previous meeting & review of actions
|
Helen
Fearon (Chair)
|
10mins
|
11.10am
|
Review
of High Street Foundation Event
|
All
|
10mins
|
11.20am
|
City
Dressing
|
All
& Jeremy Rucker
|
20mins
|
11:40am
|
Town
Team Logo
|
All
|
10mins
|
11:50pm
|
Draft
Visitor Guide
|
All
|
10mins
|
12:00pm
|
Business
Rates Discussion
|
All
& Ruth Bailey
|
15mins
|
12:15pm
|
Town
Centre Events
|
All
& Sue Milne / Angela Anderton
|
10mins
|
12:25pm
|
Any
Other Business
|
All
|
5mins
|
12.30pm
|
Time
& Date of Next Meeting
Community Event - Thursday 20 March, 10.30am – 12.30pm, The Old
Police Station, Heywood
|
||
HEYWOOD TOWN TEAM MEETING
Wednesday 15 January, 11am – 12.30pm
Boots, Heywood
MINUTES OF M E E T I N G
Attendees:
|
John Carney (Vice Chair), John Kennedy &
Graeme Bowden-Witts – Heywood Business Group, Sue Coates – Community Rep, Mel
Caffrey – Mike Goldrick Blinds, Gary Smith – Heywood Leisure Centre, Stella
& Julie– Barclays, Tracey Knight – Heywood Township, Cllr Susan Emmott,
|
Apologies:
|
Helen Fearon – BOSE (Chair), Deborah Storah –
Boots, Jim Dobbin MP, Sonia Vitali –
Dunnes, Linda Kennion – Morrisons,
Mike Goldrick, Lisa Gray – Heywood Advertiser, Mirza Baig – Subway, Cllr Ray
Dutton – RMBC, Julian Jefferson – Link4Life Justin Ashton – The Heywood Pub,
|
In Attendance:
|
Frances Fielding (Minutes) – RMBC , Anthony
Jackson – RMBC, Andrew Bradwell – RMBC, Elaine Simons, Jeremy Rucker – City
Dressing, Nick Barton - RMBC
|
No.
|
ITEM
|
ACTIONS
| ||||||||||||||||||
1.
|
Welcome, Minutes from the Previous Meeting and Review of Actions
Helen
Fearon (Chair) was unable to attend the meeting due to illness. Therefore
Vice Chair, John Carney chaired the meeting in her absence.
The
minutes of the previous meeting were agreed as an accurate account. There
were several outstanding actions that were followed up:
Lighting of Trees
·
JC updated that the lighting of the trees has now
been completed.
Events
·
The Police were unable to attend this meeting so it
was agreed to invite them back along with Sue Milne – Events Manager, RMBC to
the next meeting.
·
Some members of Heywood Town Team are unhappy with
the RMBC process for organising events.
·
A form is due to be available for events, which needs
to be sent to RMBC at least 6 months before your event is due to take place.
·
Organisers of the Heywood 1940’s day were promised
the form in December and are still waiting to receive it.
·
FF had spoken with Sue Milne and the form was due to
be going live on the RMBC website this week.
|
·
FF to invite Police
/ Sue Milne to next meeting.
|
||||||||||||||||||
2.
|
Town Team
Logo Competition
·
Anthony circulated the logo entries from Holy Family
RC CoE College.
·
Due to the high number of entries, Gary Smith agreed
to take the logo’s away and form a sub group to select 3 / 4 logo’s to bring
back to the next meeting and choose a winner.
·
The Town Team agreed to buy the winning student a
tablet device.
|
·
GS to co-ordinate sub group to review logo’s and bring 4 x back to the
next meeting.
| ||||||||||||||||||
3.
|
City Dressing
·
Jeremy Rucker from City Dressing attended the meeting
and presented ideas to bring empty retail units back to life.
·
His company produce virtual graphics to give the
illusion that there is a real shop / business in the unit.
·
The graphics can also display details of the property
agent and give prospective tenants a vision of what the unit could look like.
·
They can also advertise existing businesses on the
high street and use logo’s and arrows to point shopping destinations or
support existing events such as the Heywood 1940’s Day.
·
Another innovative concept is Sound Boards – using
the front of an empty shop this is dressed as a studio and promotes local
artists and bands. Using a QR code, passers-by can download tracks at the
touch of a button onto their smart phone.
·
History Walls – again this is the same concept taking
the front of the empty shop and promoting the history of the area.
·
White Box - this is when City Dressing take on an
empty shop unit for a period of 3 or 4 weeks. They will refurbish the shop to
a high standard and invite big name retailers to “test trade” in the shop for
a short period of time.
·
This gives the retailer a feel for the town and an
idea of the town viability of opening a shop there. Heywood could have a Jack
Wills or a Hollister for example.
·
Lamp banners – can be used on street lamps to promote
an event / attraction. Planning permission would be required if these were to
be installed permanently.
·
Jeremy explained that all of the above have the
potential to act as a powerful communication tool right in the middle of the
high street.
·
JC asked if there are any obvious ways to fund the
above.
·
Jeremy said that property owners generally are not
willing to contribute but that there are opportunities to generate the income
from sponsors and possibly applying for grant funding.
·
The Town Team thanked Jeremy for his ideas and were
keen to pursue these further.
·
Jeremy agreed to carry out an audit of the empty shops
in the town centre and put forward a proposal.
|
·
Jeremy to provide town centre audit & proposal.
| ||||||||||||||||||
4.
|
Town Team
Community Event – 20 March
·
Elaine gave a review of the process of appointing the
Heywood Town Team and highlighted that this has involved communicating with
over 100 Heywood businesses.
·
When the Town Team was launched it was agreed that a
workshop would be held every 6 months to update the wider community on the
achievements made, present the next 6-12 month action plan and give these
wider members the opportunity to have their say.
·
Therefore this Community Event has been set to take
place on Thursday 20 March, 10.30am – 12.30pm at the Heywood Civic Centre.
·
All members of the Town Team are requested to attend.
·
JC pointed out that there are now 38 voluntary /
community groups in Heywood and would like these to be invited to the
Community Event.
|
·
All members to try and attend Town Team Community Event on 20 March.
| ||||||||||||||||||
5.
|
ELR Marketing
·
Nick Barton – Planning Officer, Rochdale Council
provided an update on a new marketing campaign being delivered by East Lancs
Railway.
