Many people in the village will have received a flier advertising an event in the small meeting room at the Memorial Hall on Monday afternoon. This has prompted the following email from Keith Parsons. This email does not reflect the views of the Blog Team, who request potential commentors to confine their remarks to the issues.
BAN AND BOYCOTT THIS COMMERCIAL EVENT !
On 22nd June I wrote to Mike Gerrard-Pearse to complain about his statement at the Hall AGM that non-local and business rates had now bee set for use of the new Hall.
Specifically he said, “Booking rates have increased as reported last year – local rates have increased by £1 or £2, non-local have increased by £5 & a new commercial rate has been introduced.”
I pointed out to him that Paragraph 3 of the Hall Planning Decision Notice of 27th August 2008 entitled “Approved Use and Hours of Operation” is as follows:
“The premises shall be used for no other purposes than a building available for hire for local community purposes within Class D2 of the schedule to the Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order, 2006.”
It follows that non-local and business use is not permitted and I asked him to confirm that these rates were mistaken and would be abolished.
It turned out that Mr. Gerard-Pearse had resigned from the position of chairman – but nobody saw fit to tell the community via Parwich.org. The new chairman is Ed Linnel – no news about that either (as far as I’m aware) – so I repeated my letter to him on 13th August. In the two months since then I have not had the courtesy of a reply.
Now hear this. The Committee has ignored the restrictions on use and hired the hall for Monday October 11th to an outside company trading in gold. This is a commercial venture and not a community purpose.
If more events like this are booked the interests of local residents will be ignored and parking could become a problem. This is all about money, not about the community.
When I and others were complaining about the building of an oversized hall with an inadequate car park for only 5 vehicles, it was commercial fairs and events like the one on Monday that we had in mind.
I am taking this up with the Peak Park planners in an attempt to get such activity stopped. I would welcome support from others who do not want to see the Hall used for purposes for which it was not intended, especially when local residents will be inconvenienced. In the mean time, please do not attend this commercial event in the Hall. For support, call Keith 390500 or call at Fernlea, opposite the Hall
PARWICH.ORG 
Thanks Keith for drawing our attention to this event. We never read flyers and would have missed it otherwise. We are looking forward to popping along to the event, hopefully we’ll benefit from it, like others within the parish. It is not that easy for some of us to sell things in the village, this venue and event provides an ideal opportunity.
When the flier advertising tomorrow’s event came through my letter box yesterday afternoon I thought ‘Well, this is going to be interesting’. Sure enough Keith’s notice and email posted above followed. At risk of reinforcing the view that always the same people comment, here are my thoughts (sorry as you will have realised I am not good on concise):
My initial reaction was to be unsure about the appropriateness of this event in the Hall. Keith’s main point is that the commercial nature of the company holding the event means it is inconsistent with paragraph three of the 2008 Planning Decision for the Memorial Hall. Initially I was inclided to agree, but then thought about it more.
The 2008 Planning Application was not for change of use, but to replace the building. The relevant Condition reads:
3. The premises shall be used for no other purposes than a building available for hire for local community purposes within class D2 of the schedule to the Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 2006 or in any order revoking and re-enacting that order.
The Government’s Planning Portal in defining class D2 does not add any more useful information:
D2 Assembly and leisure – Cinemas, music and concert halls, bingo and dance halls (but not night clubs), swimming baths, skating rinks, gymnasiums or area for indoor or outdoor sports and recreations (except for motor sports, or where firearms are used).
No where does this preclude commercial activity in relation to events in the Hall, nor would we want it to:
– It is not unusual for events to involve caterers or a bar.
– Many speakers at Society events receive a fee.
– It is not unknown for local Societies to have invited commercial companies to participate in events (e.g. the Horticultural Society has previously encouraged speakers from nurseries to have plant stalls, the History Society explicitly held a craft fair as part of their Celebration of Rural Life, when the book ‘Voices, Women of a White Peak Village’ was launched)
– Most events have charges (e.g. the recent Harvest Supper, aimed at raising money for a Derby based charity)
Commercial activity is an integral part of most events in the Hall in some way or another. Commercial organisations, such as caterers or other private companies have been regularly involved in events n the Memorial Hall over many years.
Is Monday’s event in any way different? If the commercial factors are not paramount, are geographical?
The company involved is not based within the Hall’s catchment area, but many of the companies in the past involved in events in the Hall have not been based in Parwich, Alsop, Ballidon or Pikehall. Also given this company did a leaflet drop to most houses in the Parwich, we can assume they hoped local people would attend.
Is it reasonable to impose an address restriction on people participating in or holding events in the Memorial? Taken to the extreme this would mean that such as Lady Crompton-Inglefield’s funeral several years ago could not have been held in the Memorial Hall. Lady Crompton-Inglefield (formerly Mrs Dodds) had lived in London for many years prior to her death, the funeral was organised by her daughters, who have not lived here since leaving home in the 60s, and by an Ashbourne based funeral director. Further, although many villagers attended the service and reception in the Hall, the majority of the guests were from outside the Hall’s catchment area. Would the Peak Park Planners want to ban such as this?
When Dorothy and Flo were alive they had held Brownie and Guide events aimed at participants from outside Parwich, would such events now be banned? Other groups visiting the area in the past have hired the Hall, are they also to be banned?
In a conversation with me yesterday Keith expressed concern about the Hall becoming a venue for large scale commercial craft fairs and the like attracting large numbers of tourists, this being the only way to fund a financially unsustainable building. However the event on Monday is only in the small meeting room between 1-30 and 4-30pm.
The Memorial Hall Committee did not seek out this booking, they are not experiencing financial difficulties and have no reason to question the previous assertion that the new Hall will cost less to run than the old.
