It was a general feeling with the planning issues a personal crusade was being undertaken using Lymm as a trial model.

This certainly seems to be the case as these schemes are first being implemented in Lymm. 

The excuse it is a borough wide initiative doesn't really hold water as in reality this is just not happening.

I also find the threats of a £2,000 per day fine for continuing to display A boards distasteful and probably not enforceable anyway.

I drove through Grappenhall, Latchford, Stockton Heath and the outskirts of Warrington town centre last week and counted 60 A boards on display, the one pictured below laughingly in all its glory directly opposite the Town Hall!

Along with the issue of A boards and illegal signage livelihoods appear to be being compromised due to someone’s personal agenda or crusade. If an individual wants to crusade, do so towards the enforced architectural improvement of Barclays Bank and the Shopping centre buildings, these are the real eyesores of the village, how did these receive planning consent? .

If you haven’t already paid this month’s advertising contribution of a poultry £30 then send your cheques immediately to Mark Harrison, Harrisons Business Supplies and Post Office who is Lymm Traders Treasurer, and make them payable to Lymm Traders.

August edition of Lymm Life will be out soon and we will be collecting again, it is for the Village Traders benefit as a whole.

Philip

Lymm Life has come up with a bargain package to compliment our campaign to re-ignite Lymm village trade. Gary’s proposal is outlined below.

A brief synopsis, 

Lymm Life would produce a four page centre supplement, part funded by existing advertising and part funded by the Traders group to put out the message regarding the new car parking situation.

Page one would be based on the shopping made easier poster - but enhanced with full colour and additional design work.

Centre spread would be like May Queen centre spread but with a feature on the new car parking surrounded by individual traders adverts who have decided to support the feature.

Page four would be based on news/offers write ups e.t.c from those businesses who have contributed to the fighting fund. 100-150 word count and image if available.

These would have to be with us by the weekend to make our August edition. Lymm Life would print an additional 1,000 copies making a total print run of 6,000. 4,000 would be hand delivered to homes in the outlying areas of the village and all the "new builds" of recent years with 2,000 being distributed from our usual outlets, providing saturation coverage.

This could be done for just £500 plus VAT from the fighting fund. It may make sense to bill a VAT reg business so that element can be claimed back with the said business taking the £500 value from the fighting fund.

We could then consider replicating the feature in our Stockton Heath, Warrington, Culcheth editions over the coming months to provide wider coverage.

I would seek additional funding from our existing advertisers to help cover the additional expense and I would also make an approach to the Parish/borough councils to see if they could make a financial contribution to back the village.

The aim would be to keep the cost to the fighting fund down to £500 per magazine - providing excellent value - as a four page supplement would normally cost at least £1,000 in our village editions and £1,500 in the Warrington edition which has a much bigger print run.

I have agreed to go ahead with the above as it is a superb offer, the majority of the initial £500 would be for the door to door distribution alone. We would then continue the campaign over the following three month period appearing in the Stockton Heath, Warrington and Culcheth issues, obviously these would not be distributed door to door, but would target a much wider demographic.

This campaign would last until November issue giving an excellent opportunity to raise customer awareness before the crucial Christmas trading period. Now the painful bit, money! Because of the superb offer Lymm Life have come up with we initially will be looking for a contribution of £30 from each business to go into the 'pot', and then £30 for each of the following 2 months. For the last month we will see what is left in the fighting fund and then collect the balance required to cover the final issue.

The more businesses that contribute the less it will cost us all. We are only looking at £7.50 per week per business for 4 months. It is then up to each individual business to decide whether to run an additional advert to promote their specific outlet. 

I am really pleased the initial impact the Shoppers Car Park has had, but with this campaign we should see an increase in footfall resulting in an increase in traffic using the parking facility. If we could monitor Pepper Street, occasionally have a walk round and let me know if it reaches saturation point, I will be doing the same, then we can keep the Parish council informed. Hopefully the short stay will prevent the facility from becoming 'car bound'. 

Finally could you let Gary at Lymm Life have any interesting facts or unique selling points about your business that may be included within his editorial (not guaranteed as space will be at a premium) email him at garys@warrington-worldwide.co.uk before Sunday.

