Penzance BID Ballot Result

The ballot for the Penzance BID was successful with 77% of votes being in favour of the establishment of a BID and 23% against.   There were 224 votes cast representing 56% of the 'electorate'.  There were 5 spoilt/incomplete ballot papers.

The votes in favour of the BID represented 71% of the rateable value of those that voted.

The result is an unambiguous endorsement of the Penzance BID proposal.

Chamber AGM - tomorrow 19 Mar 2015

The Chamber AGM tales place tomorrow, Thursday 19th March in the Queens Hotel.  Tea and coffeee will be available from 6.30 p.m and the meeting will start at 7.00 p.m.  

Marcus Wilkinson will be starting the evening with a brief on the Penzance BID and the next steps assuming a successful ballot outcome on 27 Mar.

Nominations for Chair of the Chamber (read below)....

BID Ballot Update

If you are a business within the proposed Penzance BID and have already voted in the BID ballot then thank you.

If you have not yet voted then a further 7 days remains assuming a last posting day of Tue 24 Mar (ballot closes on Thu 26th Mar at 5.00 pm).

A couple of issues have arisen during the ballot and are addressed below:

Chamber AGM - Thursday 19th at 7.00 pm - Queens Hotel

 

 

The Chamber of Commerce AGM takes place at the Queens Hotel, Promenade, Penzance at 7.00 pm on Thursday 19 March.  Tea and coffee is available on arrival from 6.30 pm.

Marcus Wilkinson, Chair of the BID Steering Group, will give an update on progress with the BID and the next steps taking it forward assuming a successful ballot result (due 27 March).  

Follow the link here for the agenda and nominations for the Committee.

The deadline has nominations for Chair, Vice Chair and Membership Sec/Treasurer has been extended until 18^th March!  

(Link corrected 22.45 on 14 Mar)

Penzance BID proposal goes to the Vote

 

The Penzance BID postal ballot is underway. Ballot papers were posted to businesses last Thursday and the deadline for return is 5 pm on 26 March with the announcement due on 27 March.

Businesses are voting whether to say 'yes' to a BID levy of 2% of their rateable value (not rates payable) for 5 years to fund a range of projects laid out in the BID Business Plan (download here). If the result is 'yes' then the Penzance BID is due to start with a BID manager in place on or about 1 June 2015.

Churchill Retirement Living downsize Wharf Road Development

Churchill Retirement Living are downsizing their private sheltered housing development on the Old Gas Work site on Wharf Road, Penzance.  Originally comprising 60 flats plus 4 commercial units, the recently submitted planning application (PA14/12065)  proposes to reduce the scheme to 51 flats and 4 commercial unit.  Technical issues with the original 5 storey design (it is now 4 storey) and optimization of the development to reflect current demand are the reasons given for the change. One advantage of the revised design for Penzance residents is that the lower roof line is aethetically more pleasing and less overpowering than the original (link to photo montage download) .

The Old Gas Work site has been vacant and contributing nothing to the local economy (or the aesthetics of Penzance Harbour) for decades.  A private sheltered housing complex with comercial units on the ground floor was not considered by many locally to be the optimal use of the site but after decades of neglect there was acceptance that the Churchill Retirement Living proposal was better than the alternative (another decade or more of neglect).

Committee Meeting on Tue 6 Jan 2014

The next Committee Meeting of the Chamber takes place on Tue 6 Jan at 5.45 pm at The Workbox, Pz360 (Penlowath House).   The meeting is an open meeting and any member is welcome to attend.
The agenda can be found here .  The minutes of the previous meetings can be found here (14 Oct) and here (13 Nov).

Note: Broken link to 'agenda' has been fixed  3 Dec.