Undoubtedly tomorrow’s event is within the Planning Condition of ‘local community purposes’ and if I am being honest my initial reservations about it on reading the flier related in part to it not being the ‘right sort of event’. Why should local people not have the opportunity sell their unwanted gold or watches in Parwich on a quiet Monday afternoon, and the Hall get the income from an extra booking?
It is also worth considering what people’s reaction would have been if the event was at the Pub or the Legion (which has even less parking)? I suspect no one would be asking about planning consent or licence conditions.
It may be that the Peak Park Planners will needed to be asked to clarify what they mean by ‘local community use’ in relation to some future event, but not I believe for this one.
Having a son in the trade I just thought it would be useful for anyone thinking of selling their precious metal for scrap to have an idea of the minimum amout they could expect. Prices vary on a daily basis but you would want to be looking for a minimum of £5 per gram for 9ct gold, £10 per gram for £18ct, £15 per gram for platinum and £7-8 per troy ounce for silver, which has just dropped in price.
Hope that helps!
I am interested that Peter T was initially “unsure about the appropriateness of this event in the Hall”. Me too, and I still am. Commercial trading by firms from outside Parwich with the sole purpose of relieving you of your money (or gold) clearly does not constitute a community activity. If the Planning permission notice was making a restriction that does not apply to outside traders using the hall as temporary business premises, then what does it restrict?
I do not believe this Planning Notice was intended to mean nothing. The as yet unhealed wounds within the community over the arguably unnecessary replacement of the village hall makes it doubly necessary for the Hall Committee to act responsibly, and think of how others are affected by its decision to ignore the restrictions on use. They should be about more than just revenue raising.
Peter T’s subsequent ruminations about the geography of who should and should not be allowed to use the Hall and the employment of outside caterers at community events seemed to me confused. He says, ‘nowhere does this preclude commercial activity in relation to the Hall’. Of course caterers should be allowed in for community activities, and funerals allowed of people linked for many years with Parwich. This is only common sense.
In my view, traders not associated with the village – possibly with advertising to bring in folk from far and wide – does not constitute a ‘community’ purpose or activity, and I plan to get this clarified by the Peak Park who brought in the restriction. You don’t have to be a super-intellect, or even have especially good will, to see what I’m getting at. If, as B & J Bennett argue, this trading benefits villagers, then the same argument can be applied to absolutely any trading at the hall, at any time, for any reason. It blows a hole through the entire Planning Notice. lf they are so keen on the Fashion Fairs and markets that may be heading this way, how would they feel about the stalls being set up on the corner of Croft Avenue instead, or directing the parking there? I felt they were simply sneering at my argument.
The point about this not-very-significant booking by a jeweller, is that it sets a precedent of ignoring the Planning Notice. If we don’t draw a line in the sand now, we could end up with the kind of parking congestion that characterises Hartington, the other village this dealer is visiting. If he had booked himself into the Sycamore, nobody would have been concerned. It has a larger car park than the village hall and it is a trading establishment. But the restriction on the Hall is specifically intended to protect those who unfortunately live close by to it – it ‘shall be used for no other purposes than a building available for hire for local community purposes’.
If a restriction on primarily commericial events hosted by outside businesses was indeed intended by Peak Park, then in my opinion this is not made explictly clear by the clause which has been quoted – and there is no further clarification to be found in the list of building classifications. An argument can be made in both directions as to whether today’s event is “for local community purposes”. Keith states the argument against; the counter-argument would be that the event is of benefit to anyone within the community who wishes to trade their goods for cash.
We do not know how widely the event was advertised – was the leaflet drop made in Parwich and Hartington only, as joint promotion for the events in both villages? If it was, then this strengthens the counter-argument. On the other hand, if a widely advertised craft fair were to be held, intended to draw a sizeable attendance from outside the village, then this would weigh the argument in the other direction.
Although today’s event is unlikely to be disruptive in terms of traffic and parking, Keith makes a fair point regarding precedents. So, if the wording of the planning decision is ambiguous and hence open to differing interpretations, then I would suggest that Peak Park are the best arbitrators. As Keith has already approached them with his objections, it might be best to wait and see what they have to say.
I feel that Keith Parsons comments are reasonable under the circumstances. I do not particularly know him, but I will say this, he is prepared to put his views across in an open, honest and articulate manner and has probably become the subject of one of Parwich’s infamous ‘witch hunts’ as a result! Some Parwich residents are terrified of the truth and afraid of standing up and being counted, probably hence the blog team finding it necessary to insist that bloggers must identify themselves. (Sadly things are not always as Enid Blyton and ‘wonderful’ in Parwich as some times suggested!) Maybe it is a case that Mr Parsons has objected to this particular event because he does not want matters to get out of hand.
Anyway, back to the point. This is clearly a grey area and it is for the planning authorities to clarify Class D2.
One would hope that the new chairman will now communicate with Mr Parsons and that any clarification of Class D2 will be posted on the village hall notice board.
With regards to parking, I would agree that 5 parking spaces does not appear to be adequate, unless the planning committee held the view that the village hall was solely for local residents, who all lived within walking distance of the memorial hall. (That be the case, all of us that live in the immediate vicinity of the Memorial hall should not have to encounter being blocked in or having no where to park outside our own homes.)
Maybe all the residents that live within the immediate vicinity of the village hall should purchase a warning notice and a set of wheel clamps and with a view to clamping anyone who obstructs their properties?! It would certainly deter inconsiderate parking should this become an issue. (Perfectly legal, providing a warning notice is clearly displayed.)
Anyway, I thought I would add my blog because it always seems to be the same bloggers on the Parwich blog spot, to the extent that it sometimes looks like a personal face book page. Having said that, very well done to the Parwich.org site team. You must spend a lot of time and effort putting together such an informative and up to date site.
L Bott