We will be calling round next week to collect the fighting fund. This has all been possible because Lymm Traders are working together. 

Regards

Philip

Hi All

We are starting to get some great publicity, word is slowly getting round about the parking situation and pay and display. Early indications suggest the Shoppers car park is working pretty well, a lot of positive customer comments.

At the moment it appears to be a little underused, this will change as shoppers get used to the fact they can come into the village and actually park!

Some of the publicity we are receiving ,

Movin Magazine feature on Lymm, including a section on Lymm Traders Read issue 3 online now featuring Lymm .

Warrington guardian story highlighting the introduction of pay and display Warrington Guardian.

Warrington worldwide story here Warrington Worldwide .

We must push on with this publicity, the group advertising we have discussed is essential, I am at present in discussion with three potential partners for the production of a professional maildrop. It is essential this is delivered door to door so we reach the NILNESH (new in lymm never ever shop here), we need to drag them in as well as inform the lost customers we are now a convenient shopping location. I have informed all advertising parties we will be organising this as a group under the Lymm Traders banner to ensure we get maximum discount for a larger spend. Could I request any available advertising funds are directed to this group initiative for the next couple of months to ensure we receive maximum exposure. I also hope to have a couple of free features running in various publications based on financial incentives.

Finally at the next Parish council meeting the area manager for Spar will be attending.

Regards

Philip

As we were promised Pay and Display went live this morning.

8.30a.m. Only one car parked on Pepper Street, he was just collecting a ticket, he thought it was wonderful as he has seldom been able to park there before, even at this time of the morning.

Henry Street, two thirds full.

Davies Way, 15% of spaces taken.

Can we all monitor the situation and let me have feedback to pass on to the Parish Council re the effect on trade, customer comments etc.

I am waiting for costings for the advertising push, will try to speed it up.

Not heard anything from Spar as yet. 

Just to prove it, the very first ticket from machine 2, an historic moment! 

Last Monday we had an emergency meeting to discuss the implementation of some marketing measures to ensure we fully take advantage of the opportunities the introduction of Pay and Display will hopefully present to us.

The attendance was superb, the input totally positive and the meeting was particularly fruitful with a pretty comprehensive strategy being decided. The direction of the advertising will be decided in the next few weeks as soon as we have had all the quotes in and have a ballpark figure for the contribution required from each business.

Minutes for the June meeting can be found here.

The next meeting will take place again in the upstairs room of the Spread Eagle (thanks to Pauline and Dave) on Wednesday 29th July 2009 prospective Agenda Here.

Spar supermarket woes have had a dramatic effect on footfall in the village centre, just as we seem to be tackling the parking problem another problem rears its head. The Parish Council are attempting to address the problem and I have also sent a letter outlining our concerns and offering customer feedback and inviting Spar to join the Lymm Traders group. Letter here.

My contacts do tell me though that Spar are aware of the problems, it is being dealt with at director level and if my information is correct there are moves afoot to change from Spar to EuroSpar which is their version of a supermarket, good news if correct, this is all from a very knowledgeable source.

Not sure how this will be greeted, but we shall see.

I feel very positive about the way things are going, my thanks to all.

Philip

ps Parish council minutes for June Here.

Hi All,

It is imperative that ALL retailers come along to the Spread Eagle, upstairs room at 6pm, next Monday 22nd June 2009 to thrash out a battle plan to win back the lost Lymm shoppers.

As you should all know by now Pay and Display will go ‘live’ Monday July 6th 2009 we must use this initiative to promote Lymm as a convenient, attractive, friendly and vibrant shopping experience.

We need to introduce promotions, advertising, involve the media and come up with an unforgettable tag line.

To enable this to happen we will all need to ‘chip’ in to create a fighting fund, we are not talking fortunes, but in the short term this should easily pay for itself as long as we get it right FIRST time, that’s why we ALL need to be part of the ‘think tank’.

This was emailed to me from Hilary, food for thought -

Now you come up with some ideas!

