Congleton Partnership meets residents and celebrates a year of success

A large group of over 60 residents and guests attended the 2011 AGM of the Congleton Partnership on September 6th in Congleton Town Hall.

Special guests were His Worship the Borough Mayor Councillor Roger West and Congleton Town Mayor Councillor David Martin as well as officers from Cheshire East and representatives from many voluntary organisations.

Highlights of the evening were keynote speakers Mike Doran, MD of Plus Dane and Steve Purham, CEO & Founder of his London based company we7.

 

Beartown Apprenticeship scheme

Mr Doran took the opportunity to introduce the ground breaking Beartown Apprenticeship Scheme. In these difficult economic times the scheme is a positive move to get young people into training to increase their skills and employability with local businesses.

He explained: “The scheme intends to harness the energy, skills and enthusiasm of local business, schools and other agencies with involvement from Cheshire East, the Job Centre, schools and the Cheshire East Chamber.”

 

The future of Congleton

Steve Purdham, a resident of Congleton although working in London, gave a stimulating and challenging address about what he saw as the future of Congleton. He concentrated the importance of a good quality of life as an attraction for future investors - and most of all for the wider community. He concluded by stressing that Congleton has to believe in itself and encourage the all important entrepreneurial spirit which will ensure a vibrant future. His enthusiasm spilt over into the end of the meeting when everyone was asked enthusiastically to repeated his mantra ‘I believe in Congleton’.  

Chairs of the different sub groups of the Partnership gave well received reviews of the achievements of the year:

 

Sustainability group

Peter Aston, chair of the Sustainability Group, focused on the theme of being a transition town with all that implied – producing a town-wide Carbon Reduction Plan, encouraging local food growing, extending the number of cycleways, producing Congleton Apple juice, organising the 16 strong eco school network, developing apple orchards and hopefully building a hydro micro generation scheme on the River Dane in 2012.

 

Business support group

John Beadmore, retiring chair of the Business Support Group, was presented with an engraved pen to mark his skilled contribution to forwarding the prosperity of the town. He emphasised the importance of the Partnership’s role in mounting with partners the very successful business expo in May which was aimed at putting Congleton on the map as a desirable location for new businesses and retailing opportunities. A significant move had been the creation of a Legacy group, born of the expo, which would continue its work. An important achievement had been the development of an excellent relationship with MMU which had involved students carrying out a survey of small to medium sized businesses.

 

Marketing

Dawn Gibbins, co- chair of the Marketing Group with Paul Bates, enthusiastically described the impact of the community based arts project – Bearmania – on drawing thousands of extra visitors into the town over the summer, supporting local shops and cafes. She stressed the impact of marketing through the lively mybeartown .com website and the use of media in general such as many articles in newspapers and TV and radio appearances to promote the town. Exciting ventures are pending, such as a children’s book, a speciality Congleton  bottled water and innovative events, all designed to put Congleton on the map in both the North West and nationally.

 

Finance & strategy

In the absence of Brain Hogan, the chair of the Finance & Strategy Group, Mike Smith the co-ordinator of the Partnership explained the Partnership’s contribution to the Public Realm Strategy, which aims to give a much needed uplift to the town centre, improvements to the Radnor Trading estate and the work being undertaken to forward the completion of Phase 3 of the River Dane Cycleway. The members had been heavily involved as a consultative body with the shaping of the Local development Framework.

 

Round up

Margaret Williamson, chair of the Partnership, drew the evening to a close by thanking all those who have made a contribution during the year. She quoted the words of a new young volunteer, “It’s fun and I have met so many interesting people –  I had no idea so much was going on’. She made the point that in financial terms resident voluntary contribution through their skills and experience in real terms had added many thousands worth of value-added money to Congleton . She thanked the Town Council, Cheshire East, The Inclosure and William Dean trusts for their financial support, which made the Partnership able to continue. Mike Smith the co-ordinator received a special thankyou for his sterling work in servicing all the groups.

 

Looking to the future she said, ‘ Congleton is rather like a giant community jigsaw – Some of the pieces are, of course, the statutory bodies together with many long established voluntary organisations - but the Partnership  is trying to add some of the missing pieces  to bring greater cohesion and inclusiveness, enrichment and enhancement to the town. The Partnership welcomes the new Localism Bill as a vehicle for unlocking the potential of settlements by providing residents with a platform to help make a difference, contributing their skills and experience in a very positive complementary way alongside existing statutory bodies. Working together will make Congleton more vibrant, sustainable and prosperous and simply the best of  places  to visit and to live and  work in’.

 

Any residents who feel that they have skills and experience to offer the Congleton Partnership are most welcome. Just contact the co-ordinator Mike Smith on ms@congletontowncouncil.co.uk   01260 270350.

 

Contact person Margaret Williamson 01260 274738.