Treetops Press Release

[Miss Marple]

It has benefited  property developers to be allowed to get into that state !!!! Remember the Bowling Green and its mysterious fire ?  Oh yes and the Jolly Sailor's mysterious fire when neighbours saw adults running away when it was a blaze   If the Jolly Sailor had not set on fire then it could not have been demolished as it had a colony of bats residing there, but before the halt to the demolishment of the pub got the go ahead due to the resident bats, it too had a fire    Glad I don't live near Glengarth  but there again its near to the fire station 

[Marp]

Surely glengarth would benefit by being used rather than its current state. if it was changed this must benefit the local community?

[marveld]

The building has just gone on sale again via Edward Mellor. Price on application.

[tonyjones]

The house known as 'Glengarth', 64 Station Road, was probably built around 1900as were two other similar houses, 1897 & 1904.
It was owned and used by Mencap who submitted a planning application around 2005 to SMBC which was turned down.

It was bought in 2008 by a married couple who live in Marple, and as far as I know he is not a builder.

Perhaps Mark could merge this with the 'Treetops' topic ! (Done - Admin)

[RWW]

Self correction. The back end isn't concrete. It's red brick too. Just functional and not very exciting

[RWW]

This is something i've been thinking about recently so i'm just wondering what the other good folk of Marple think. I'm not pretending to know all the details. I do know however that Glengarth has been boarded up for some time.

I'm sure most know but for those who don't Glengarth is a late Victorian house on Station Road on the corner of Hollins Green and opposite the junction of Manor Hill Road. It was extended at the back some time in the 60s/70s at a guess to function as a multi purpose facility. This included a special needs club and a toddlers playgroup which I attended once upon a time. All of these facilities have now shut down and the building lies uninhabited with some windows boarded up and others which have been smashed.

I understand it is owned by a building contractor. Building contractors have a habit of buying old buildings then letting them go derilect, declaring them dangerous and then knocking them down. I can well imagine this happening to Glengarth as it did to the house on the opposite side of Hollins Green some ten years ago. The flats along side it aren't offensive. They have done a fair job of blending them in with the style of the houses either side unlike the monstrous lego flats where Norbury Smithy once stood.

SO do we care? Its one of Marple's surviving Victorian buildings. There are others similar houses on the same stretch. I could be wrong but I don't think its listed. The back end is pretty grotty. Function 60s/70s concrete. I don't really mind what happens to that bit.

Should it be saved?

[Kate Scott]

Regarding the press, the story is supposed to be in the Stockport Express today.

[Kate Scott]

Hi All
Thanks for interest. I am a member of the Treetops Parents' Action Group.
Unfortunately the St Pauls venue is not possible due to the fact that the area being offered to Treetops is in the basement. There is no possibility to install toilets in the basement and Treetops would therefore have to share the ground floor toilets with other users of the church hall. Child safety laws will not allow the shared use of toilets with anybody who is not CRB checked.
We investigated the shared use of the pavillion at Marple Memorial Park with the band very early on in our investigations. Unfortunately the room was not big enough and the sound proofing of it for the purposes of the band meant that it would have no natural light for the purposes of the preschool. I did not visit it myself but other members of the Action Group did and it was considered unsuitable.
We are meeting council officers at the alternative Goyt Mill premises this afternoon to persuade them that their access objections are overcome by this alternative unit.
We have a team of tradesmen parents of current Treetops children who are all ready to go if we can get the premises!
Thanks
Kate Scott

[Lisa Oldham]

IK agree too.. if any sort of politician says dont do that it wont do you any good... do the opposite! THey just mean it wont do THEM any good!
still a few days left to make some noise.. ring the newspapers and radio stations...

[alan@marple]

I agree with your opinion

[Jo Scarlett]

Having seen the initial budget for the rebuild of Rose Hill Primary School, estimated cost £7.2m, approx £4.5m was from central government funding (PCIP) the rest was to be made up from the monies raised from the sale of peacefield and the dale sites.  So I'm guessing there isn't any spare money from this pot of money for Treetops?  I understand that the council are considering peacefield as some allotment plots? 

As far as SMBC go, I would not believe a word they say and that they have their own agenda and don't wont anybody/anything to get in there way -- hence no press -- my opinion.

[Miss Marple]

The question needs to be asked as to why some of the money the authority will make from the sale of the peacefield school site can not be use to fund Tree Tops.  Once again this was a question I asked at the first meeting but it was dismissed by the two councillors but they did say that there  would possibly be some money from that sale.  So why is it not being put back into education rather than into the councils coffers and why was my suggestion to invite Vicky Packman (education SMBC) to meet informally with the parents dismissed completely out of hand by the two councillors present.  I smell a seventeen windows here  but that's just MY OPINION 

[admin]

Has anyone investigated to opportunity to do something with Marple's Bands, who have recently recieved planning permission to extend and upgrade the park keeper's cottage in Memorial Park to a band practice room? The bands will only be using it at evenings and weekends and it could probably be used for a nursery or similar during the daytime.

[Miss Marple]

What happened with St Paul's offer of their old school room  I am sure that we could ask local tradesmen to offer their labour at a very reduced rate to enable a much needed local resource to continue in the area, near I might add to Ludworth its feeder school.

[Miss Marple]

I was present at a meeting at Tree Tops and could not understand why the parents were convinced by the two councillors who they had invited to attend  that it would be a good idea not to continue to meet as a group of concerned parents ? but felt it would be better to just invite one parent to his home to discuss the matter further.  I was shocked and questioned their  reason's  behind not using the power of the group to bring about action.  I suggested various tactics and solutions but both councillors appeared not to want to listen to any suggestion that would highlight the loss of such a local resource and a once lovely building.  The parents were also told by the councillors that it would not benefit their cause to go to the local press that it would do more harm than good    I came away from the meeting feeling that the parents had been given all the wrong information and it is MY OPINION  that to have suggested the parents did not highlight the plight of Tree Tops to the press or local interested parents has allowed time for some form of planning application to go through smoothly.  I am not suggesting that the councillors did this knowingly but an opportunity in MY OPINION was lost on that first night the parents got together at Tree Tops as a motivated, concerned group of parents.  I feel that if the parents had not invited the councillors that night and had continued as a group of parents to feel the injustice and nonsense in allowing this resource to close they would have in MY OPINION had a very different outcome than the one they have now been left with, having been convinced that their way was not really the right way.