Toilets on Marple Rec to become a Barber Shop!

[amazon]

The Rec may need its Friends Group but there doesn't seem to be any interest from those who should be its Friends. Plenty of complaining about "Them" but no-one seems to want to get involved in standing up to "Them".

That's normall .

[My login is Henrietta]

Re the practical side of the application - would the toilet building have room for a barber's shop given that there needs to be a waiting area as well as a "cutting" area or does the application involve demolishing the existing building and rebuilding on the site?

There would also be parking issues.

[My login is Henrietta]

. Looks like the Rec needs that Friends Group desperately!

The Rec may need its Friends Group but there doesn't seem to be any interest from those who should be its Friends. Plenty of complaining about "Them" but no-one seems to want to get involved in standing up to "Them".

[barndoor]

I'd be hesitant about going in and asking for 'a number 2 all over'.

[simonesaffron]

Dave,

Thinking that Councillors run the Council is a bit like thinking that MP's run the country. They might invent the laws but they don't implement them and they don't interpret them.

You can hold them responsible as much as you want to and call it 'democracy' as often as you wish too but you are just theorizing and holding somebody responsible that in reality has played no part in the actual decision is just self - delusion .   

As for not telling people that drastic cuts are upon us. It seems to me that Councillors do nothing else but give out this message. Every time I open a newspaper or tune into telly/radio there always seems to be some Councillor giving forth about government cuts to local authorities. In fact their "honesty" is becoming tedious.

[Dave]

As for the Councillors, they are the political arm of the Council they don't manage the operation. It won't be the Councillors who decided that the park apparatus should be dismantled.

Sorry, but that won't wash.  The councillors may not directly 'manage the operation', but they are responsible for what the council does.  It's called 'democracy!'  

Its also worth noting that this Council have massively increased the toilet provision across the town by getting retailer, pubs etc to open their toilets to none customers as much safer and cleaner alternative to old Victorian urinals.  

I wouldn't mind if our councillors were honest and simply said 'We're sorry we've had to close the public toilets.  We know it's a very sad day when such basic amenities are removed.  But we've got no choice, as the government has cut our funding so drastically'.  

But they don't, they insult our intelligence by trying to pretend it's a good thing, for heaven's sake!  So you get the party line, as issued above by wheels.  Now maybe this works in some places: if there happens to be a pub or cafe nearby, and it happens to be open, then they may allow you to use the loo.  But all too often, there isn't.  Take Mellor rec, for example, where parents have always liked to take their kids after school.  The loo there is closed, and when I raised this with a councillor, he airily said 'it's OK, you can use the toilets at the Devonshire' - but you can't, because it's closed!

The public domain matters.  Parks, libraries, playgrounds, public toilets, they are all important, and we should not allow politicians to suggest otherwise.  If we allow them to go, I fear they will go for good, and we'll never get them back!  

[simonesaffron]

A dirty scruffy urinal that was constantly vandalised when it was open, costing the council taxpayer thousands in repair bills. Now a boarded up disused dirty building falling into dilapidation.  Proposal an on going business that will clean the place up, provide a service to the community and put money in the economy - what's the problem? We should be supporting it not condemning it.

As for 100 year old covenants, nobody that was involved in their implementation is alive to today. So who cares about them, not me. They should all be reviewed anyway.

As for the Councillors, they are the political arm of the Council they don't manage the operation. It won't be the Councillors who decided that the park apparatus should be dismantled. If it had have been they would have done it 3 weeks after the election not 3 weeks before it. 

As the man says vote them out if you don't want them. See if what we get is any better although somehow I doubt that it would be.

I've no love for Councillors wholesale. In fact the whole local government process is ignoble and  needs a complete root and branch reform both at officer and politician level. However,  the one thing that we've established over the years on this website is that Councillors definitely don't post on it, they probably don't even read it either. So criticising them on here is cowardly and is an easy mark especially when we're hiding behind false names to do it and especially when many of the posters obviously have a complete ignorance of how the Council actually operates . 
   

[Dave]

A better place for public toilets would be near to public buildings (like the library or main shopping area).

Well yes, but if/when the swings etc are reinstated (and we should not give up on that), then having the public toilet there as well would make sense.  And last time I looked the toilets near the library were still open - the only public loo in Marple!   

[hollins]

It's currently a derelict building. Someone proposes to use it and tidy it up. What on earth is the problem with that? It is hardly going to attract 1000 cars an hour after all! It is probably more useful to the people of Marple than some of the rather optimistic start-ups on Market Street or Stockport Road.

