Well....it was quite terrifying in places!
Traders association were there in force understandably but I was pleasantly surprised to see a few other groups represented.
Main points going forward were to investigate the commercial entities that contribute money, much like the Lancaster way cycle path and what Sainsburys are doing, there was a bloke there who drives the Norfolk Green buses and was representing the Market Towns association who seemed to know alot about channelling funds generated through businesses great and small; money that could be used to improve facilities and pretty the place up.
There was a big winging session about the lack of signs for tourists and that visitors can't find Oliver Cromwell's house or the railway station, lots of winging about generally how badly things inside and outside Ely seem to guide visitors to Ely.
The position with the older members seemed to revolve around people not picking up their litter, businesses not keeping the centre tidy.
When I approached the subject of making the centre car free, pedestrianising the high street and putting in more cycle parking I got screamed at (for all intents and purposes) by one of the traders association who said and I paraphrase 'I'm not going through this again, we've had this for 2 years, my shop closed down when because it was on a street that got pedestrianised, don't talk to me about parking' I said I wasn't interested in talking about parking more about making the centre habitable for people to use other forms of transport and the chair said despite agreeing with me that he thought the high street should be pedestrianised, we will leave it there before it reaches fisticuffs.
I did manage to get in that the council are already planning the 20mph zone, there's talk of a one way system and that we as a forum should keep up to date with their plans and consult and feed back to them - the role of transport has a pivotal role in the enlivening the centre plan.
One thing the traders and everyone, me included agreed on was that the business rates in Ely were far too high and there were too many charity shops as a result (they get it much cheaper). The powers that be ought to investigate into initiatives to increase and encourage the independent traders. Some mentioned pop up stalls too. The traders association have been given the task of asking all the local shops to feed back what works and doesn't work for them (I'm surprised it hasn't already been done).
There was a bit of talk about how crap and under used the market square was and that needs enlivening, not turning into a carpark.
While I was chatting after someone pulled the 'cyclists don't do themselves any favours disobeying the rules, running lights and wizzing about on pavements' card. I am learning not to rise to this. I did say, I don't and lets not get started on how bad some drivers are. The guy then went on to say there were heaps of stands at wisbeach depot and the cloisters land owners are the reason there are no bike parking by waitrose. There was agreement (outside the traders) that paid parking would be good because the 2 hour free parking window limits the amount of time people stay in the centre and where they visit - Forehill gets bad foot fall because people don't stray too far from their cars. In theory, if they pay, they will stay as long as they need to, or leave their car and come in by other means.
The bloke who owns the waitrose car park and building was really lovely and said he'd put in cycle parking under cover, between the trolleys and the cash point. Was he serious? we shall see I suppose? Next meeting I'll ask...
I handed the chair a small folder with a bit I'd written just including the advantages of cyclists as consumers and strategies both cheap and short term and more long term on how to go about changing habits. It also had a print out of the wikipedia definition of utility cycling which is very enlightening and had lots of useful facts relating to town centres and prosperity linked to utility cycling. How much attention it will get, who knows. I'm not holding my breath.
The star attraction was the Ely App, which will be an app downloadable from new planned free wifi hotspots in the centre of Ely. It will guide tourists, provide joined up information about products, services, attractions, what's on, when and why. It could replace the Ely papers!
I will attend all the meetings and follow this up to it's conclusion.
No comments:
Post a Comment