·
ELR are looking to promote local Heywood businesses
in their tourist information leaflets which will be available on their
trains.
·
Nick is working with ELR to encourage local
businesses to provide offers for the leaflet.
·
This could be for example providing a free glass of
wine with a meal in a restaurant on production of the leaflet.
·
It provides a good opportunity to promote Heywood and
the variety of the town centre offer.
·
JC suggested contacting Queens Park and the Heywood
restaurants.
·
Nick asked if anybody would like to provide an offer
to contact him directly: nick.barton@rochdale.gov.uk
/ 01706 924847
·
Cllr Susan Emmott asked about the progress of a
Township grant given to ELR to convert a carriage into a restaurant.
·
Nick said that this proposal is currently being
worked up and ELR will be providing an update at the next Township meeting.
·
Nick also agreed to obtain statistics from ELR of
numbers of visitors to Heywood station.
|
·
NB to obtain ELR Heywood Visitor numbers.
| ||||||||||||||||||
6.
|
Ideas Storming
There
was a review of the Action Plan and the need to now focus on activities for
the next 6 months. A progress update was provided on the Action Plan:
·
There was a discussion on developing the young
persons offer and one idea was to open a pop up Ice Cream Parlour during the
summer holidays, involving the Enterprise students from the secondary schools
and possibly using the Birches Farm as the ice cream supplier.
·
It was agreed to explore this idea further at the
Community Event on 20 March and possibly carry out another focus group with
young people to re-engage with their views.
| |||||||||||||||||||
7.
|
Any Other Business
Heywood In Bloom
· Sue Coates wants to encourage all businesses to take
part in Heywood In Bloom this year and involve schools.
·
The theme will be bees, black and gold.
·
A food growing project will be included in the scheme
this year and the idea is to provide the judges a lunch using the vegetables
grown.
·
Sue also raised concerns around the amount of litter
around the town centre, particularly the Bethel Street area.
· JC said that he will raise this directly with
Environmental Management.
Business Rates
FF
gave an update on business rates:
· The Government have capped a 2% rise on Business
Rates for 2014/15.
·
They will also be implementing temporary reoccupation
relief, granting a 50% discount on rates for new occupants of premises that
have been empty for the previous 18 months or more.
· There will also be a £1,000 discount for premises
with rateable value up to £50,000 for the next 2 years, which will be a
welcome announcement for small businesses.
· Helen wishes to have a detailed discussion at the
next meeting on providing a Local Business Rates Discount Scheme and FF will
invite Business Rates to the next meeting.
|
·
JC to raise litter issue with Environmental Management.
·
FF to invite Ruth Bailey from Business Rates to next meeting.
| ||||||||||||||||||
8.
|
Time & Date of Next Meeting
The
next meeting of the Heywood Town Team will be held on Wednesday 26 February, 11am – 12.30pm, Boots, Heywood.
|
HEYWOOD TOWN TEAM
MEETING
Wednesday 15 January,
11am – 12.30pm
Morrisons, Heywood
A G E N D A
ITEM
|
|||
11.00am
|
Minutes
of previous meeting & review of actions
|
John
Carney (Chair)
|
15mins
|
11.15am
|
Town
Team Logo Competition
|
All
|
10mins
|
11.25am
|
City
Dressing
|
All
& Jeremy Rucker
|
15mins
|
11:40am
|
Town
Team Community Event – 20 March
|
Elaine
Simons
|
10mins
|
11:50
|
ELR
Marketing
|
Nick
Barton
|
10mins
|
12:00pm
|
Ideas
Storming Session
|
All
|
20mins
|
12:20pm
|
Any
Other Business
a).
Town Team Finance Update
|
All
John
Kennedy
|
10mins
|
12.30pm
|
Time
& Date of Next Meeting
Wednesday 26 February, 11am – 12.30pm, Boots, Heywood.
|
||
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday 12 December, 11am – 12.30pm
Heywood Civic Centre
MINUTES OF M E E T I N G
Attendees:
|
John Carney (Vice Chair), Deborah Storah – Boots,
John Kennedy & Graeme Bowden-Witts
– Heywood Business Group, Sue Coates – Community Rep, Mike Goldrick, Justin
Ashton – The Heywood Pub,
|
Apologies:
|
Helen Fearon – BOSE (Chair), Jim Dobbin MP, Gary
Smith – Heywood Leisure Centre, Sonia Vitali – Dunnes, Linda Kennion – Morrisons, Mike Goldrick, Sandra
Hobin – Barclays, Stuart Hay – Heywood Township, Lisa Gray – Heywood
Advertiser, Mirza Baig – Subway, Cllr Ray Dutton – RMBC, Cllr Susan Emmott,
Julian Jefferson – Link4Life
|
In Attendance:
|
Frances Fielding (Minutes) – RMBC , Anthony
Jackson – RMBC, Andrew Bradwell – RMBC, Elaine Simons, Mick Ball – RMBC
Environmental Management, Diane Lodwig – RMBC Community Safety, Jenny George
- PCSO
|
No.
|
ITEM
|
ACTIONS
|
1.
|
Welcome, Minutes from the Previous Meeting and Review of Actions
Helen
Fearon (Chair) was unable to attend the meeting due to illness. Therefore
Vice Chair, John Carney chaired the meeting in her absence.
The
minutes of the previous meeting were agreed as an accurate account.
Outstanding Actions
Lighting of Trees
·
MG updated that the lighting of the trees has now
been completed however there are various issues with the Christmas lights
around the town centre - some are not working, others are on all day and off
at night time etc.
·
Mike has contacted Dave Mulligan in Street Lighting
but the problems are not being sorted.
·
Frances suggested Mike email her the issues and she
will log this as a corporate complaint to try and get it picked up this way.
Pop Up Shop
·
AJ explained that currently it is uncertain whether
there will be funding to open a pop up shop in Heywood but that he will keep
pursuing this.
·
The Skills Team in Rochdale Council are carrying out
a 12 month project across the borough and want to spend 3 months in each town
centre (Rochdale, Middleton, Heywood & Pennines) to promote skills &
employment opportunities.
·
The Skills Team are currently funding the Middleton
pop up shop and allowed the Middleton Town Team to occupy the shop for one
month prior to taking occupancy themselves on 01 January.