There is plenty of other building on "covenanted" land ... Marple Band's extended premises on the Memorial Park, football clubhouse in Brabyns Park: none of these cause any explosion of wrath in Marple. They seem - like this - to be perfectly reasonable. I may be wrong but I believe I once read that the original covenants for either the Memorial Park or Brabyns Park strictly forbade ball games; goodness knows what they would have made of skate parks.

I don't condone the council closing lots of public toilets or removing children's play apparatus (although I don't seriously believe the climbing frame and swings dated from 1910). However, you have plenty of chance to vote these councillors out in a week's time. A better place for public toilets would be near to public buildings (like the library or main shopping area).

[Dave]

Yes, quite a surprising turn of events!

On the one hand, I have to confess to a sneaking admiration to this Mr Grantham, the 'demon barber' of Hyde, who is obviously an imaginative and enterprising guy! 

However, I'm with Winefred on this.  We need to do everything we can, especially at local election time, to remind our dear councillors (who only want to talk about potholes, it seems) that we strongly object to the closure of public amenities such as toilets and childrens' play equipment, and that they should be reinstated as soon as finances allow.  If the public loo at the rec becomes a barbers shop, that makes it even less likely that it will ever be a public loo again, obviously.

[Winefred]

Marple Recreation field was given to the people of Marple by Walter Hodgkinson and the laying out of the children's play area, with swings etc, was paid for by Thomas Carver. The opening ceremony was on the 8th October 1910. There have always been public toilets as part of the facilities on the Rec. The present toilets, (closed!) for which a change of use to Barbers shop has been applied for, (!) replace the original toilets. I have always understood that the gift given by Walter Hodgkinson was given under covenant to protect the Rec. (and its facilities) for recreational use only and not for commercial use but I have been unable to verify this.

 I understand that Stockport MBC Planning department say they know nothing about the existance of a covenant presumably because they want to get rid of their closed public toilet and want to sell/rent the building for commercial use. Its the thin end of the wedge. If this planning application for change of use to barbers shop succeeds it will leave the door wide open for other retail development on the Rec. A chip shop or a betting shop could replace the barbers shop. There is an area of Marple for retail development and a number of vacant shop premises that may well be suitable for use as a Barbers shop. If you want tourists to come to Marple you need public toilets!    

Precedents from the past.  A small area of the Rec at the apex where Arkwright Road and Strines Road meet was given later by another land owner and is not protected by this covenant. In the 1960's a planning application to build a Scouts HQ on this apex was refused by Marple UDC after a vigorious campaign by local residents. In the 1990's (I think) a temporary use by contractors undertaking replacement of sewers on Stockport Road to use the greater part of the Rec. given by Walter Hodgkinson for storage of materials, pipes and equipment was refused by Stockport MBC, after action by local resident, on the grounds that the Rec. was protected by a covenant. In 2011 the apex of the Rec not protected by a covenant was used by contractors repairing walls on Strines Road.

If you care about Marple make your views known about this proposed change of use.
Stockport Planning Applications planning ref. 055217

Marple Rec. is not what it used to be. Last week without prior consultation Stockport MBC destroyed the remaining swings on the children's play area that Thomas Carver paid for 104 years ago.

      

[NeilCorrie]

Would you believe there are plans afoot to turn the toilets on Marple Recreation ground into a Barber Shop? No, I didn't either but here they are:
http://planning.stockport.gov.uk/PlanningData/AcolNetCGI.gov?ACTION=UNWRAP&RIPNAME=Root.PgeResultDetail&TheSystemkey=120677
Marple Memorial Park has covenants on it preventing the buildings being used for commercial purposes. The Rec was given to the community around the same time and may or may not have similar ones. Those who wish to object to this are advised to seek details of the covenants from Stockport Council. It may need a FOI request if they are not forthcoming. Looks like the Rec needs that Friends Group desperately!
Then again, perhaps some will think it's a good idea?

What an odd change of use.  Almost as many barber shops as estate agents in Marple these days.  FOI submitted, nothing ventured, nothing gained, etc.

Thanks for spotting and highlighting this, admin.

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/covenants_on_marple_rec/new

[admin]

Would you believe there are plans afoot to turn the toilets on Marple Recreation ground into a Barber Shop? No, I didn't either but here they are:

http://planning.stockport.gov.uk/PlanningData/AcolNetCGI.gov?ACTION=UNWRAP&RIPNAME=Root.PgeResultDetail&TheSystemkey=120677

Marple Memorial Park has covenants on it preventing the buildings being used for commercial purposes. The Rec was given to the community around the same time and may or may not have similar ones. Those who wish to object to this are advised to seek details of the covenants from Stockport Council. It may need a FOI request if they are not forthcoming. Looks like the Rec needs that Friends Group desperately!

Then again, perhaps some will think it's a good idea?