Parking for residents

Parking for residents, within the Lydiat Lane, Chorley Hall Lane and
Carlisle Street area continues to be a problem.

During not only office hours, but beyond, indiscriminate all day/ night
parking is severely compromising local residents.

Despite representations to East Cheshire Council, I was informed
of an initial meeting to be held “within 3 months” this has not materialised,
furthermore this has now been scheduled after a consultation due in
Knutsford.

There appears no respite, despite temporary parking being used in George
Street, mainly because no yellow lines have been replaced due to
resurfacing.

Action is needed soon in all affected areas of the village!

As a local resident of one of the forementioned streets I totally agree with this post and this is an ongoing headace for everyone. Every night when returning from work there is no-where to park on my street as it is full of cars belonging to restaurant goers and drinkers.
The council really needs to do something about this asap
i.e Introduce residents parking

Hear hear!

Parking restrictions must balance the needs of everybody in the village - residents and businesses.  Personally I would not want the restuarants to close down through lack of parking for their customers.  I grew up in the village in the 1970s and 80s when there were few night spots open, it was very boring!!

Well Heather, another thing that’s very boring is driving round and round the village after work looking for somewhere to park as the customers/staff of the local bars are parked outside your house.
Thankfully, I have my own private parking space so am not too badly affected, until my sleep is disturbed by their late night departures. However, I am very aware of the problems it creates for my neighbours and for my visitors.

I understand that there is free parking for 50 vehicles at the Festival Hall for those wish to show some consideration for the local residents, or be bothered to walk a little further.

Kriss Coombes

I live in Chorley Hall Lane and my view is simple. First come first served. We have no right to park outside or near to our houses and this ‘campaign’ has strong undertones of elitism and nimbyism. And, in my view again, there is too much of that in Alderley Edge already. There’s also too many cars, again a personal opinion. I can’t for the life of me get het-up about car parking. And that’s the first and last comment I’m making on the subject. Other than to politely request that no more flyers are shuvved through my letterbox on the subject of parking. It seems to be ridiculous obsession in the village.

As both a CE Councillor and a resident of Carlisle St I find myself with divided loyalties.  We are in this situation because the Council introduced decriminalisation of parking enforcement without considering the effects first.  It was as much as the Council could do to make sure that the yellow lines that existed were all legally enforceable.  Many were not.

If steps are going to be taken to address the problems of parking on some of the Victorian streets in the village - then it requires a thorough over view to be taken - not a series of piece meal unconnected steps.  If that is what happens we will simply end up chasing parked cars all around the village.

The first point to make is that yellow lines and residents’ parking does not make cars vanish.  They simply park somewhere else.

Secondly, you cannot easily force people to park in a particular place.  So even if the Festival Hall parking is free and available, it is not possible to make people use it if there is somewhere more convenient to them elsewhere.

Thirdly, it is nearly impossible to make people pay to park when there is free parking within a short walk.

These are the facts.  No point in wishing that they are not.  They are the realities of the situation.

We are faced with competing interests.  Both of which are perfectly valid but are also, to a certain extent mutually exclusive.  Heather Wienholt represents one side of the argument well.  There are many minimum wage jobs in the village and not a great pool of minimum wage workers living within walking distance.  If we want shops and bars then people have to commute and given the low rates of pay, will always seek the closest free parking to their place of work. Likewise, Julian Jones accurately reflects the frustrations that we all feel when we cannot park close to our front door and end up driving round in the pouring rain looking for a spot.

I am saddened that we were not able to get Alderley’s parking problems reviewed sooner that will now happen.  But the Council has limited resources and the change from Macc Borough and Cheshire County to CE has brought with it, its own problems.  One of which is this.  The County Council used to deal with parking on the roads.  The Borough dealt with Car Parks.

Since we joined the two together it seemed sensible to have all parking in one department.  And for that department to be the enforcement department.  So County Highways have lost responsibility for parking.  CE Highways do not deal with parking.  The CE Parking team now deal with it.  However, sadly, all the expertise for Parking matters on highways still resides in the Highways Dept.  And, there are only 2 or 3 officers in the highways team that know about parking - so resources are particularly low just now as the Parking Team get up to speed with highways parking issues.  Someone had to go next in the queue for review and it was Knutsford.

Galling as that may seem - its not all a bad thing.  By the time we get into next year the Bypass will be open and we can take some time to assess its effects on the village.  It would be nuts to do a review only to find that the Bypass changed the whole scenario.  We can model the effects of the Bypass - but reality is always a better source than a model.  It may be - and I postulate a little here - that any parking restrictions on the A34 that are there solely to facilitate the passage of traffic along the Trunk Road can be removed, freeing up more space there ?  Who knows ?  The Bypass will probably open later this Autumn / Early winter depending on the weather.  We will then have a few months to assess its effects.