·
The Pop Up Shop is currently being used as a pilot to
determine whether to replicate this across the borough.
·
Other options being considered by the Skills Team are
a portable unit or a bus.
·
AJ will keep in touch with the Skills Team to ensure
the Heywood Town Team are involved with this project when it comes to Heywood
(anticipated April 2014).
·
The Middleton Shop has been a success for the
Middleton Town Team as it helped raise the profile of the Town Team, engage
with residents about how they would like to see Middleton town centre
improved and has also been used to promote Middleton positively.
Prospectus
·
FF to circulate final version of the Prospectus. This
is being used by the Rochdale Development Agency for any investment
enquiries.
Heywood Town
Centre Visitor Guide
·
FF has met with Julian Jefferson – Link4Life and RMBC
Comms regarding the production of a Heywood Visitor Guide.
·
RMBC Comms have agreed to fund the graphic design &
print costs.
·
The draft document will be brought back to the
Heywood Town Team at a later meeting for comment.
Community Stage
·
It was decided by the Town Team not to pursue the
stage further due to storage issues and usage.
Town Team
Identity
·
AJ has re-engaged with the pupils from Holy Family Secondary School who took part
in the young people’s focus groups carried out earlier on the in the year,
and invited them to design a logo for the Town Team.
·
The designs will be brought back to the next meeting.
|
·
MG to email FF complaint regarding
Christmas Lights.
·
AJ to pursue.
·
FF to circulate Prospectus.
·
FF to work with RMBC Comms / Link4Life on Visitor Guide.
·
Rejected.
·
Town Team Logos to be reviewed at next meeting.
|
2.
|
Clean
and Safe Town Centre
The Town Team welcomed to the meeting
Diane Lodwig from RMBC Community Safety, Jenny George – PCSO and Mike Ball
from RMBC Environmental Management to discuss clean and safety issues within
the town centre.
·
Jenny provided an overview of how the CCTV is
monitored within the town centre.
·
The cameras are monitored by a crew of 4 x staff
based at Hollin Rise which has over 50 x screens recording live footage from
across the borough. If an incident is witnessed the crew will radio through
to the Police immediately.
·
This answered a query raised by the Town Team as to
whether the footage was being viewed.
·
In addition, there are temporary cameras which are
not staffed but monitored by the police and store footage for a 3 month
period.
·
The Town Team believed that the temporary camera located
outside Weatherspoons is not working and Diane agreed to look into this.
·
Jenny explained the Police now operate an Enabled
Priority Policing System which allows problems to be identified and logged on
to the system. An Officer will then be allocated to the problem and it will
be brought to the Team’s attention.
·
MG felt that more needs to be done to tackle theft /
antisocial behaviour etc and more arrests need to be made.
·
Jenny explained that the Police have to follow
procedure and can only make arrests when able to do so.
·
In addition, Diane confirmed the Community Safety
Team are regularly out on the streets in the town centre and will report and
deal with incidents they come across.
·
For more information, Diane is based at the Pheonix
Centre and can be contacted on Tel: 01706 922226 or Jenny can be reached via
her office Tel: 0161 856 8701. All other non-emergencies can be reported on
Tel: 101.
·
John thanked Diane and Jenny for their contributions.
Mick
Ball provided information on the cleaning schedule for the town centre:
·
The street cleaning team has been reduced however a
team of 2 x environmental officers clean the town centre daily between 7am –
10am with the street sweeper and bins are emptied.
·
Environmental Management will also be working with
Community Payback teams in 2014.
·
There was concern raised about fly tipping and areas
including the rear of Boots, the culdisack by the butchers and behind Mike
Goldricks which are regularly targeted by flytippers.
·
Mick said that any flytipping needs to be reported to
the Contact Centre on Tel: 0845 226 1800
·
Where flytipping is done on private land it is up to
the landlord to address it, but the Council can issue enforcements.
·
John Carney asked whether there is any capital
funding to carry out environmental improvement works within the town centre
but Mick confirmed he was not aware of any.
·
John thanked Mick for his contributions.
|
·
Diane to check Weatherspoons camera.
|
3.
|
Heywood Christmas
Festival Update
Mike
gave an update on the Heywood Christmas Festival which was a huge success
despite problems encountered by RMBC and the Police.
·
The Police refused to grant the Rotary a temporary
license to sell mulled wine at the event.
·
It was not understood why Rochdale, Middleton and
other places in Greater Manchester are allowed to sell alcohol at their
events and that Heywood was refused.
·
Mike also stressed that the Heywood Christmas
Festival is organised entirely by volunteers and there was a feeling of being
victimised.
·
Debbie Storah has a personal licence for alcohol and
offered this support for future events.
·
There were other issues regarding newly enforced
timescales to apply for road closures / event licences etc.
·
Frances explained that a new Events Officer (Sue
Milne) has recently been appointed by the Council and that she will be
producing a handbook to provide advice to groups running events.
·
It was suggested to invite the Police and Sue Milne
to a future meeting of the Town Team to clarify the rules of holding
community events and obtaining an alcohol license.
|
·
FF to invite Sue Milne & Police to future meeting.
|
4.
|
Feedback from
Future of the High Streets Conference
·
FF recently attended the above conference and fedback
on some of the highlights.
·
All of the presentations can be viewed on the
following website: http://www.slideshare.net/PlaceNorthWest/mike-horner-future-of-town-centres
·
Although retail predictions are stark (by 2016
another 22% of high street shops will be closed), there are opportunities
which must be capitalised on including:
o
Looking beyond retail & creating different uses
for space (health, education, leisure, residential)
o
Landlords offering more flexible leases
o
National review of Business Rates
o
Growing importance of localism
o
Providing temporary facilities (pop up shops, market
stalls, incubator space for new start businesses)
o
New approaches to car parking
o
Click & collect
o
Clean, safe & attractive town centres
o
Embracing technology
o
Creating town centre visionary documents /
masterplans
o
Adapting town centres to consumer needs
o
Creating sustainable environments
o
Providing a service you can’t get over the internet
(e.g. food & beverage)
o
Town centre cinema?
