Shopkeeper’s anger at ban on her flyers (From Gazette)
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Shopkeeper’s anger at ban on her flyers
11:00am Saturday 24th April 2010 in News
Carol Jones, outside her shop
A FRUSTRATED shop owner has challenged Colchester Council’s zero-tolerance stance on the distribution of promotional flyers.
Carol Jones wanted to give out helium balloons and leaflets to advertise her gift store, Glyph, in Priory Walk.
She said she was shocked when council officials told her she couldn’t do it, because it would result in extra litter.
Mrs Jones, who also has a shop in Felixstowe, Suffolk, said: “There was no meeting halfway, even in this particularly difficult year for retailers.
“The council would rather see clean streets and council jobs, than flourishing shops.
“Therefore, it is OK to make retail staff redundant and have ugly empty premises littering the streets.”
Mrs Jones initially asked for permission to hand out flyers a year ago, but was turned down – and told she faced a £2,500 fine if she went ahead.
She made a second request this month, suggesting a permit system could be introduced to ensure only a few shops at a time were licensed to distribute leaflets.
But an e-mailed response from council street care and recycling manager Dave McManus said: “It is our belief the current restriction should remain in place and, although some businesses may consider this restrictive, we believe it will make our town more attractive to shoppers.
“I regret I cannot permit any distribution of free printed matter.”
Mrs Jones said: “Our premises in Colchester is suffering. We are desperate to up our footfall and need to get the shoppers to our side of town.
“A permit system would prevent a flood of littering because it would limit the number of shops that could promote themselves.”
Tim Young, Colchester councillor with responsibility for street services, said: “We can’t make an exception for one business and risk our town centre having more litter in it.”
Comments(15)
crazy comments
says...
11:58am Sat 24 Apr 10
ykoops
says...
12:26pm Sat 24 Apr 10
crosby
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12:37pm Sat 24 Apr 10
seco2
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12:48pm Sat 24 Apr 10
setbuilder
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12:56pm Sat 24 Apr 10
Distributing leaflets and balloons is a very cheap way for a business to advertise and WOULD cause extra litter on the streets. Try spending a bit more on your advertising by using the papers - oh!...hang on a minute...you've just got more free publicity from this article haven't you...
setbuilder
says...
1:01pm Sat 24 Apr 10
crazy comments wrote:Don't think anyone from the council is necessarily responsible for the gum on the paths! Indeed they've actually attempted to clean it up. The streets in Colchester have very regular cleaning regimes - it's the ignorant and selfish litter louts who are the problem surely!
I can not see the streets of Colchester being made any worse than they already are. Its stinks, its full of gum on the paths, half the shops are closed and boarded up, it charges a fortune for parking, overal a dump of a hole. All created by the people that run this town especialy prats like Tim Young
seco2
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1:55pm Sat 24 Apr 10
setbuilder wrote:Setbuilder - you're partly right. People, of course, make slums, not councils. There's a shocking lack of civic pride in Colchester, and far too many chavs. But - when a council assigns whole streets to pubs and/or takeaways, as they've done, they also carry responsibility for the sleaze and problems that result. The chasm between their aims and the results is immense - St Botolph's as a "cultural quarter", when it's all about kebab shops and, in the latest "great move" to improve the general ambience, a sex club. I'm embarrassed to bring friends and relatives to Colchester now; without exception they say it's a dump.
crazy comments wrote:Don't think anyone from the council is necessarily responsible for the gum on the paths! Indeed they've actually attempted to clean it up. The streets in Colchester have very regular cleaning regimes - it's the ignorant and selfish litter louts who are the problem surely!
I can not see the streets of Colchester being made any worse than they already are. Its stinks, its full of gum on the paths, half the shops are closed and boarded up, it charges a fortune for parking, overal a dump of a hole. All created by the people that run this town especialy prats like Tim Young
Heinz
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5:14pm Sat 24 Apr 10
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Makes you wonder whether Tim Young ever visits the town centre (IT'S FILTHY Tim, open your eyes).
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"Street care and recycling manager"? Where do they get these non-job titles?
cavillas
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5:38pm Sat 24 Apr 10
seco2
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5:58pm Sat 24 Apr 10
Heinz wrote:Does anyone actually know how Tim got his job? Who elected him? I came to Col. four years or so ago, but would love to know more about him..
“We can’t make an exception for one business and risk our town centre having more litter in it.”
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Makes you wonder whether Tim Young ever visits the town centre (IT'S FILTHY Tim, open your eyes).
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"Street care and recycling manager"? Where do they get these non-job titles?
My two encounters:-
1. "You have a problem of imagination", when asking him to clean up the island at St Botolph's (c. July/August 2008). (Covered in ****, puke, glass, fag ends; even more than usual.)
2. "Blame the Tories in Chelmsford", when I asked for some salt on my road (Pownall Crescent) on 20 December 2009, after Dave Harris had injured himself badly.
.. Who IS this man? Why does he, along with his wife, enjoy such influence? There are c.150K people in Colchester - who elected him? Is he elected, actually??
This man should be dragged around by the neck, to see whether he thinks he's really making a success of the town's cleanliness. Let's do it on a Sat/Sun/Mon morning, when everything's covered in half-eaten junkfood and vomit...
Boris
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8:52pm Sat 24 Apr 10
roger bacon
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11:04am Mon 26 Apr 10
How can you make car parking charges so high, which stops people coming into town. Why not have one day a week with free parking, then the town would be packed out, then that might end the spiral of shops closing down. Then if this is successful do it for two days a week.I could go on. I would think that everbody in Colchester would welcome that except a handfull of people like Tim Young
crosby
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1:44pm Mon 26 Apr 10
roger bacon
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3:11pm Mon 26 Apr 10
No businesses will survive if the expenses become higher than the profits you are making.
meadowlady says...
11:57am Sat 24 Apr 10
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to dump Tim Young