It’s that time of year again… time for our AGM. Our annual general meeting went ahead as planned on 4th October at China Fleet – once again as a hybrid meeting which is a great option for people to join us from wherever they are.
I was unanimously voted in once again as Chair to serve for another year, and I’m really grateful to those who voted for me. There is still so much I’d like to do during my time as Chair – we are constantly looking at ways to reinvigorate our offering to businesses as they look to us for more support and advice.
Peter Ryland agreed to stay on as Vice Chair, and my thanks go to Hilary Frank and Steve Miller for standing for offices on our committee. Thanks have to also go to Ayesha Slader for her time as Secretary, Tracey Hayton of The Bookshelf for being Membership Secretary, and Doug Bond of Saphira Jewellers who has been the Chamber Treasurer for many years now – probably more than he cares to remember!
The end is nigh!
I’m really hoping that this month will be the last time I will be reporting on the Bridge works. The specialist contractors Volkerlaser were due to finish on 15th October and the end date for all works is still set for 31st October. I know we will be glad to see a return to normal operation on the bridge. As Chair, I am very interested to hear from retailers and businesses in Saltash to find out how the works have affected their revenue compared to last year. Any anecdotes or ballpark figures (%) you would be happy for me to know, please email chair@saltashchamber.co.uk.
Threat to Saltash Leisure Centre
When it comes to business, financial viability is paramount – who wants to work so hard to maintain something that isn’t profitable at the end of the day? With our Leisure Centre in Saltash though, the picture I think is very different. For me, it’s more of a community asset than a commercial opportunity because I know how many staff would be personally affected by its closure, and the detrimental impact it would have on the well-being of so many not just in Saltash but further away. For many, the presence of a Leisure Centre in the town was a good reason to move here in the first place. The economic loss to the area if it were to close cannot be underestimated – and the need then to travel elsewhere to get access to pool and leisure services is moving investment away from the town. I would urge everyone who reads this column to please feed back their views through the Cornwall Council public consultation at: https://letstalk.cornwall.gov.uk/leisure.
Want your say on what our roads need?
National Highways, formerly Highways England use public consultation to inform conversations on which roads around the country need investment. If you are a business that uses the roads to transport products and services and think that our roads in SE Cornwall are generally not fit for purpose, then now is your time to say so. The power of this tool cannot be underestimated – it will be used to influence road strategies in the next Road Improvement Scheme so please do make your views known at: https://highwaysengland.co.uk/our-work/our-route-strategies/
Come along and see what we do
As a Chamber we look to encourage more members to join us – especially from our retail centre. In order to do that, we now plan to hold alternate meetings in Fore Street starting on Monday 1st November at 5.30pm at The Cockleshell Micropub where Paul has kindly agreed to open up and let us hold our monthly meeting. There will be chance to have a drink and network once the meeting is over.
For membership of just £25 a year, you get access to a whole host of Cornwall Chamber events and advice through our affiliate membership, as well as a listing on our new website at www.saltashchamber.co.uk which we think is a great new platform to showcase our work and yours, and so much more. If you are thinking you might like to get involved with Saltash Chamber then please drop me a line Chair@SaltashChamber.co.uk or just pop along to The Cockleshell on the 1st November and say Hi!