There
was a lot of discussion around ideas and it was agreed to have an idea’s
storming session at the next meeting and review some of the feedback from
earlier in the year.
|
·
Include Ideas Session Agenda Item for next meeting.
|
5.
|
City Dressing
·
FF shared some photographs of 3 key empty buildings
within the town centre which could benefit from shop front treatments
(Beddows, Blockbuster & Home Elegance).
·
Images were also show of treatments carried out on
the former McDonalds unit in Rochdale in conjunction with Marks & Spencer
to promote their Click & Collect Scheme, and 3D virtual window displays
carried out by City Dressing.
·
The Town Team agreed this would be a worthwhile
project to pursue further and FF agreed to invite City Dressing to the next
meeting and discuss in more detail.
·
Some ideas for the window treatments could include
promoting some of the shops in the town, the Heywood 1940’s Festival and
Dunnes.
|
·
FF to invite City Dressing to attend next meeting.
|
6.
|
Small Business
Saturday – 7th December
·
Jim Dobbin judged a best dressed Christmas Window
competition as part of the Small Business Saturday campaign.
·
The Spares Centre were chosen as the Winner and Mike
Goldrick Window Blinds was Highly Commended.
·
A cash mob was held at 12noon, but attendance was
poor due to bad weather.
·
In addition, shopping crawls have been distributed to
all the shops taking part in the scheme and this has been promoted in the
Heywood Advertiser and online.
·
John Kennedy raised a complaint that the Markets
received their shopping crawls late.
·
AJ and FF apologised for this, the day the leaflets
were delivered was unfortunately on the day the market hall was closed but
these were delivered on Saturday 7th December.
·
John also raised a further complaint that Morrisons
had sponsored the campaign and felt this defeated the object of promoting
small businesses.
·
FF explained that the nationals have all signed up to
Small Business Saturday which is a national campaign and kindly donated the
prize of a £25 shopping voucher.
·
John’s comments were noted and it was agreed that
next year the prize should be donated by the independent shops.
|
|
7.
|
Any Other Business
Town Team
Finances
·
The bank account has now been set up. John is
transferring all the paperwork to his address as Treasurer.
Business Rates
·
Helen has requested for a discussion to be held on
Business Rates at the next meeting and Frances agreed to invite Ruth Bailey
from RMBC Business Rates Team to attend.
|
·
FF to invite Ruth Bailey from Business Rates to next meeting.
|
8.
|
Time & Date of Next Meeting
The
next meeting of the Heywood Town Team will be held on Wednesday 15 January, 11am – 12.30pm at Morrisons, Heywood.
Boots
have recently converted the upstairs of their building into a training centre
and offered to host some of the future meetings at their venue.
|
HEYWOOD TOWN TEAM MEETING
Morrisons, Heywood
MINUTES OF M E E T I N G
Attendees:
|
Helen Fearon – BOSE (Chair), John Carney (Vice
Chari), Deborah Storah – Boots, John
Kennedy & Graeme Bowden-Witts – Heywood Business Group, Sue Coates –
Community Rep, Gary Smith – Heywood Leisure Centre, Barclays Bank. Sandra
Hobin – Barclays, Mel Caffrey – Goldricks.
|
Apologies:
|
Jim Dobbin MP, Sonia Vitali – Dunnes Joanne
Lutkevich – Morrisons, Mike Goldrick, , Justin Ashton – The Heywood Pub, Stuart
Hay – Heywood Township, Lisa Gray – Heywood Advertiser, Mirza Baig – Subway,
Cllr Ray Dutton – RMBC, Cllr Susan Emmott,
|
In Attendance:
|
Frances Fielding (Minutes) – RMBC , Anthony
Jackson – RMBC, Julian Jefferson – Link4Life
|
No.
|
ITEM
|
ACTIONS
|
1.
|
Welcome, Minutes from the Previous Meeting and Review of Actions
The
minutes of the previous meeting were agreed as an accurate account.
Outstanding Actions
Lighting of Trees
·
Mike Goldrick and Stuart Hay had reviewed alternative
trees in the town centre to decorate with fairy lights, however for various
reasons there was no other locations deemed suitable, therefore the request
was for the 5th tree in memorial gardens to be lit.
·
This was approved by members of the Town Team.
Pop Up Shop
·
The Town Team said they would be happy for the idea
to open a Pop Up Shop to be pursued further.
Prospectus
·
This has now been signed off by the Town Team. FF
agreed to circulate the final version with the minutes. JK asked to check
whether his amendments had been included.
Town Guide App
·
It was agreed to park this initiative for the time
being. It is possible to bolt on a town guide app for Middleton on the
Rochdale app, but this would need resources in terms of staff time to input
all the data and currently it was agreed that this is not a priority and
should be picked up in the New Year.
Ambassador
Training
·
The Town Team decided they did not want to invest
their funds on Ambassador Training. Match Funding is available from Link4Life
to train 30 x Ambassadors, so the Town Team asked if they could use the
Link4Life money to train 15 x Ambassadors as a pilot.
·
JJ agreed to consider this.
Heywood Town
Centre Visitor Guide
·
FF circulated copies of the Rochdale guide which was
produced in 2012 to celebrate the year of the Co-operatives. FF suggested
producing something similar for Heywood for 2013 to celebrate the Tour de
France travelling through Rochdale Borough.
·
The Town Team approved this and FF agreed to bring
the draft text for the Visitor Guide back to the Town Team after Christmas.
Community Stage
·
Gary Smith has investigated the cost of purchasing a
community stage as a capital asset for the Town Team but this would vary
depending on size. For a 3m x 2m stage the cost would be £1,000.
·
FF agreed to find out the size of the Community Stage
at the Feel Good Festival – as the Town Team are looking for a similar size.
·
Gary agreed to explore the Community Stage further
for the next meeting and agreed to bring different prices / sizes and what it
could be used for.
|
·
Heywood Business
Group to arrange lighting in Memorial Gardens.
·
FF & AJ to
investigate pop up shop further.
·
FF to circulate
Prospectus.
·
Julian to consider Link4Life funding the Ambassador Training.
·
GS to bring back proposals for the Community Stage.
|
2.
|
Clean
and Safe Town Centre
·
The Town Team requested for RMBC Environmental
Management to attend the next meeting and to provide the cleaning schedule
for the town centre. The most prominent grot spots are in the car parks, weeds
over growing etc and it also has an impact on Community Safety.
