Long Eaton Chamber of Trade - Recent Activities

The Chair of the Long Eaton Chamber of Trade Michael Lucking welcomed John Sewell to its monthly business meeting on Tuesday 3^rd March when John outlined his hopes and aspirations to support the Armed Forces.

John said as a member and covenant champion for Erewash Borough Council he is looking for ways to promote the Armed Forces, Reservists and veterans within the community. This is not about shops or businesses to giving discounts to anyone but for those to show they support our Armed Forces.

There is a new veterans department in London and John has spoken to our MP Maggie Throup through her agent about this and has been asked to put together a briefing for Maggie to take forward to John Mercer MP who is the Government Armed Forces Champion.

There are a number of outlets that do give discounts to members and veterans/NANDOS, including Showcase Cinema, New Look, Lloyds Pharmacy, Starbucks and the list goes on.

Unless you know which shops and businesses give support which is not currently evident, but during this year John will produce 1,000 shop stickers to be placed in their windows.

John said he would be promoting this through Erewash Borough Council, the local press and the Internet. It is hoped that the local retailers community will give their support.

The members agreed it was very worthwhile John exploring it further and thank him for his presentation and gave it the approval and support of the Long Eaton Chamber of Trade.

On Monday 11th December the Long Eaton Chamber of Trade were invited by teacher Jo Pettifer to see a presentation at the English Martyrs' Catholic Voluntary Academy by their children who had embarked on a project to redesign Derby Road for the 21st Century.

Pete Edwards, Steve Beeley and Ray Terry were delighted to accept the invitation and Ray gave the 45 children present a brief overview of the Chamber of Trade activities.

Then Pete, Steve and Ray visited the many models which gave an impressive view of their research which had included the history of the area and their plans to make Derby Road a sustainable transport link for the future.

Some of their ideas included solar panels, electric charging points, a raised garden walk way into Long Eaton, bright coloured road markings, pedestrian lights on the floor and many eco systems.

After their walk round, Pete Edwards gave his thoughts on all their hard work, Steve Beeley asked them questions about Long Eaton and they all enjoyed this informative quiz.

The Long Eaton Chamber of Trade held its Christmas dinner at Apple Tree Catering on Elm Avenue on Thursday evening 7th December when they enjoyed Christmas menu and a musical carol quiz. This resulted with everyone joining in at the end of the evening with a sing along. There was a prize for the best and worst!!

The Long Eaton Chamber of Trade has had another good year linking up with the Long Eaton Carnival, a special launch of Long Eaton "UK Centre of quality Upholstery Manufacture" support by Erewash Borough Council, the charity stalls at the switching on the Christmas lights and a few new members.

The Long Eaton Upholstery industry, Long Eaton Chamber of Trade and East Midlands Trains have combined to brighten up Long Eaton Railway Station for the summer. More importantly local resident, Ruth Stubbings, has volunteered to be the ‘station adopter’ and will help make sure the station is kept in good condition.

Long Eaton is the UK Centre for Quality Upholstery Manufacture and this is recognised by the brand logo being on display at the station. The furniture industry, in conjunction with Long Eaton Chamber of Trade, have arranged for the station to have flower displays as well as the brand logo which are all now on show.

Andrew Mitchell, representing the upholstery industry, said that many important buyers visit Long Eaton from around the world and the station gives them a first impression of the town. “We are delighted to be able to show that the town is proud of its skills and is keen to make a good impression”.

Michael Lucking, Chairman of Long Eaton Chamber of Trade, said he was extremely pleased that it had been possible to bring together residents who take pride in their town with local firms and East Midlands Trains to brighten up the station. “Few people are aware that much of the finest upholstered furniture found in hotels, embassies and homes around the world is manufactured in Long Eaton”, he said.

The furniture industry employs over 2,500 people in the town and sales are at least £250 million a year from furniture companies in the town.

The Chamber is represented on the steering committee of the Townscape Heritage Initiative which is scheduled to spend nearly £3m on the buildings and public spaces in the town in the next two years. Funding has come from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The Derbyshire Economic Partnership and Erewash Borough Council. It is still not too late for businesses to apply for support for building repairs and improvements

In conjunction with Ilkeston Chamber of Trade we have pressed local and regional agencies to provide support for the Market Towns during the recession. This has resulted in £52,000 being made available to support businesses in Long Eaton and Ilkeston. Details of how to apply for grant aid are to be made available in the near future. Contact us for details.

In the last few months, the Chamber has been heavily involved in the consultations over the "Master Plan" for Long Eaton Town Centre that consultants have produced for Erewash Borough Council. This is an important document because future planning applications for properties in the Town Centre will be considered on the basis of whether they are consistent with the Master Plan.

We are also involved in the consultations with the Council over the improvements to the land between Tesco Extra Superstore and Long Eaton Town Centre. The Council has £310,000 as a result of granting planning permission for the store and the petrol station which has to be spent on these environmental improvements and works of art. The Council have received a further £310,000 for this work from the regional development agency and have engaged a well known French firm to produce proposals. The Chamber are very concerned that this money is spent effectively and has been invited to send a representative to consultation meetings with the French firm, Council Officials, and other representatives regarding this work.

We continue to lobby the Police and the Council for additional staff to be made available to monitor the CCTV cameras in the Town. At present the cameras are monitored by volunteers who seem to have little support. Unsurprisingly the Council and the Police keep referring the matter to each other but we will not let the matter rest, and now the Council have included the issue in their 2010-11 capital budget.

The Chamber has been pressing Derbyshire County Council regarding the severe traffic problems which are discouraging trade and commerce in the Town. This has resulted in more sophisticated pedestrian traffic lights being installed on Derby Road and in the Town Centre. We are continuing the search for other methods to alleviate the traffic congestion in the Town.

We have expressed concerns over the risk of damage to business premises resulting from the changes to licensing laws. We continue to monitor this situation and support the local enforcement officers.

Each year we help organise the charity stalls when Santa comes to Long Eaton to turn on the Christmas Lights. There are lots of people there to greet him and the 20 Charity Stalls appear to do good business.

There are also a variety of other matters that we are dealing with. These include planning delays, pigeons and traffic policy.