Parish councillors, doctors and representatives from Jones Contracts gathered at the George Street surgery today to celebrate the fact that the contracts relating to the building and completion of a new medical centre at the Festival Hall have now been signed.
Alderley Edge Parish Council has signed an agreement of lease with the doctors, a building contract with Jones and the £2m loan from the Public Works Loan Board to fund the build is all agreed.
Geoff Hall, Chairman of Alderley Edge Parish Council explained "The agreement of lease with the doctors says that as long as the medical centre is built to the agreed specification we will take out a lease when it is complete. The lease has already been drawn up and agreed but only comes into force when the building is ready."
Cllr Mike Dudley-Jones said "I think today is a significant day for the people of Alderley Edge and a day where we owe a huge amount of thanks to a group of people who have worked incredibly hard to deliver a new medical centre for the village."
Dr Peter Speake said "I am very pleased it is signed, everything was progressing well anyway and we are progressing towards hopefully moving in in February or March 2016."
Alderley Edge Parish Council are holding their first Open Presentation Meeting at the Scout Hut on Wednesday 3rd June, starting at 7.45pm, where they will outline their plans for the next few years. All members of the public are welcome to attend and the agenda will be added to the events calendar shortly.
Previous parish councillors, who have been working on the project for the past few years, were invited to attend today's gathering but were unfortunately unable to make it due to other commitments.
Photo: (l-r) Cllr Rachael Grantham, David Quirk (Jones Contracts), Janine Robins (Secretary at Alderley Edge Medical Practice), Carol Janion (Practice Manager), Cllr Ruth Norbury, Cllr Mike-Dudley-Jones, Dr Hannah Hayes, Cllr Ilana Higham, Dr Tom Hunsley and Dr Peter Speake.
Comments
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I'm very much looking forward to the Open Presentation Meeting next Wednesday and hope it is as well attended as the Parish Council meeting was last week. It seems that our new Parish Council are adhering to their promise, to communicate openly with the residents of the village and invite comment and input. Bravo!
To be frank; I'm not surprised. ;-)
My best wishes to the new Council and congratulations to the voters of Alderley, who have made history.
It is a shame that members of the old PC weren't able to attend and share credit for bringing about this important development.
One is in Australia and one is in S. Africa.
Another is nursing her husband who has recently had heart surgery.
Two others work full-time and so a 2 pm ceremoney is difficult.
I work part-time and was at work at the time of the ceremoney.
It wasn't helped in that (due to unforseen matters) the day/time of the ceremoney had to be changed 3 times.
I assume that such reasons explain why only 4 of the present councilors could make it?
Let us now look forward to the opening of the Medical centre? Have we lined up a dignitary to cut the tape? Would 'Kate' come and do it?
In passing I'd like to pay tribute to Mike Williamson, the former PC Chairman, who put in a huge amount of work to get the project off the ground; I might even go so far as to say that
but for Mike's unflagging effords, there might not be a Medical Centre: after all, we are the first PC to do this sort of thing !
Thank you for your note.
You are absolutely right that a huge vote of thanks should go to Mike Williamson for the enormous amount of work that he did to bring this wonderful project to pass.
I am sure that I speak for all the Village residents when I say that the Opening Ceremony of the Medical Centre in April next year will be a memorable date and event. We can only hope that all who have been so closely involved with it will be there to receive the warm hearted thanks of those who will benefit from this great facility for years to come.
You may be certain that the ceremony will be well handled.
Your comments above, 'Let us now look forward to the opening of the Medical centre? Have we lined up a dignitary to cut the tape? Would 'Kate' come and do it?', with lots of question marks suggest an element of cynicism which is really disappointing. Surely, you are able to move on and join the rest of the village in their desire to see the project through to successful completion?
