A Speed Indicator Device (SID) which was placed on Congleton Road last month recorded that 70% of passing vehicles were exceeding the speed limit.
The SID was located just after the junction with Beechfield Road and recorded the speeds of 16,933 vehicles travelling out of Alderley Edge between the 20th and 29th of May.
11,820 of which were exceeding the 30mph limit and the highest recorded speed was 84mph!!
Councillor Craig Browne will be reporting these figures to the Highways Partnership, a partnership between Cheshire East Council and the wards of Alderley Edge, Wilmslow and Handforth, on June 23rd to highlight the fact that some action needs to be taken quickly to resolve this problem.
He told me "I want it highlighted that it is an issue, however I am equally aware that Macclesfield Road is an issue and Ryleys Lane is an issue and I think that in the long term we need to look at some traffic calming measures for those areas.
"We need some 30mph markers. I have asked Cheshire East already about putting red circles with a 30 in the middle painted on the road surface. At the minute they have agreed to paint SLOW and also put up some signs indicating there are concealed entrances, for example at Hazelcroft and Congleton Close."
The SID is able to flash speeds and records the speed of passing vehicles but no action is taken, it just records the data to help identify problem areas.
Craig Browne also confirmed that resurfacing work is going to be carried out on Congleton Road in July or August.
Comments
Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.
I have just been sent the full breakdown by Craig Browne so I now have more figures in addition to those mentioned at last night's Parish Council meeting.
The 70% were travelling over 30mph.
The average speed recorded was 32.7mph.
Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) Guidance is 34mph.
Number of vehicles travelling over ACPO was 6525 = 38.5%.
Number of vehicles travelling over 40mph was 1340 = 7.9%.
However anybody who would contemplate driving at 84mph clearly would be totally indifferent to road markings or signs. It is quite obvious such speed is entirely unacceptable.
I continue to favour physical barriers to speeding - which could well include allowing more parking to restrict rapid transit, small real - not painted -roundabouts at each end of the street, speed humps, chicanes around parking places and so forth.
Perhaps those ranked up taxis rather than being the menace some commentators suggest, are actually helping to slow traffic down???
I totally agree with what you are saying. It occurs to me that two birds can be killed with one stone here. In my experience drivers will naturally slow down when roads become narrower or get more confusing. So if there were parking bays that narrowed roads in and around the village it could reduce traffic speeds and help with the parking issues.
If you look at what they have done in Poynton, the whole scheme is based around narrow lanes and unfamiliar looking layouts. At first I thought it was madness, but after seeing the effect, I completely changed my view. It is incredibly effective as it uses human psychology to encourage better attention and safety.
When a road is wide and seems to have few hazards a driver will feel it is safer to travel faster, irrespective of the speed limit. Moreover, the width of the road changes our perception of speed, so we become lass aware of our excess speed.
Take a look at the shared space report that was commissioned in 2011/12
http://bit.ly/1nhkIJY
Think its gathering dust , but would be worth new PC taking a new look at it.
Thank you so much for that. It does make very interesting reading. I am a bit confused, this report was done in 2012 but I don't recall any discussions about it; maybe I missed it. There must have been an appetite from CEC and AEPC at the time for it, as I am sure it was not an inexpensive exercise.
I have no idea how much this professional document cost us, courtesy of the previous Parish Council and CEC, back in 2012. And, like Martin, I am slightly dismayed that something that was commissioned on behalf of the village appears to have been ignored, or dismissed following its submission. I do recall the former Parish Council was already well on course in pursuing its mission to pave over the Heyes Lane allotments at the time the report was commissioned in 2012, so perhaps it/ they felt that the conclusions reached and recommendations made were unhelpful in so far as they didn't recommend their chosen course of action as a potential solution. For those who have accused me of 'point scoring', this is simply an observation, based on the evidence before us. If I am wrong, and the report was dissected and its recommendations considered and discussed at length, then I am happy to stand corrected.
