Warning message from MIA

[Dave]

You may know, Mrs O, but Lisa didn't, obviously. 

[sooty2]

Dave,Thanks for the above prospective running order as if we don't know >:(And yes MIA are in it for the long haul.

[Dave]

There has been no discussion at all about the potential upheaval of students over the next few years. Where they are going to put them whilst the college is being rebuilt,

Things will probably happen in something like this order:

1.  The college will agree a sale to a supermarket, conditional on planning consent being granted.
2.  If planning consent is granted, the deal will be finalised.  The college will then, for the first time, know what it can afford to do at Buxton Lane.
3.  The college will now commission architects' plans for a new development at Buxton Lane, and (following pre-planning discussions with planning officers) it will apply for planning consent for that.
4.  If/when planning consent for Buxton Lane is secured, the new development on that site will be constructed.
5.  When that is finished, all activity from Hibbert Lane will be moved across to Buxton Lane, and Hibbert Lane will be handed over to its new owner.
6.  Asda/Tesco (or whoever it is) will then build at Hibbert lane, and a suitable celeb (Craig Cash? Andrew Stunnell? Miss Marple  ) will cut the ribbon and declare it open.

In short, nothing will happen at Hibbert Lane until the college has moved into its redeveloped premises at Buxton Lane. Assuming at least one of the planning applications goes to appeal, my guess is that it will be 2015 at the earliest before we see a supermarket on Hibbert lane.  So I think MIA should settle in for the long haul - this is a marathon, not a sprint! 

[Lisa Oldham]

in the end successful education is about good teachers not super spec hi tech facilities.  Granted these things are to a degree required to educate to current expectations of jobs,career choices etc.. however they already have those facilities.. ie computers, networks etc.   Its amazing whats happening in the world without

I'v just been to visit Aquinas with my son. We've decided to go to Poynton if possible instead.  The college didnt feel able to offer my son the maths courses he required.. and he would have had to waste a year doing nothing, where as Poynton felt their timetabling could easily cope.  Aquinas have amazing facilities, Poynton currently have 3 mobiles stood on top of each other!!  ( though they also are building a new 6th form block next year)

Note we're not applying for Marple. There has been no discussion at all about the potential upheaval of students over the next few years. Where they are going to put them whilst the college is being rebuilt, what the college intend to do with the Buxton lane site ..so many questions... .all we know is they intend to sell it to a supermarket... Where is the consideration for our childrens education there? I consider it too big a risk to send him there

[jethroh65]

Jethroh, these are all valid issues, but it is not the job of college governors to deal with them. These are planning issues, and they are for the planning authorities to address. The governors' job is to do what is, in their view, in the best interests of the college. They do not exist in order to do the planners' job for them.

Yes but the college must have some consideration to what effect their actions are having on their "neighbours"and given how the college came to be on the site in the first place there must be some obligations on the college that they can not consider selling to a retail company.

Basically the college is trying to play catch up now with Aquinas & Stockport College who have modernised
their facilities by means of grants or other methods.
Now because CAMSFC as not been able obtain funds due to applying too late or because of the current financial climate, they are prepared to do whatever they can legally get away with to pay for the "improvements."

[Dave]

Jethroh, these are all valid issues, but it is not the job of college governors to deal with them. These are planning issues, and they are for the planning authorities to address. The governors' job is to do what is, in their view, in the best interests of the college. They do not exist in order to do the planners' job for them.

[jethroh65]

What concerns me is why CAMSFC are ploughing ahead regardless? 

Maybe they believe that cutting their running costs while modernising their facilities and improving them to the best possible standard for the benefit of their future students is the right thing to do? 

Yes Dave they college want to do exactly what you say!!!!

But they want to do it ................
 
Without any thoughts about residents local to the vicinity of Hibbert Lane or Buxton Lane,
Without any thoughts to the effect on local businesses,
without any thought to the increase in traffic that will occur.

In addition any successful planning will set a precedent for any future applications in Marple.

Say Asda/Tesco for example get planning for Hibbert Lane, what is to stop Asda/Tesco applying for planning for the Peacefield site, or if All Saints decides to sell their land for a new Aldi etc.

And obviously this will get the usual " NIMBY" comments, but there was no campaign for a new supermarket
prior to this proposal, so there is no desperate need for a supermarket, it is just be a proposal for a extra large "convenience" store that certain people have now jumped and the bandwagon with.

[Marplemum]

What concerns me is why CAMSFC are ploughing ahead regardless? 

Maybe they believe that cutting their running costs while modernising their facilities and improving them to the best possible standard for the benefit of their future students is the right thing to do? 

I couldn't agree more.  The future of our young people seems a bit lost in all this bickering.

[Dave]

What concerns me is why CAMSFC are ploughing ahead regardless? 

Maybe they believe that cutting their running costs while modernising their facilities and improving them to the best possible standard for the benefit of their future students is the right thing to do? 

[marpleexile]

This is all getting silly now. Direct action? Underground movements? Secret meetings in pubs? 