·
There was a discussion around the CCTV and whether
this works, and there are a number of incidents of people urinating in the
streets late at night.
·
It was agreed that the Community Safety /
Environmental Management issues should be logged as a complaint to
councillors and sending a letter to Cllr Ray Dutton in his absence.
·
Helen Fearon is happy to attend the Township Meeting
and raise this as an issue.
·
FF agreed to invite Diane Lodwick – Community Safety
and Jane Walsh from Environmental Management to the next meeting to discuss
further.
|
·
FF to invite RMBC Environmental Management & Community Safety to
next meeting.
|
3.
|
Town Team Identity
·
FF shared the logo designs the Graphic Design
students at Hopwood Hall College had produced as part of a competition to
design a logo for Middleton. The students themselves chose to design a logo
for the Heywood Town Team.
·
The Town Team members praised the designs but decided
not to select one to use as the official logo as they would prefer if this
could be designed by a Heywood student.
·
FF / AJ agreed to contact Holy Family & Siddal
Moore secondary schools to see if they would like to design a logo, as we
have already engaged with these pupils when the Focus Groups were conducted.
|
·
FF/ AJ to contact secondary schools r.e. logo design.
|
4.
|
Christmas Opportunities
Christmas Lights
Switch On
·
Mel Caffrey updated on Christmas activities in
Heywood Town Centre.
·
The Christmas Lights Switch On will take place on
Saturday 16 November.
·
There will be a parade running through the town
centre with 6 x floats.
·
Mel offered a 7th float to the Town Team,
but unfortunately it was agreed it was too short notice for this year, but definitely
something to do next year.
Reindeer Parade
·
Mel would also like to do a Reindeer Parade either as
part of the Switch On Event or possibly for Small Business Saturday on 7th
December. She had previously obtained a quote and thought this was around
£650.
·
FF agreed to contact Rochdale Town Centre Management
Company to find out more about holding a Reindeer Parade and send this
information to Mel to consider.
Flags
·
There was a discussion around the Flag Poles in the
Town Centre and whether we could put up some Christmas Flags just for
December. AJ agreed to obtain a quote
for flags.
|
·
FF to provide reindeer information to Mel.
·
AJ to obtain costings / proposals for Xmas flags.
|
5.
|
Small Business
Saturday
·
As part of Small Business Saturday on 7th
December which is a national campaign, an Independent Shopping Challenge is
being produced for Heywood Town Centre which will be advertised in the
Heywood Advertiser, online and also in leaflets which will be distributed to
local shops.
·
The shopping challenge is to challenge people to do
their Christmas Shopping in Heywood Town Centre, and the shopper has to visit
at least 10 shops and receive a stamp from each shop. Once they have
collected all of their stamps, they hand in their completed shopping crawl in
at Tilly’s Tea Room and will receive a free chocolate treat and will be
entered into a prize draw to win a £25 shopping voucher donated by Morrisons.
·
The shopping challenge will be launched on 7th
December and the closing date for entries will be 21st December.
·
Jim Dobbin will also be judging the best dressed
Christmas Window on 7th December.
·
Mel Caffrey offered space on the ground floor of Mike
Goldrick Window Blinds on 7th December if the Town Team want to
utilise this as part of Small Business Saturday.
·
Mel was thanked for her offer but it was agreed it
was now too short notice to organise something in time.
|
|
6.
|
Any Other Business
Empty Shops
·
There was a discussion on doing something with the
long standing empty shops such as Beddow’s to make the town centre look more
attractive.
·
FF is aware of a company called City Dressing who do
3D virtual window displays. They also contact the building owner and gain all
the permissions on your behalf as well as supplying the window materials and
fitting these.
·
FF agreed to
contact City Dressing and bring back more information to the next meeting.
Community Safety
·
Sue Coates raised an issue regarding a young man who
frequents Heywood Town Centre regularly who she believes requires physciatric
help. She is concerned that it is only a matter of time before a serious
incident happens and that nobody wants to take responsibility.
·
FF agreed to raise this with the Steering Group for
attention and get this noted within the minutes.
Anti Social
Behaviour
·
Pooles Butchers have complained about people drinking
outside their shop in the bus station shelter. There was a discussion on how
this problem can be addressed as it is likely that if they aren’t hanging
around there, they will just move on to somewhere else and cause problems.
·
It was agreed to discuss at the next meeting with a
Community Safety are present.
|
·
FF to contact City Dressing.
·
FF to raise issue at RMBC Town Centres Steering Group.
|
7.
|
Time & Date of Next Meeting
It
was agreed to change the time of the next meeting to during the day to try
and accommodate more businesses.
The
Town Team agreed to meet at 11am on
Thursday 12 December at Morrisons, Heywood.
|
HEYWOOD TOWN TEAM
MEETING
Thursday 19
September, 5.45pm – 7.00pm
MORRISONS HEYWOOD
A G E N D A
ITEM
| |||
5.45pm
|
Minutes
of previous meeting & review of actions
|
Elaine
Simons
|
10mins
|
5.55pm
|
Town
Team Finances
|
Frances
Fielding
|
10mins
|
6.05pm
|
Action
Planning
|
All
|
30mins
|
6.35pm
|
Appointment
of Chair, Vice Chair & Treasurer
|
All
|
15mins
|
6.50pm
|
Any
Other Business
a).
Rochdale Business Awards 2013
b).
Small Business Saturday
|
Anthony
Jackson
Frances
Fielding
|
10mins
|
7.00pm
|
Time
& Date of Next Meeting
|
||
HEYWOOD INAUGURAL TOWN TEAM MEETING
Wednesday 28 August, 5.45pm – 7.00pm
Morrisons, Heywood
MINUTES OF M E E T I N G
Attendees:
|
Elaine Simons (Chair), Deborah Storah – Boots, Joanne Lutkevich – Morrisons, Mike Goldrick,
John Kennedy & Graeme Bowden-Witts – Heywood Business Group, John Carney
– Heywood Together Trust, Justin Ashton – The Heywood Pub, Cllr Ray Dutton –
RMBC, Sue Coates – Community Rep, Gary Smith – Heywood Leisure Centre.
|
Apologies:
|
Jim Dobbin MP, Helen Fearon – BOSE, Sandra Hobin
– Barclays, Sonia Vitali – Dunnes, Anthony Jackson – RMBC, Stuart Hay –
Heywood Township, Julian Jefferson – Link4Life, Lisa Gray – Heywood Advertiser
|
In Attendance:
|
Frances Fielding (Minutes) – RMBC , Susan Ayres -
RMBC
|
No.
|
ITEM
|
ACTIONS
|
1.
|
Introduction to the Town Team
Elaine Simons (ES) welcomed all in attendance to
the inaugural meeting of the Heywood Town Team and thanked Morrisons for
hosing the meeting.
