Midgley Village

These items are posted by registered users.

COMMUNITY CONSULTATION MEETING - 1st JULY

CONSULTATION MEETING AT MIDGLEY SCHOOL - TUESDAY 1St JULY
The Midgley Community Forum public meeting went ahead as planned with over 50 people present. The object of the meeting was to consult with members of the community, gain support for the Co-op proposal, answer any questions, and discuss any concerns. After the introduction by the chairman, other members of the forum first gave brief summaries about the Shop and the various activities that the forum undertakes.
It was emphasised strongly that everyone in the community is a member of the Forum. Everything undertaken by the Forum, which is the entity that runs community events, and by Midgley Matters Ltd (the legal body which owns the shop), is for the benefit of the community. Nothing is done to make a profit for individuals. In fact the rules of the Industrial & Provident Society, under which Midgley Matters is governed and regulated by the FSA, expressly forbid profits to be distributed or payments made to members. Profits must be ploughed back into the community.
The main reasons for wanting to purchase the Old Coop were summarised as :
Notice of termination of the lease on the Old Barn has been given so new premises are needed to allow the Shop and forum activities to continue. The previous plan for a new build has been withdrawn because it caused serious divisions within the community. The Co-op, fortuitously, is now vacant, and for sale, and has all the space needed on the ground floor to accommodate the shop/PO and a community room. Additionally it has a first floor flat which will help funding, either by renting or selling to repay loans. It is expected that the purchase will be funded by a combination of grants, fundraising and community loans.
The meeting was then thrown open for questions.

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS :
Q1. What proportion of the total spend will be raised from fundraising and from grants ?
We will have about £30,000 in cash. It is difficult to know how much we might get from different grant bodies until we apply, but we may have to provide about £75,000 from our own resources.
Q2. Yorkshire Forward have recently published details of retail grants for communities. Are we pursuing these ? Yes, we should fit the criteria for this scheme very well.
Q3. How do we know vendor will wait till we raise funds ? We have proposed entering into an "option to buy" which would give us up to 6 months to raise funds
Q4. With prices going down the purchase price should be lower. We have not yet discussed price, but the market is going down
Q5. I live behind the Co-op. The objections to the new build apply just as much to the Co-op. There are no facilities for parking in front, and it is on a bad bend. Traffic is heavy and there is too much traffic noise already. Delivery vans can't use the archway because it is too narrow and they won't be able to open their doors. My main concern though is noise from the community room. What about children's parties? There is also a smell which penetrates. Parking in Midgley is a general problem. However there are very few deliveries and they are small vans. Many customers walk to the shop and we don't believe that the shop will add significantly to traffic or parking problems that exist now. We are confident that noise nuisance can be avoided and we would be engage specialists to advise us on this, and what preventative actions need to be put in place.
Q6. I have lived for 40 years in Midgley. There was a private party recently in the Co-op which spilled out into the road causing a great deal of noise and nuisance. Unfortunately this may be colouring peoples views about the Co-op proposal though it had nothing to do with the forum. I think the idea is a brilliant idea. It was originally built as a community retail shop and it will be great to see it restored to that. I've never seen the road congested near the Old Barn and the people (in the shop) are fabulous and interesting. The forum will presumably have controls to stop the sort of things that went on (at the party? This will be a facility for the community, owned by the community and run by the community. It cannot succeed if there is regular disturbance to neighbours. We would want to involve a representative of the immediate neighbours in the running of the Community Room to deal with any problems that arise.
Q7. What about car doors opening and shutting at night? This happens at the Old barn.
Because there are almost no parking facilities directly outside the Co-op, parking will be distributed, minimising disturbance. Since it will only be members of the community or their guests at events, it should be entirely possible to ask people to leave quietly and have respect for neighbours.
Q8. Do we know the numbers of users of shop and how many are car users ?
We know that most walk to the shop, but we don't have accurate figures. We will get these.
Q9. Some people in the community have never been involved (with the forum). Some people don't bother. We want to take the opportunity in relocating to a new home to involve more of the community, particularly the elderly and children. Several people have made positive suggestions along these lines.
Q10. Parking up the gravel track will cause a lot of noise. Is it possible to pave ? Couldn't there be a crossing or traffic calming measures near shop ? The offer we have is only for informal parking of 1 or 2 cars at the field entrance. We don't think this should cause a problem. Highways are unlikely to allow a crossing near the Co-op because of the bend but we will investigate whether there are traffic calming measures that can be put in place to ease the current difficulties.
Q11. Why does the forum need a community room to organise events. We used to have events before (the forum) and we never had a room. Having a room that we know we can use for events without having to pay hire costs and being able to retain drinks profits makes it a lot easier to both plan events and run them.

OTHER POINTS MADE BY INDIVIDUALS WERE :-
There have been no justified complaints of noise from the near neighbours to the Old Barn in 5 years, neither from the other part of the building nor from the bungalow opposite. In fact I have a letter to this effect. I am offering parking places in my drive for events, but I can almost guarantee they won't be used. Parking is not really needed. Most people walk to the shop and events - there are very few cars used.
I live only a few yards away from the Old Barn and when it first was proposed, like you, I was worried that there would be a lot of noise and cars parked outside my house at all times of the day and night. It never happened. There is no noise and I never see parked cars.
SUPPORT LEAFLETS
Leaflets were distributed to all attendees to asking whether they approved, disapproved or were neutral concerning the project, and whether they were prepared in principle, to support it financially, either with donations or loans. A count of the leaflets afterwards showed 48 in support of the proposal and 2 against. 24 people expressed willingness to give financial support.
These leaflets will be in the shop for the next week to allow people who were not at the meeting to express their views. We are sending out the mandate form to all households, as well as inviting people to fill one in at the shop. Volunteers will visit to collect from people who have not filled one in. Completion of these forms is important to us to establish whether we have an overall community mandate
05-Jul-2008 15:59:59 by renard

MIDGLEY OPEN GARDENS

Midgley Open Gardens & Studios Weekend


On behalf of Midgley Community Forum, I would like to thank everyone who made the recent open gardens & studios weekend such a tremendous success. The week-end was thoroughly enjoyed by over 500 visitors who appreciated the variety of gardens and all the hard work put in by the villagers who opened their gardens and studios, made lunches and teas, manned stalls and organised the event. It was also an enjoyable weekend for all those who took part! We raised a record-breaking £3020, which will go towards our community room, shop and post office. Thank you everyone!

Elaine Davies, Midgley Road.
26-Jun-2008 11:07:17 by renard