Put your ideas on the forum please click here

It has been difficult getting everybody to work together, now is the time for Lymm Traders to actually take the initiative and push all our businesses forward as one. Everybody will benefit so everybody should become involved.

See you all next Monday.

Regards

Philip

My Blogs are like buses, nothing for a month then two come along at once!

The final Pay and Display update (hopefully!)

[quote]

Dear all

Hopefully final update!

The pay & display machines are being installed on Thursday 2nd July along with all the associated signage. I have arranged to have the machines switched on Friday 3rd (they will be bagged over) with the intention of going live Monday 6th July 2009.

The signage around the village is on order and will be amended around the same time to guide people to Davies Way, Henry Street and to Pepper Street pay & display.

[/quote]

This should be a firm date, do we need a meeting to discuss the details of publicity, advertising and general drum beating, please respond by email or here.

Phil

As we all know the supermarket demise appears to be affecting footfall within the village, to try to effect some change we have attempted to contact the Spar area manager, as of yet we haven't had any response.

However I have just been informed that Peter Dodding, Retail Manager, James Hall Company will be going to the next Parish Council meeting to speak about the Spar Shop in Lymm. That should be interesting.

May Parish Council Minutes Here 

I will try to blog more when my little office refurb is completed! .

Philip

(Next Meeting Agenda here )

Since the last meeting we have seen several things happening in Lymm, some changes that should have been for the better, but as it turned out it was ‘better the devil you know’ in some instances.

I wrote to the Parish about several items that were of a concern, and I must say as usual they tried to be helpful, but in many areas they could not assist.

These were the main areas of concern (my questions highlighted) –

·         The Gas Mains / Road closure from the Grove to Pepper Street

Why is this about to begin at this time of year and in the present economic climate without any discussion with the people it will affect the most. Unless this is an absolute emergency this should be delayed until January 2010, only nine months away, when trade traditionally goes quiet. Is it possible for the council to intervene, although it is very short notice, but we only heard about it last week.

 “Our Highways department has been pressed very hard by Parish and Borough Councillors over the dissatisfaction over the timing, the impact and the repetitiveness of road works. We have already made representations over the Village Centre gas works but have been told that the Council does not have the power to force the works to be delayed. Unfortunately when the Utilities were privatised, they were protected by a range of laws and given a range of powers which seem to work to their advantage and not that of the communities they operate in. We are still in discussions with our Highways department, but it is very unlikely that the works can be delayed.”

As we are aware the above degenerated into a total farce, the works starting, then stopping due to the wrong pipework being shown on the plans and the lack of availability of replacement sett’s. We were informed by Jim Turton of Warrington Borough Council that a good supply of Sett’s were to be kept in stock for these type of eventualities, and indeed the workmen who started this total ‘cock-up’ were informed there were several pallets available.

However when they tried to source them nobody knew where they were.This is an email forwarded to myself originally sent from WBC –

“Dear All

As you are aware the Gas Boards works to renew the gas main at The Cross,Lymm were due to start on Monday this week.
It had been agreed beforehand that they would insert a new main inside the existing 12" with a launch and reception pit at either end, with the only other excavations being those to pick up the individual service connections to the properties. These works were planned to be carried out under two way lights, although a traffic order was in place to close this section of carriageway if required as a safety measure.However, after carrying out an initial excavation in the carriageway yesterday they discovered that their existing main is in fact only 10" and not the 12" as shown on their records. They are unable to downsize the main to insert in the 10" and will now need to opencut a new trench under a new road closure planned for later in the year.”

I will be writing to the Parish again and also Enterprise who were responsible for the implementation of this project requesting any works be delayed until January 2010 which is traditionally a quieter trading period.

What a comical farce this project degenerated into, bearing this in mind, I would like to quote the letterhead which accompanied the outline of the proposed works –“National Grid – The power of action” yes, very droll.

·         Spar Supermarket.

