Marple Civic Society Annual Social Evening

The Civic Society held its annual members evening on Thursday 10th October when members and friends listened to a fascinating talk about Marple Lime Kilns by Norman Redhead who is the Heritage Management Director, Greater Manchester Archaeological Advisory Service.

An archaeological investigation of the Lime Kilns is part of the £1.5m "Revealing Oldknow's Legacy Project" that will investigate the archaeology of Mellor Mill and improve access to, and stabilise, Marple aqueduct.  Norman explained that the project will concentrate on the the latter two sites but the proposed work on the Lime Kilns could lead to a more extensive project in the future. 

Preparatory work clearing vegetation, making an accurate photographic record and mapping the site with Ground Penetrating Radar has already been carried out.  Future work will include a "Community Dig" and the installation of interpretation boards.  It is envisaged that by the end of the project a "Friends" group will have been set up to help preserve and promote the Lime kilns.

At the end of the talk Fiona Turpin, Project Manager for the "Revealing Oldknow's Legacy" project gave a brief description of her role and took part in an informative question and answer session.

Civic Voice Calls for People Participation in the Planning Process

Civic Voice has appeared at fringe events at both the Labour and Conservative party conferences to publicise it’s commitment to increase public participation in the planning system.

Entitled “How can we give communities a greater say in the planning system” the events were an opportunity to tell the story of the movement, argue our case and seek to persuade members of every political party of the importance of our agenda and manifesto. 

The Civic Voice Manifesto calls on all political parties to commit to:

• Make improving the quality of the public realm in our cities, towns and villages a priority
• Give all citizens opportunities to actively shape the future of their place
• Give local communities the powers they need to enable their city, town and village centres to prosper.

A panel of leading figures in the field attended the meetings including:  Max Farrell of Farrell Consultants - author of the recent Farrell report, Justin Griggs - Head of Policy Development, National Association of Local Councils and, at the Labour Party fringe meeting, Roberta Blackman-Woods - shadow Planning Minister.

Marple Civic Society was represented at the Labour fringe meeting by Alan and Gillian Postill. Gillian told the meeting that Marple faced multiple challenges including 2 new supermarkets, a substantial housing development and a wholly unacceptable road traffic scheme adopted without consultation.

Gillian asked how we in Marple could persuade our council (in Stockport) to adopt the inclusive, multi-professional approach to modern placemaking recommended by Max Farrell and others on the panel.  

Panel members urged us to consider the adoption of a neighbourhood plan and/or a parish council for Marple if the current local politicians (councillors) and Stockport council are unwilling to adopt this approach.  

Speaker Meeting - Lime Kilns - talk about recent survey work and planned community dig

The society's annual social evening will take place this Thursday, 9th October 2014 at 7.30  in Marple Library.

The speaker for the evening is Norman Redhead, Heritage Management Director (Archaeology) Greater Manchester Archaeological Advisory Service (GMAAS)

Norman is well known for his work on archaeological projects and community digs throughout the borough including those in Marple and Mellor. He returns to Marple to lead the archaeological project at the Lime Kilns as part of the HLF funded 'Revealing Oldknow's Legacy' project.

Due to an unavoidable delay in the Oldknow project getting started, it hasn't been possible to carry out a community dig this summer as hoped. Nonetheless, English Heritage funded survey works and research have been completed leading to a better understanding of this Scheduled Monument. 

Do come along to find out more about the Lime Kilns which are now getting the attention they deserve after many years of being boarded up, out of sight and prey to the elements. 

Join us for a glass of wine and what promises to be an exciting presentation and congenial evening.

Venue : Marple Library - upstairs meeting room - lift available

         Date: Thursday 9th October 2014 - 7.30 - 9.30pm

All speaker meetings are open to members of the public and are free of charge  

bring your friends, neighbours and relatives - they will be most welcome.

Committee Meeting Minutes for 30th September 2014

Committee Meeting minutes for 30th September 2014 can be viewed here

Report on Marple Area Committee Meeting 24th September 2014

A report on the Marple Area Committee Meeting that took place on 24th September 2014 can be viewed here

Two matters are worthy of special note this month:

At the Area Committee Meeting of 12th March 2014 Cllr Candler, then Chair of the Area Committee, gave an undertaking that there would be a progress report on the proposed foodstore development on Chadwick Street at every Area Committee Meeting. The undertaking followed pressure from many quarters including the Civic Society who felt that the council's sacking of Kirkland as the preferred developer for Chadwick Street would lead to delay if not abandonment of the project.  Our worst fears seem to be coming to pass.  Rumours abound but hard information from the council is difficult to obtain.  Is it too much to ask that our elected representatives level with us and let us know what is happening?

The other matter of note is that a planning application for the garage site at the Church Lane end of Marple Wharf came up for consideration.  A planning consent was given in 2004 for three houses.  The developer now feels that he needs to build five houses to make the project viable and has sbmitted a planning application to change the design to the anonymous block of five houses pictured below.

This is the development that Cllrs Alexander, Candler and Abell
could not make a decision on!

The Civic Society strongly opposed the application on the grounds of overdevelopment (amongst others). Sadly, only Cllr Ingham was prepared to refuse the application.  Cllrs Alexander, Candler and Abell voted to send the application to the SMBC Planning and Highways Committee without a recommendation.  This means that a group of Stockport councillors with little knowledge of Marple or its heritage will make a decision on the development of this important site without any guidance from our local councillors.
Cllr Bispham could not speak due to a conflict of interest and Cllr Dowling is committee chairman and made no comment.

See our full Area Committee report here and our full response to the planning application here

Future Area Committee Meetings

Wednesday 5th November 2014

Wednesday 10th December 2014

Report on Marple Area Committee Meeting 6th August 2014

A report of the Marple Area Committee meeting that took place on 6th August 2014 can be viewed here


Future Area Committee Meetings

    Wednesday 24th September 2014

    Wednesday 5th November 2014

    Wednesday 10th December 2014