If you've continued to follow closely the minutes of the Friends of Memorial Park's meetings you will know that Marple Bands have obtained planning permission to turn the former Park Keeper's Cottage in Memorial Park into a Band Practice Room. The Bands are also in the final stages of negotiating a lease from the council for a "peppercorn" rent.
Some people will also be aware that the bands have owned land behind the Edge for a long time and had planning permission to build a band room there but have never been able to afford the building costs.
SInce the opportunity to use the cottage as a band room arose the Bands have hoped to use their existing land to fund the improvements to the cottage. The first step was to obtain planning permission to use the cottage, which has been achieved. The next step is to try to obtain planning permission to build private dwellings on the site behind the Edge, which would allow the land to be sold to a developer and the proceeds used to pay for the improvements to the cottage.
The bands have now submitted an outline planning application for a two storey residential development comprising of two number two bedroom apartments. The application was actually submitted in April but was not registered until July because the council requested a noise study, which has now been done.
The application details are available on-line here :
http://planning.stockport.gov.uk/PlanningData/AcolNetCGI.gov?ACTION=UNWRAP&RIPNAME=Root.PgeResultDetail&TheSystemkey=105602Marple Bands are a registered charity and the reason for the application is so that the land can be sold to raise the money required to convert the Park Keeper's Cottage. All money will go to that project and to the future upkeep of the Band Practice Room and no individuals will make a profit from the sale if planning permission is successful.
Members of the public can submit on-line comments about the planning application and it would show community support for this whole project if our users would do so. The Friends of Memorial Park have already submitted our comments in support of the application (although it is not yet showing on the site).