Recap on the Town Team process:
·
Over 30 applications
received from individuals wanting to join the Heywood Town Team.
·
Met with everybody on a
1-1 basis and also visited businesses in the town to make them aware of the
initiative.
·
Met with Lisa Durkin –
North West Town Teams Advisor who helped review all the applications and
select members as follows:
5 x Retailers (2 x indies)
1 x Finance &
Professional service
1 x Heywood Business Group
1 x Heywood Together Trust
1 x Licenced / Night Time
Economy
1 x RMBC
1 x Community Sector
1 x Youth Sector
·
Members of the Town Team
were selected because of their excellent knowledge, communication skills and
relationships with key stakeholders.
·
It is important not to lose
the support from individuals who were not awarded a seat on the Town Team and
meetings will be held with the wider group every 6 months to update on
progress to give everybody the opportunity to feedback and have their voices
heard.
·
The appointment of the
Chair & Vice Chair will be conducted at the next meeting.
|
|
2.
|
Terms of Reference
·
Frances Fielding (FF) presented the draft
terms of reference which were approved by the Town Team.
·
Cllr Ray Dutton asked for clarification on the
Town Centre Boundaries and to incorporate this into the Terms of Reference.
·
Members also agreed to appoint Malik Baig of
Subway to the Town Team to represent the fast food sector which is currently
not represented.
|
·
FF to clarify town centre boundary for next meeting.
·
FF to invite Malik Baig to join the Heywood Town Team.
|
3.
|
Ideas &
Action Planning
The
Town Team discussed ideas they would like to see incorporated into a 12 month
Action Plan:
Christmas Lights
·
Mike Goldrick requested £900 to contribute towards
external lights to be branch wrapped around 5 x trees in the Memorial
Gardens.
·
£4,000 funds have already been sought by the Heywood
Business Group but the total cost per tree is £1,600.
·
The £900 Town Team funds could enable 3 x trees to be
illuminated.
·
The Town Team agreed to incorporate this into the
Action Plan and agree funding allocations at the next meeting.
Improve Grot
Spots
·
The Town Team identified several grot spots they
would like to see improving including the area between Morrisons & Mike
Goldrick Blinds, the area between memorial Gardens & TOPS.
·
It was agreed to priorities the Grot Spots and review
these.
Safety
·
A number of people round the table commented on
feeling unsafe leaving their business premises at night time and whether
improvements to lighting, car parking, anti-social behaviour can be improved.
Empty Shops
·
Targeted support package to attract new businesses
into empty shops.
·
FF confirmed that RMBC are currently working with the
RDA to produce a Retail Prospectus for Heywood town centre which promotes the
town and identifies vacant premises.
·
There was agreement that there is a lack of coffee
shops in the town centre and the Prospectus could be used to try and attract
a Starbucks or Costa Coffee for example into the town.
·
There was also a discussion on offering business rates
grants to new businesses moving into the town.
Young People’s
Offer
·
It was agreed that problems with anti-social
behaviour are because there is nothing for young people to do in the town
centre. Ideas to improve the young persons offer included: Stake Park, BMX track,
Sasperella Bar, Ice Cream Parlour.
·
The site of the Old Township Office could be used for
a Skate Park / BMX track.
Pheonix Centre
·
It was felt the Pheonix Centre is not being used to
its full potential and could be used as a venue for youth clubs, events,
drop-ins etc.
Performance Space
·
There is no performance / events space currently in the
town centre.
Music Festival
·
Could be organised in Queens Park as an annual event.
Incredible Edible
/ Heywood In Bloom
·
Work with Heywood in Bloom to support an Incredible
Edible project. There were mixed views on whether this would work in the town
centre.
|
·
FF to develop draft Action Plan for next meeting.
·
Bring Heywood Prospectus to next meeting.
|
4.
|
Any Other Business
Heywood Charities Fate
·
Will be taking place on
Sunday 01 September, Queens Park, Heywood.
Benefit Night – for the Family of Lee Rigby
·
Being held on Friday 15th
November, 7.30pm at the Ratcliffe Bar, Rochdale.
·
Tickets are £6 each and
are on sale on www.ticketline.co.uk
|
|
5.
|
Time & Date of Next Meeting
Thursday 19 September, 5.45pm – 7.00pm,
Morrisons, Heywood.
|
Wednesday 28 August
2013, 5.45pm – 7.00pm
Morrisons, Heywood
A G E N D A
ITEM
|
|||
5.45pm
|
Introduction
to the Town Team
Welcome
& Overview of the Town Team & introductions
|
Elaine
Simons (Chair)
|
30mins
|
6.15pm
|
Terms
of Reference
Present
draft Terms of Reference & agree vision & priorities
|
Frances
Fielding
|
15mins
|
6.30pm
|
Ideas
& Action Planning
All
to discuss ideas and development of 12 month Action Plan
|
All
|
30mins
|
7.00pm
|
Close
Time & Date of Next Meeting
Thursday 19 September, 5.45pm –
7.00pm, venue to be confirmed.
