Penzance Chamber of Commerce

• Plans for harbour development
• Neighbourhood Watch Magazine
• Christmas Lights Appeal
• Car parking charges
• New Member
• June Meeting

Penzance town mayor's proposals for Objective 1 funding

Plans for harbour development

At a recent meeting Penzance Town Mayor, Jack Aitken, outlined his proposal for seeking Objective 1 funding for the redevelopment of Penzance Harbour to include a 200 berth marina. The opportunity provided by Objective 1 funding cannot be overstated as a significant improvement in the local economy is required to counter loss of prosperity and jobs caused by the reduction of the local fishing fleet and the farming industry, until now the mainstay of Penzance and the immediate vicinity.

Proposed Penzance Harbour Redevelopment

Objective 1 funding is designed to:

The plan put forward is the ONLY one that meets the criteria of Objective 1 funding. On anyone's 'wish-list' a number of other desires could be listed such as:

All of these needs will be addressed by the development of the harbour area. Falmouth's fortunes have changed considerably since the opening of their marina and it Is virtually a forgone conclusion that ours will as well, particularly as Mounts Bay is officially described as one of the 12 most beautiful bays in the world. The marinas will provide much needed employment, will secure the berth of an enlarged Scillonian, will attract cruise liners into the bay, will en-courage more sailing craft to visit the Isles of Scilly and so on.

A considerable amount of work has to be done before the application itself can be made:

Penzance Chamber of Commerce is 100% behind the proposal and intends to take a proactive approach to ensure that the plan comes to fruition. This is probably the best chance, and the last chance, that we have of securing the future of Penzance and the surrounding district. We cannot afford to let this opportunity slip by.

Whilst the public consultation process is some way off, the Chamber of Commerce invites your comments on the matter and also invites you to submit letters of support now.

Please write to either:

Neighbourhood Watch Magazine

Penwith Neighbourhood Watch have just published issue two of their magazine ‘Penwatch'. The magazine is distributed to all households under the Neighbourhood Watch Scheme in the Penwith area, and is full of useful information on crime prevention.

Their mobile crime prevention caravan, ‘IT’ has already put in some successful appearances locally, and has been booked for several events in the near future including the Buccas Fair in Newlyn in July. If you are interested in booking ‘IT’ for your event in Penwith, contact Penzance police station, where a diary is kept, to find out about availability.

Christmas Lights Appeal

Thanks to a lot of hard work, there has now been over £300 raised towards funding the Christmas Lights this year. The money has been raised from events like the Easter Bonnet Competition, as well as from quiz nights. There will be another fundraising Quiz Night May 25th at the Bath Inn. It starts at 8 pm, and all the money raised will go towards the lights. This year's switch on is due to take place on Thursday December 7.

Car parking charges

Car parking prices in Penwith have gone up again this year. The Chamber has discovered that a draft plan for the year 2002-2003 agrees to the prices being raised further in Penzance, Hayle and St. Ives. Higher charges discourage shoppers from spending their money in Penzance and encourage them to use the stores out of town that provide their customers with free parking. If the increases are implemented in the coming years, trade will be affected and problems caused by people parking in back streets and residential areas causing disturbance and disruption will become more widespread.

Although it is now too late to do anything about this year's rises, it is our intention to start lobbying the Council now to lower these charges in future years. The Chamber is writing to individual councillors to complain about the increase, and we hope that public support will also help to win our cause!

New Member

We would like to welcome new member Steven Vernon from Westcountry Consultancy Services, Penwith Business Centre to the Chamber.

June Meeting

The next Chamber Meeting will be held on Tuesday, June 6th at the Queens Hotel, The Promenade, Penzance at 7.30pm.

Previous Newsletters

PENZANCE - THE PLACE TO BE

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