On a more positive note, this document was not produced so long ago that it is no longer relevant to the village's current parking and traffic challenges. As it was authored after the completion of the by-pass, many of the issues raised in it still stand. And, consequently, many of the recommendations contained within also remain potentially relevant and worthy of consideration. And many of them are innovative and (in my mind) potentially exciting solutions. Thank you, Vin, for reminding us all of its existence.
One thing is clear. Something has to change, if Alderley Edge is going to address its parking and traffic challenges in the long term, effectively. I think this document offers a great starting point for discussion. I'd encourage anyone else who cares to take the time to review it.
why do you write in a condemnatory way re. P.C. and CEC and cost? Is it a knee jerk reaction? If you truly wish to know the costs involved, why not ask CEC nicely? I'm sure that they will tell you.
If they won't, then serve a FOI Act notice upon them and their 'complience officer' will give you accurate figures.
I'm afraid, yet again, you miss the point I am trying to make. Hardly a 'knee jerk reaction'. The report was commissioned in 2012, apparently. My comments are more about the fact that an expensive report was commissioned (the exact cost is less important - I don't think Hamilton-Baillie Associates would have done 'mates rates', do you?) and then apparently ignored/ left to gather dust.
Are you implying that the Parish Council at the time had nothing to do with it? That would surprise me, as they are mentioned in the report. I'm sure you (the Parish Council) would have received a copy of it. Perhaps you can enlighten me about what steps you collectively took to review and discuss it, once you were in receipt of it? I don't recall much mention of it on AlderleyEdge.com. Perhaps it was featured on the Parish Council website? As there is no 'search' button on the old website, I can't look for it. Perhaps you could share the URL, please?
I guess I'm just seeking some reassurance from you that the report that was commissioned (and which contains a number of imaginative ideas and suggestions to improve the centre of our village) was given the attention it deserved.
The Hamilton-Baillie web-site states "Recent financial and organisational constraints on Cheshire East have delayed the follow-up stages for the project, but the initial suggestions were enthusiastically received by the Parish Council when presented in 2012." Personally, I can accept that reason why it went no further at that stage, and in light of the continuing financial constraints I think it would be tough to get the required capital expenditure until the 2020's. Although nothing is lost by trying.
With the PC looking at a strategy to 2030 and beyond, then it would be good to think something of this nature could sit somewhere in the timeline. An encouraging comment in the report was "The approach lends itself to gradual implementation and phasing over time as resources allow and opportunities present"
My personal view, is that the old PC would not willingly have wanted to hide the report because it could have given added justification for the Heyes Lane car park, not the opposite. It does not look to me that Hamilton-Bailie were briefed to look at all of the village parking issues, with little parking reference other than to London Road in their report. Again from their site it states "the analysis and recommendations focus on strengthening the quality of the key entry points, as well as shifting the focus for the main High Street towards pedestrian activity and social gathering."
I believe it could deliver the necessary improvements in the aesthetics of the village, which are much needed, along with enhancing its ambience. Getting the detail right is all important, and it would be interesting to hear the village traders views. Will it make it attractive to more visitors, keep more locals in the village, so improving business, and with it generate even more parking requirements!!?.
1. the report was commissioned by CEC, not AEPC.
2. if you read Lisa's two reports, you'll see that 4 individual parish councillors commented on alderleyedge.com. Was I against it; after sitting though presentations? my use of the words 'pig' and 'flying' in the same sentence is a bit of a clue!
3. you'll read that CEC were the ones lashing out the money, not AEPC
4. where do you quote evidence of a breakdown in relationships between CEC and AEPC?
5. You seem unconcerned at the cost.The P.C. were scandalised at CEC throwing money away; that might cause a bit of strife?
6. What steps did we take to review and discuss it? We had meetings at which we reviewed and discussed the matter. I concluded that I did not like it or its probable cost.
Perhaps you would care to outline the parts of the report that you think was imaginative and improving?
If you think that the H.-B. thing was a great idea, then get it back onto the local agenda. Ask the P.C. to re-visit it? I'm sure that H-B would re-visit A.E. and make a presentation to the public; at a cost of course.