|
||
HEYWOOD TOWN TEAM
Membership
Name
|
Sector / Business
|
Category
|
Jim Dobbin
|
MP for Heywood
|
Honorary Member (non-voting)
|
Deborah Storah
|
Boots
|
National Retailer
|
Sonia Vitali
|
Dunnes
|
National Retailer
|
Peter Matthews
|
Morrisons
|
National Retailer
|
Mike Goldrick
|
Mike Goldrick Blinds
|
Independent Retailer
|
Helen Fearon
|
BOSE / RMBC Business Services
|
Independent Retailer / Business
|
Sandra Hobin
|
Barclays Bank
|
Financial & Professional Service
|
John Kennedy / Graham Bowden
|
Heywood Business Group Rep
|
Heywood Business Group
|
John Carney
|
Heywood Together Trust Rep
|
Heywood Together Trust
|
Justin Ashton
|
The Heywood Pub
|
Licence Trade / Night Time Economy
|
Cllr Ray Dutton / Cllr Carol Wardle
|
Rochdale Council
|
Rochdale Council
|
Sue Coates
|
Community Rep
|
Community Sector
|
Gary Smith
|
Link4Life
|
Leisure / Youth
|
INAUGRUAL TOWN TEAM MEETING
A G E N D A
ITEM
| |||
5.45pm
|
Introduction
to the Town Team
Welcome
& Overview of the Town Team & introductions
|
Elaine
Simons (Chair)
|
30mins
|
6.15pm
|
Terms
of Reference
Present
draft Terms of Reference & agree vision & priorities
|
Frances
Fielding
|
30mins
|
6.45pm
|
Appointment
of Chair & Vice Chair
Nominations
& Ballot Vote
|
All
|
15mins
|
7.00pm
|
Agree
Time & Date of Next Meeting
Provisional date:
Thursday 19 September, 5.45pm – 7.00pm,
venue to be confirmed.
|
||
HEYWOOD 1940'S WEEKEND
SATURDAY 29 & SUNDAY 30 JUNE 2013
For more information visit the Facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/Heywood1940sDay?fref=ts
Rochdale
Borough High Street
HEYWOOD TOWN CENTRE MEETING
Wednesday 05 June, The Phoenix Centre, 5.45pm – 7.00pm
NOTES OF M E E T I N G
No.
|
ITEM
|
ACTIONS
|
1.
|
Welcome
· Peter Rowlinson - Planning & Regulation Service Director, RMBC
welcomed all in attendance.
· The purpose of the meeting is to progress with developing a Town Team
for Heywood Town Centre.
|
|
2.
|
Heywood Town Centre Health Check
Elaine Simons gave a Powerpoint presentation on the health of Heywood
Town Centre.
The full report is available to download: http://www.rochdale.gov.uk/PDF/2011-04-15_LDF_Retail_Study_Final_Dec_2010.pdf
Key findings were:
·
There are 141 retail business units in Heywood
Town Centre (as per findings of above report published Dec 2010) made up as
follows:
o
Food convenience (13)
o
Household durables / clothing (49)
o
Services (22)
o
Finance & professional (23)
o
Eating / drinking establishments (15)
o
Vacant (15)
o
Other (4)
·
Low level high street multiples
·
High level independent retailers
·
Low level occupancy turnover
|
|
3.
|
Update from
Heywood Business Group
Alison
Bamford – Chair of the Heywood Business Group gave an update on their last
meeting:
·
The Heywood Together Trust approached the Heywood
Business Group with the idea to merge and also incorporate the status of
being the Heywood Town Team.
·
Although both groups have similar aims and
objectives, the Heywood Together Trust is a registered Charity and the
constitution of the Heywood Business Group is to promote Heywood businesses.
·
It was decided by both groups not to merge but to
continue to work together to promote the vitality of Heywood Town Centre.
·
The Heywood Business Group considered the option of
becoming the Town Team but felt that their primary role was to deliver events
and therefore do not want to become the Town Team but will support this new
group.
·
Both groups were happy for a Heywood Town Team to be
formed and will provide a supporting role.
|
|
3.
|
Forming the
Heywood Town Team
Frances
Fielding gave an update on progress since the last meeting.
·
At the last meeting, members of the Heywood Business
Group & Heywood Together Trust asked for the Town Team plans to be put on
hold until both groups had the opportunity to discuss in more detail.
·
Therefore there has been limited progress with
establishing the Heywood Town Team, but now that it has been agreed to
develop this, FF will begin work on this immediately.
·
Initial meetings have taken place with Boots, Mike
Goldrick Blinds, Tilly’s Tea Rooms and Heywood Township.
·
Further meetings will be held with local businesses
and stakeholders to develop support for the Heywood Town Team.
FF
gave a quick overview of the background to Town Teams:
·
The directive to form Town Teams has come from
Central Government following their response to the Portas Review and support
has been made available nationally to support Town Teams through the
Association for Towns & City Centre Management (ATCM).
·
Town Teams will be business led and will have
a primary purpose to support the vitality and viability of the town centr.e
·
Over the past 12 months a lot of work has
taken place to form a Town Team in Rochdale and develop and implement a
short-medium term Action Plan to improve Rochdale town Centre.
·
Rochdale Council are now rolling out this
process in Heywood & Middleton.
·
An initial budget of £25K will be allocated to
the Heywood Town Team and support will be available through Rochdale Council
and Link4Life.
·
Rochdale Council will act as the Accountable
Body for the Town Team funding.
·
The Town Team will be responsible to form and
implement a short-medium term Action Plan for Heywood Town Centre.
·
Once membership is agreed, the Town Team will
meet on a 6-weekly basis.
·
Quarterly meetings of the High Street
Foundation will be held in Heywood to engage with wider groups, individuals
& businesses to update on progress and give people the opportunity to put
forward their ideas / issues.
Peter
Rowlinson presented a draft Town Centre Boundary:
·
It was agreed to extend the boundary to Pilsworth
Road, Fox Street and stop at Tesco Express on Rochdale Road.
·
PR agreed to amend the boundary and bring back to
next meeting.
Peter
Rowlinson presented a proposed Town Team Membership:
·
Mike Goldrick – Goldrick Blinds
·
Melaine Caffrey – Tilly’s Tearoom
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Debbie Storah – Boots
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John Kennedy – Heywood Business Group
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Graham Witts Bowden – Community Rep
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Gary Smith – Heywood Leisure Centre Manager, Link4Life
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Stuart Hay – Heywood Township Manager, RMBC
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Justin Ashton – The Heywood Pub
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Heywood Together Trust
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Savage Legal Firm
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Bank
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Times Retail Park Unit Tenant
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Susan Coates – TOPS / Magic Markets
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Cartwheel Arts / Heywood Arts
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Councillor Ray Dutton /
Councillor Carol Wardle
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PR to amend Town Centre Boundary Map.
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4.
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Open Forum
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There was a lot of
discussion on the membership of the Town Team but the minimum make up should
be 70% town centre business representation and 30% community.