What I don't understand is why MIA is against a supermarket on the college site in particular - yet would be open to one in the "district centre" - There would be the same traffic, same number of customers, and half the college would probably close anyway.

Yes, but you sound much more reasonable if you're merely objecting to the location of the supermarket, and not it's very existence.

I don't want a supermarket in Marple, mainly because I don't think it would fit the area, and frankly just don't like the idea of it. However, I'm a realist, and unfortunately I think we're onto a loosing battle, as I think that very few (if any) of the objections will hold water when it comes to the planning process.

[HWL1973]

What I don't understand is why MIA is against a supermarket on the college site in particular - yet would be open to one in the "district centre" - There would be the same traffic, same number of customers, and half the college would probably close anyway.

I strongly agree.

This is part of a post on the thread 'A shop that does not open when I wish to shop might as well not be there'. It has been posted on numerous other threads and I am amazed people still do not 'get' the difference between a huge superstore outside the district centre and a reasonably sized store within it  

MIA believe that a reasonable sized supermarket within the retail zone will bring more shoppers into the heart of Marple and not draw them away, as a huge supermarket outside the retail zone would. A reasonable sized store would simply improve choice for local residents and not bring more shoppers from the surrounding areas so traffic would not increase on the scale that it would if there was a large, out of town type store.

A reasonably sized store is doublespeak for 'another convenience store' though isn't it? There is no room for anything else in the centre of the town.

[hollins]

But the trouble is Cpt, Chadwick Street could only offer a retail space which is smaller than the current Co-op store. Which is fine if say something like a M&S foodstore was interested in a shop on that land etc. But this isn't even remotely happening yet.. 

And in reality, out in the sticks is only about 150yds from the district centre, a district centre whose boundary has surely changed before.. when Hollins Mill then Aeroquip was knocked down and the Ridgedale Centre was built.?

(As a matter of interest. The CAMSFC boundary is roughly the same distance from Littlewood's as the length of Market Street)


Also, Articulated trucks have travelled along Hibbert Lane for years. I used to see them all the time at Goyt Mill. I don't remember them knocking down and rebuilding the baths each time..  

Some brilliant posts (and common sense - otherwise in short supply in this topic) from tricky.

Most large lorries would find Hibbert Lane considerably easier to navigate than Hollins Lane used by the Co-op's lorries, and certainly than any potential development on Chadwick Street.

The "retail centre" seems to be the same size as it was 100 years ago when the population of Marple was a fraction what it is now. Stockport's planners are completely inconsistent (there are plenty of shops in Marple outside the district centre - the two squabbling stores in Rose Hill being a prime example) and the head-in-the-sand planning policy for retail has been an unmitigated disaster (witness the national top-table position for empty shops held by Stockport town centre itself).

[amazon]

Please tell us who told you how much it costs to move school science labs Miss Marple.

The gentleman on the panel at wednesday's extraordinary area committee, who had extensive experience refurbishing science labs answered this pretty succinctly.  When SMBC upload the video on their site shortly, you'll be able to view the exchange Tricky, if you didn't manage to make it on wednesday.

And let's bear in mind that those science labs haven't been refurbished properly for years. Moving them to Buxton Lane and refurbishing, will probably cost about the same as refurbishing at Hibbert Lane.

To quote Tricky, please tell us who told you how much it costs to move+refurbish compared to refurbish Chicken Lady. 

  come on tell  use you seem to know .

[Belle Star]

What I don't understand is why MIA is against a supermarket on the college site in particular - yet would be open to one in the "district centre" - There would be the same traffic, same number of customers, and half the college would probably close anyway.

I strongly agree.

This is part of a post on the thread 'A shop that does not open when I wish to shop might as well not be there'. It has been posted on numerous other threads and I am amazed people still do not 'get' the difference between a huge superstore outside the district centre and a reasonably sized store within it  

MIA believe that a reasonable sized supermarket within the retail zone will bring more shoppers into the heart of Marple and not draw them away, as a huge supermarket outside the retail zone would. A reasonable sized store would simply improve choice for local residents and not bring more shoppers from the surrounding areas so traffic would not increase on the scale that it would if there was a large, out of town type store.

[Tricky]

I'm speaking for myself when I say this, and No-one else.
I'd be quite happy to see a new supermarket in the shopping district, which, lets face it, is better suited to having shops than some ("out in the sticks" <- figuratively speaking) Place that has a road that would not be suitable to cope with the increased volume of traffic.

But the trouble is Cpt, Chadwick Street could only offer a retail space which is smaller than the current Co-op store. Which is fine if say something like a M&S foodstore was interested in a shop on that land etc. But this isn't even remotely happening yet.. 

And in reality, out in the sticks is only about 150yds from the district centre, a district centre whose boundary has surely changed before.. when Hollins Mill then Aeroquip was knocked down and the Ridgedale Centre was built.?

(As a matter of interest. The CAMSFC boundary is roughly the same distance from Littlewood's as the length of Market Street)


Also, Articulated trucks have travelled along Hibbert Lane for years. I used to see them all the time at Goyt Mill. I don't remember them knocking down and rebuilding the baths each time..