Getting a little off topic guys - bringing it back to the original thread I thought I'd update you all on the response to your ideas so far:
Free Parking
Research still ongoing. We have agreement in principle from a number of traders to honour a 'Car Parking Fee Rebate Scheme' but the machines in the car parks only print a single tickets. Therefore, we are currently researching options and examining how the scheme could be administered.
Watch this space for more information shortly.
Also, why not some kind of central information board at the foot of Market Street, housing a map of Marple District Centre with all the shops named or numbered (our own version of what larger shopping centres, eg. The Trafford Centre have), and highlighting Memorial Park and the route up Church Lane to the canal? I know Marple isn't that big, but it might be useful for those new to the area or who don't want to walk up and down the dead-ends of Derby Way, etc. to see what's actually here. Perhaps it could have advertising space for local businesses, to fund the installation and upkeep?
For years Cycle Stockport has been trying to get Stockport MBC to provide an information board at the Rosehill end of the Middlewood Way for visitors to be shown where the cafes are and local places of interest. Unfortunately Stockport MBC is only interested in publicising itself. I would hope the Business Forum would consider putting an information board at Rosehill as at present anyone arriving there and not knowing the area have nothing to encourage them to explore further and making use of the cafes etc in the area. For those unaware of what interest there is in cycle routes you should know that the recent opening up of the tunnel on the Monsal Trail has resulted in a huge increase in usage. The Middlewood Way could bring in many more visitors to Marple if advertised properly.
It turns out a lot of research on this was done about a year ago but it was never progressed - I'm not sure why! I've just got my hands on the information and am currently digesting it. I'm hoping to be in a position to take a fully-costed proposal to the next MBF business meeting.
Have you tried asking independent shops to deliver? I think that you would be pleasantly surprised at the number in Marple who will do this, especially as you have a health problem. Most of those that I know don't charge from the service as they work it in with their usual journeys home or when pcking up stock.
I haven't thought of asking them to be honest but if they do that and could advertise it would be great as not everyone is confident enough to ask and many disabilities are not obvious and people may be worried about disclosing them. If a list of shops who would deliver is avaliable in future it would be great.
This one we've progressed very quickly and we've expanded it a bit from just which businesses deliver! Shortly a new section of the MBF website will be published. The new section will includes details on which members offer different services. The services that will be detailed are: Home Delivery, Evening Appointments, Home Consultations and Customer Accounts.
People will then be able to see exactly which members offer which service. I'll let you know when it goes live.
A few other comments / ideas that were e-mailed to me that you might like to know about are:
State of District Centre - It was commented that there are a large amount of weeds and general untidyness (is that a word?) in the District Centre, alleyways and car parks. We agree! So the MBF are organising a Task Day where members will come together and give the District Centre a full 'spring clean'.
Late Night Opening - We are currently exploring options to run a trial Late Night Opening period to test response and success. Clearly, this would only work if a enough of the businesses agree to participate. Negotiations ongoing.