Your tribute to Mike Williamson echoes remarks that were made at the Annual Parish Council meeting (which you were unable to attend), where Mike Dudley-Jones, one of the new Parish Councillors spoke sincerely and appreciatively about all the work you and your former Parish Council colleagues had done to get the wheels in motion for the new developments. Perhaps you didn't hear about them? The remarks were followed by a warm round of applause. I think it is time to look ahead now and support our new Parish Council, as residents of this lovely village as best we can. Don't you? I hope you'll be able to make the open meeting next Wednesday. It would be great to see you there.
you must be a cytnic, for only a cynic would see cynicism all around. Why do you think that my suggestion re. getting the Duchess Kate to open the medical centre is cynical?
I want to tell you a story (as dear old Max B. used to say). Back in the day, when I worked in a city-centre college in Manchester, we had a shiny new building that needed to be officially opened. There was debate. I 'phoned Buckingham Palace and asked if it were posible to rent a Royal, for that purpose. I was told that 'Liz and Phil' coundn't be had and that Chas. was busy in that particular time frame. But we could have Princess Margaret (now dead). The cost would be a return first class train fare plus two days at the Midland Hotel.
In the end, the College hierarchy, being solid old labour, invited a promising young Labour M.P.: a chap called Blair. Whatever happened to him?
Yet another tale. Even further back in the day, when I was but a young student. Students could fly from M/C to N.Y. for less than the standard fare. It was £80 instead of £? !). That was still a lot for a student on a grant of £350 p.a. So after talking with mates, I 'phoned B.A. and asked if we could rent a plane. Yes they said. If we could raise approx. 320 students, we could fly for only £40 each (my memory on the exact figures may not be perfect!). We did mange to sign up the requisite number of students.
So you see, i wasn't being at all cynical about trying to get Kate to pop up and do the opening. Of perhaps Chas? Or Mrs. Chas?
If you don't ask, you don't get?
I actually expect that the PC will ask George; that should get us some media coverage BUT Kate would get very much media cover?
Happy that I wasn't being cynical?
One last point about an advantage of having a Royal is that they are apolitical.
Might the new P.C. want to chase up on this suggestion?
So six out of the nine previous Parish Councillors could not attend, by my calculation that still leaves a possible three. It seems the opportunity was missed to display that the old and the new can stand together for the betterment of the village.
Even you would have to admit that the speed of progress of the new PC is impressive so far. I think it is recognised by most people that the ground work was done by the previous PC but it was the energy, focus, teamwork and drive of the new PC that "stuck it in the back of the net".
It is probably of less importance who will open the Medical Centre, than the fact that its construction is back on track, contracts signed, funding in place and that it now has a competent team driving the process to completion. The previous PC could have been at this stage far earlier if only they had not got distracted by their attempts to justify paving over allotments.
I doubt that these days Anthony Charles Lynton Blair would be a cheap option, or that he would even be prepared to travel to Alderley Edge for the princessly reward of a return train fare (first class or otherwise) and a two night stay at The Midland.
In any case, I would enjoy seeing the ribbon cut by a long-standing local doctor or (preferably) nurse who has devoted their working life to caring for people in the area.
And perhaps we could have a "Maud Hatton Room" in the building?
as to who opens the Medical centre; that is wholly a matter for the P.C. I simply suggested that 'blue sky' thinking is possible, if the PC so chooses.
I truly have no wish to compare past and present PCs re. any speed of completion of the building works, but I don't think it was ever not on track. Let us leave the past behind as any tendancy to rake over old coals would be pretty pointless. The voters made a decision and that is that; finito.
Having said that: Martin, you go on about previous councillors not being there but you make no mention of the majority of the new councillors not being there. So shall we just let that go?
In case you should question my own attitude to the new councillors: if anyone wishes to ask me a question needing a factual answer then I'll do my best. Otherwise I'll not offer any opinions or advice. I would hate to be seen as one of the old guard just hanging around!
If needs be, I shall of course ask questions; just as others asked questions of me, in the past.
Simply incongruent.