The Spar that has opened in the village is causing much consternation among customers. It does not provide the very basics required to attract trade, is not competitive and if it continues in its present form it will drive shoppers OUT of the village not attract much needed additional trade.The following rumours abound and I would like to correct my fellow traders ‘information’ or at least find out the truth of the matter – 

“.I have heard comments that locals would much prefer a Tesco Express or a Sainsbury Local. Rumour has it that Tesco’s bid for it but “they” (the council?) would not allow it, also that the Spar is on a short lease & Tesco may take over. I have no concrete facts, sorry, would it be worth asking the council what is really happening. A good supermarket is vital to bring people into the village in the first place.”

"Concerning SPAR, we can understand your concern. Unfortunately, neither the Parish Council nor the Borough Council can control who trades where. Planning control only extends to the nature of the use of premises. The Office of Fair Trading, a central government agency, regulates competition between supermarkets, and they may have intervened to prevent the Coop from getting a third store in Lymm. The Council would have had no say in who manages the store. However you may want to contact the Warrington Customer Contact Centre on 443322 and ask to speak to someone in Trading Standards to see if they know anything else about the way the competition laws might have been applied. I am almost certain it had nothing to do with either Council."

The above outlines the problems that have been created by this change of store, and also how the Parish had no say on the matter. I personally never felt Somerfield did a particularly stunning job, they were not competitive, with a very annoying pricing structure with the Stockton Heath store carrying the same brands considerably cheaper, and was pleased when the Co-op took over, but now after seeing the dire consequence of the enforced change to Spar I have to admit it was definitely ‘Better the Devil you know’.

Not sure what we can do about Spar, perhaps something for the next agenda?, however perhaps it will start to sink in with them how poorly this store has been received, with the reduction in customers, and also the new nickname being used by the locals –

They now call it SPARCE !

·         Vandalism

The vandalism within the village centre is escalating again. At present it is mainly items being thrown into the Dingle river next to the Bakery but as it is getting worse it will grow into broken windows and violence. PCSO’s need to be within the village centre at pub closing times, as it is drunken youths who are the problem.

I would also request a letter from the council asking for stricter control within the premises, i.e. not continuing serving people when they are already totally inebriated, and some form of preventative action taken to make the couple of premises who fail to restrict these individuals alcohol intake adhere to stricter controls.

"Unfortunately almost none of these are matters over which the Parish Council has any control, except that we do get regular briefings from the PCSOs and can ask for the PCSOs to be deployed as you suggest. However there is no reason why the traders’ group shouldn’t approach the South Warrington Neighbourhood Policing Unit directly, Inspector Sarah Edgar is in charge and you can contact them directly by email at: warrington.south.cat@cheshire.pnn.police.uk or by phone on 0845 6372. I will forward your comments to her. They also work with Warrington Borough Council’s licensing department to deal with complaints about licensed premises. It is an offence to serve someone who is already drunk in a pub, and this should be enforced. If you let the Police know they will know what their arrangements are."

However after the Parish contacting the above this email was received from a Police representative

“ Many thanks for your info. We do try to spend as much time in the village centre as possible, however we have to spread ourselves thinly, especially now the lighter evenings are upon us, checking the parks, High school grounds, cricket club etc (all these have experienced vandalism). Unfortunately, the youth element seems to take the brunt of the blame, when it is usually adults that have had too much to drink that are responsible.

Can you pass on the importance of calling us if anybody sees anything - 0845 458 0000 or 999 if there is threat to life or property.”

The above does little to give me confidence, it just proves how thinly the Police resources are spread. I firmly believe we need to take our own preventative measures to stop both vandalism and theft increasing due to lack of Police presence.Twice last week individuals attempted to force entry into our premises, the alarm system warning us.I have now organised CCTV to be installed externally, recording 24/7 the close proximity of our premises, I will then be able to help the Police secure convictions of the unruly or criminal fraternity.I would encourage all businesses to do the same, it is not frighteningly expensive, we would then have a network coverage making the village centre an unattractive option for the individuals we have mentioned.

If you need any information or help on the above then give me a ring on 01925 753669.

As you can see from the above, quite a bit has gone on since we last met, next Monday 11^th May is the next meeting, 6pm Upstairs room, Spread Eagle.

Please be there if you can.

Philip

Next Traders Meeting