Minutes:
The Town Centre Team update was provided by Chloe-Jane Ross.
She briefed that little progress had been made regarding the David Bowie Mural. Pre-Christmas was not an appropriate time of the year to embark on a crowd-funding campaign. There was still a requirement to raise £35k. Various sources of funding were being explored including the Mayor’s Project and the Arts Council. Patrick’s Bar was still ok with the scheme and would wait for the relevant funding to be raised. A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) had been drafted to clarify the community involvement in terms of ownership.
Councillor Stephen Wells reminded the Group that a new inspection was due in June concerning the renewal application for Purple Flag status. He acknowledged the hard work that Paul Lehane (LBB Head of Food Safety, Occupational Safety and Licensing) had contributed to the initial application, but expressed the view that it would be unreasonable for Mr Lehane to continue this work going forward due to his heavy workload. Councillor Wells felt that this work should now be delegated to the Town Centre Manager. The Town Centre Manager explained that she had been in discussions with Mr Lehane concerning this matter. It had been decided at Director level that Mr Lehane would still lead on matters concerning the Purple Flag.The Town Centre Manager reported that the interim assessment had been successful and work had now commenced on the full renewal for 2018.
The Chairman advised the Group that Councillor Nicholas Bennett should be consulted on matters relating to heritage up-lighting on buildings.
Susan Ryall asked if the Christmas Tree could be located at the War Memorial instead of Beckenham Green. The reasons given for this not being possible was that there was no power point on the War Memorial, and no tree pit.
Alan Old mentioned two telecom utility boxes that were located in the middle of the pavement outside of the nail salon by La Rascasse. Now that the pavement had widened, the boxes were an unsightly obstacle. Officers would take this into account when siting bicycle racks and town benches to minimise the effect of this positioning, but moving the boxes would be too expensive.
Mr Goy asked if ‘distance diagrams’ were available to clarify the correct distances from the front of premises that cafes and restaurants were allowed to use for the placement of tables and chairs on footways. Mr Munnelly suggested that a Licensing Officer be invited to the next meeting to speak about this issue. The relevant officer with the licensed pavements information might be Paul Lehane or Toby Smith. Mr Goy expressed concerns about tree-pits being located outside of Londis, commenting that these would also take up more pavement space and turn the area into an obstacle course. It was said the areas of licensed enclosures would be reviewed when the trees were planted.
It was also stated that TfL appeared to have a new policy of locating bus shelters centrally on footways and not in accordance with the scheme plans.
RESOLVED that
(1) Councillor Nicholas Bennett be asked if he would like to be consulted on matters relating to heritage up-lighting
(2) A Licensing Officer be invited to the next meeting to speak on Al Fresco dining regulations and licensing in the High Street.