New parking restrictions to improve safety on Trafford Road

Part of Trafford Road will be closed on Wednesday, 30th November, from the junction with Macclesfield Road to the junction with Chapel Road.

The closure is to enable Cheshire East Highways to paint lines on a section of the road which will prohibit parking on the left hand side, as you head down from Macclesfield Road, and on the right hand side where there is a blind bend.

Councillor Craig Browne explained "The scheme had been proposed by my predecessor, but the public consultation last year highlighted a number of concerns from residents. As a result, some changes were made to the scheme, which then had to be re-advertised earlier this year and so it has taken over 18 months to come to fruition.

"As a result of listening to residents' concerns, I hope we have achieved something that everyone will be reasonably happy with. It will result in a handful of parking bays being lost, but this is in the interests of highway safety, to prevent continued parking on the blind bend on the upper section of Trafford Rd."

Councillor Browne added "In the longer term, I still believe that a one-way regime (uphill only) is the correct way to address this, without losing much-needed parking spaces; however, £8,000 (not including officer time) had already been incurred in drawing up the legal order, so for the time being it made sense to implement the current scheme."

Pedestrian access to any premises situated within the temporary closure will be maintained at all times and access for emergency vehicles and residents will be maintained where possible whilst the work is carried out.

Tags:
Parking, Parking , Trafford Road
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Comments

Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.

Carol Chadwick
Tuesday 15th November 2016 at 9:21 pm
So the road should be made one way at great inconvenience to the residents in order to allow office workers etc to park there all day. If Councillor Browne is so concerned with parking spaces then might I suggest our old friend Heyes Lane allotments would provide rather more spaces than Trafford Road.
Charlie Gaughan
Wednesday 16th November 2016 at 12:07 pm
Wise words but sadly a few potatoes count we don't I wonder how may of the allotments belong to people who live in the village
David Woods
Wednesday 16th November 2016 at 4:55 pm
If this section of Trafford Road is to be made one way in the future, surely it should be downhill not up. If it is one way uphill, then traffic wishing to get to Chapel Road, Mottram Road or the lower section of Trafford Road would have to join the queue at the island at the bottom of Macclesfield Road, then immediately wait in the middle of London Road in order to turn right into Chapel Road. Whereas, if the one way flow was down the Trafford Road hill, traffic wishing to access Macclesfield Road would simply go to the end of Chapel Road and swing round onto Macclesfield Road at the island.
Craig Browne
Thursday 17th November 2016 at 1:56 pm
Hi Carol,

Thank you for your comments and suggestion.

We have always said that we would consider all available options, including the allotments at Heyes Lane. Cheshire East officers are helping us with this, looking at possible alternative sites around the village where either allotments or parking could be provided. Legal officers are also examining whether it is technically possible to take away (part of) a statutory allotment site; they may yet conclude that it is not.

Residents often ask me "what is happening?" and I do share their sense of frustration. In many ways, Heyes Lane is the most complex option: it needs Cheshire East's agreement to provide alternative open space, there has to be planning permission to build a car park, the de Trafford family have to agree to remove the land covenant, the allotment holders have to agree to relocate, everything has to be approved by the Secretary of State and then we have the difficult job of finding the money to pay for it.

When we came into office, we said that parking would be our top priority. People could be forgiven for assuming that this would mean everything being resolved quickly, but unfortunately local government does not work that way. If it did, perhaps others would have solved the problem before we arrived: as we know, they did not. The conversion of green space to car park, sadly, is not straightforward; therefore in the short term, we are trying to create additional on-street parking spaces where it is safe to do so.

Kind regards,
Craig
Craig Browne
Thursday 17th November 2016 at 2:03 pm
Hi David,

It is still very much in the melting pot at the moment and these kinds of issues can be ironed out when it gets to the public consultation stage.

The initial thinking was that traffic tends to travel more slowly when it is going uphill than when it is going downhill; also, that it would prevent turning onto the blind crossroads at Trafford Road, Chapel Road and Mottram Road.

As I say, nothing is yet set in stone and I'm grateful for your comments.

Kind regards,
Craig
Alan Brough
Thursday 17th November 2016 at 6:36 pm
Would it not be straight forward, more practical and safer to make the junction at the bottom of Macclesfield Road a roundabout?
Pete Taylor
Thursday 17th November 2016 at 8:01 pm
@ Craig Browne, apparently traffic in Alderley travels faster up hill than down, according to the recent excercise!

http://bit.ly/2g1k6tQ
Elizabeth Mooney
Sunday 27th November 2016 at 10:43 am
Craig, I totally agree with your comments re Trafford Road. Making the one way system uphill would reduce the speed of traffic and would also benefit the majority of folk in the village who need to get to work in Macclesfield and those using the Hospital as well as morning commuters. Creating the one way downhill merely provides more benefit to traffic coming in to the village and greater convenience for the various trucks and HGVs working on development sites there. I appreciate that it is a convenient morning 'cut through' for the out of towners coming in to the village each morning but the needs of residents in the village should be considered above others in this one as well as the obvious safety issues, also the junction at the bottom of Trafford Road is easier and safer to negotiate going uphill rather than the other way round.