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Other potential members
suggested were BOSE, Harry Mills and Heywood in Bloom.
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The expression of interest
to join the Heywood Town Team will be circulated and should be completed and
returned to Frances Fielding as soon as possible.
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It will be critical to get
the right make up of skills / individuals on the Town Team to ensure this is
not a talking shop and that action can be taken.
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FF to circulate Expressions of Interest to join the Heywood Town Team.
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5.
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Any Other Business
None.
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6.
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Time & Date of Next Meeting
To be confirmed.
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Heywood Veterans Parade - Sunday 26 May, 10am onwards
The town of Heywood is preparing for a day of special events on Sunday 26 May as the borough celebrates the bravery of local solider, Lance Corporal Stephen Shaw M.C who will become a Freeman of the Borough during a ceremony at the Civic Centre starting at 10am.
That will be followed at 11.15am by the unveiling of a street sign in his honour in the town centre – with a section of Church Street being renamed Lance Corporal Stephen Shaw M.C Way.
A Veterans Parade will then depart from the Heywood Public House at 1pm.
The Parade which will feature veterans Aden Yorkshire, Manchester, Korea, Borneo, Cyprus, Northern Ireland, seven Royal British Legion Branches together with Cadets and a Pipes and Drums Band, organised by The Lancashire Veterans Association.
After taking in the Memorial Gardens the parade will return to Heywood Public House and conclude with a concert from 3pm.
Stephen, who was awarded a Military Cross earlier this year, is being honoured for his heroic actions while injured on the front line in Afghanistan. Despite being shot, he returned fire and gave directions to his commander before entering the killing area to the aid of four of his wounded colleagues.
Freedom of the Borough is the highest honour we can bestow, and Council Leader Colin Lambert said Stephen is a true hero:
“The whole borough is exceptionally proud of Stephen, and where better to have this special day than in his home town of Heywood with his family. We have a lot planned and I am sure it is going to be a very moving day. I really hope people will come out onto the streets to show their support.”
Rochdale Council were one of the first council’s in the country to sign the Armed Forces Community Convenant last November, aimed at encouraging local communities to support services that promote and encourage activities that help integrate Armed Forces personnel back into civilian life. It also encourages authorities to work more closely to support those in service and their families, ensuring there is no disadvantage associated with serving in the Armed Forces.
Councillor Alan McCarthy, Heywood Township Cahir and Lead Member for the Armed Forces added: “The military is really important to our community, and we’ve pledged to support them in every way we can. I hope this special day will be one to remember for a very long time.”
HEYWOOD TOWN TEAM MEETING
No.
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ITEM
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ACTIONS
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1.
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Welcome
Peter Rowlinson - Planning & Regulation Service Director, RMBC
welcomed all in attendance.
The purpose of the meeting is to provide an overview of Town Teams – what they are, how they work and how to explore the process of setting up a Town Team for Heywood. |
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2.
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Vision, Aims &
Objectives for Heywood Town Team
Debbie O’Brien – Rochdale Town Centre Manager & Chair
of the NW Association for Towns & City Centre Management (ATCM) delivered
a presentation on the Town Teams process Rochdale has been through over the
last 12 months:
Government recommendation, following the Portas Review to establish Town Teams in order to provide a visionary, strategic and operational management for town centres. Rochdale Town Centre Management Company is a not for profit organisation that has been operating for 20 years and rather than re-invent the wheel –the Board has temporarily taken on the role as “Town Team” for Rochdale. The Board is made up of a partnership of key stake holders who share the same aspiration – to improve the vitality and viability of Rochdale town centre – and work effectively together to achieve this vision. Membership is a mixture of public / private sector partners including; Marks & Spencer, Boots, River Island, the Rochdale Observer, RMBC, Transport for Greater Manchester, evening venues, independent retailers, and the Wheatsheaf and Exchange shopping centres. Through consultation with over 200 members of the Rochdale Borough High Street Foundation, an Action Plan has been developed to deliver a range of short – medium term priorities to improve Rochdale town centre. The key to a successful Town Team is having the right people around the table without conflicting interests, people with a shared vision – to improve the vitality of Heywood Town Centre, being realistic in terms of delivery and effective communications.
Questions:
Heywood already have a very active business group – why do we
need to re-invent the wheel?
It was
agreed that we do not need to re-invent the wheel and can utilise the Heywood
Business Group.
The idea
of formalising the Heywood Business Group will also help apply for future
funding and agree a set of objectives and targets.
What actions have been successful in Rochdale Town Centre?
Feel Good Festival has helped support the night
time economy and improve the reputation of Rochdale town centre.
The
Rochdale Emporium brought a disused space back to life and offers a social
enterprise café and starter units for new retail businesses.
Things
that haven’t cost a great deal of money which have been very successful have
been simple things like Independent Shopping Crawls done at Christmas &
Easter, whereby a map / crawl guide of the independent shops has been
produced and shoppers have to visit each shop to obtain a stamp. The Crawls
have been targeted at Children, awarding a free gift e.g. chocolate egg to
children handing in a completed Crawl.
There
is support and ideas available from the ATCM via their 100ways to improve the
high street website: www.100ways.org.uk
and also the Independent Retail Champion – Claire Raynor who supports
independents and provides virtual support online: www.retailchampion.co.uk
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3.
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Town Team
Structure
Elaine
Simons – Town Teams Advisor, gave an overview of forming a Town Team:
Comments:
Who will decide
who is on the Heywood Town Team?
The
decision will lie with those of you who want to form the Town Team.
There
was some concern over having to complete Expressions of Interest to join the Town
Team and lack of trust between the Council and Heywood.
It
was agreed that the right people to drive forward the Town Team concept are
members within the Heywood Business Group and Together Trust and they will
meet separately to discuss with their members how they would like to
progress.
Rochdale
Council offered to send a representative to attend the next meeting of the
Business Group / Together Trust if required.
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Heywood Business Group /
Heywood Together Trust to discuss Town Team structure at their next meeting.
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4.
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Progress Update
Frances Fielding – Economic Affairs, RMBC gave an
update on Heywood Town Centre Progress:
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5.
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Summary
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6.
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Time & Date of Next Meeting
Wednesday 05 June, 5.30pm – 7.00pm, venue to be confirmed.
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