Finally, by way of a couple of examples as to why you have to be careful with changes to the parking arrangements.  Firstly, from time to time someone has the bright idea of making the Car Park, across the road from the Primary School and nominally serving the Park, a Pay and Display or time limited parking area to stop commuters from the railway station using it for a free days parking.  If that were ever done, the residents of the Windermere Drive would suddenly find themselves with commuter traffic all long their street.  Much better it stays in the Car Park and the occasional mum who cannot find a space there parks for an hour or so on Windermere Drive causing little or no problem.  Secondly, Unless we make the whole village Residents’ Parking and issue each household with 2 or 3 permits.  Then any change is going to simply displace the problem.  Lydiat Lane and Carlisle Street have problems.  But if you make all of Carlisle St and the lower portion of Lydiat Lane Residents’ Parking, the non resident parkers will simply park further down on Netherfields.  There is no way that Netherfields would ever qualify for any sort of parking restriction.  The residents of Netherfields and Beech Cottages must be given a say on the solution and may well object to our problem simply being displaced onto their street.

It is not just a question of whacking in a couple of bits of Residents’ Parking - this whole issue needs thorough consideration.

I hope that is informative.

Regards

Marc

I am a senior citizen trapped in Carlisle street where I am afraid to take my car out in the certain knowledge that I am unlikely to be able to park it again anywhere near my house.
When I first took up residence in the area, over eight years ago,it was perfectly feasible, if not totally desirable, to park in the street. Now it is nigh impossible.
In desperation, I decided my only option was to move but who, in their right mind, in this automated age, is going to buy a house where they have little hope of being able to park their vehicle So, I find my once desirable residence has become a white elephant.
Every morning, as regular as clockwork I watch the same sleek, highly polished car comfortably parking in the space left by an outgoing worker some five minutes earlier and I watch the same woman pick up her new brief case and depart and my heart sinks in the knowledge that she will not be returning until between five and six that evening when she leaves her work place.
Car parks have been provided for people such as this and for shoppers and ladies who lunch so can I implore the council to rectify this situation, excercise some moral judgement and restore order to Alderley Edge.

June McGregor

Parking problems are not ‘owned’ by the residents of Alderley Edge - I think you will find it problem up and down the country.  I have a young son who commutes daily to work in Alderley Edge in order to earn an honest living and work and learn from excellent restaurants.  The added cost of local parking is £3.00 a day I understand - roughly £72.00 a month to come out of a minimum wage.  Clearly a reason for parking elsewhere.  Can any of you honestly say you do not park in the cheapest (if not free) place you can?  As long as road tax is paid, and there are no clear, and legal (not hand written notes of personal opinions stuck on windscreens) parking restrictions, then we can all park wherever we so wish.  We live in a small cul-de-sac, and when neighbours have visitors or more than one car, parking problems happen - so we get on with it. After all there are no laws to say we have to park outside our own house. Alderley Edge is clearly an affluent area and you should appreciate the restaurants and the positives they have on the area - after all isnt that why you want to live there in the first place?  Ask yourselves what the outcome would be if they all closed?  Would you still want to live there? 

Christina, have you read Kriss’s post above about the festival hall’s car park being free and also i think the co-op is free after 18-00 (although im not 100% sure) There really is no need for your son to be parking outside peoples homes 5 nights a week, all we are asking for is consideration when people visit our village.  And to use an example of people visiting neighours every now and again is a non-argument, unless they come every day of the week and prevent you from parking near your house all the time….....

While I agree with Christina in respect of her son should be able to park in any legal position (we do the same to save on parking charges) I must disagree on your comment re: “after all isnt that why you want to live there in the first place?  Ask yourselves what the outcome would be if they all closed?  Would you still want to live there?  “
We did not move here because it has posh restaurants or because it’s an affluent area, we move here because we wanted a slightly larger house having two teenage boys (at the time) and if all the posh restaurants closed down tomorrow we would not mind as we can’t afford to eat in them anyway on East Cheshire Council wages.

Fair points re neighbours with occasonal visitors! But lets not forget my neighbours next door with 5 cars and the other side with 4 cars! Anyway - on checking out other places to park in Alderley Edge - its clear to see that official public car parks are severley lacking in spaces - a total of 227 spaces to be exact as per the website for http://www.cheshire east.gov.uk.  So that will go some way to explaining the problems you have. Festival Hall isn’t free parking and is closed for parking should there be an event on, so that wont help in the long term. Ryleys Lane has just 34 free parking spaces so I’ll bet they are filled quite early on in the day, and I dont know how far this is from my sons work place, though I will suggest this to my son! I dont know what the answer is for you and I sympathise. The shops/restaurants need visitors to the area and along with that come the staff, then of course the customers.  Perhaps the council needs to address the problem as a matter of urgency. Maybe if any of you have a space on your drive you could ‘let it’!  I too cannot afford to eat in the restaurants!  Consideration to the residents but also to the workers, who have parking problems too, allbeit on the other side of the problem. I too cannot afford to eat in the restaurants!

Christina, you are spot on about the council needing to address the parking problems as a matter of urgency but that word appears not to be in their vocabulary, except for the overnight removal of the valuable recycling recepticles.

However, you are completely wrong about the Festival Hall parking. IT IS FREE, and as it suffers the problem of being under used, I think it is well worth your son giving it a try. Add these 50+ places to the 35 on Riley’s Lane then Alderley is better served than most. ( I can’t think of any in Wilmslow or Macclesfield)

Many of us moved to Alderley long before these glitzy bars appeared on the scene, We enjoyed some real shops and parking was not a problem, with yet more bars due to open on the high street the problem will increase As the burst of these businesses has created many of these problems then maybe it should be encumbent on them to help solve them, by either increasing their salaries or helping with transport.( I use public transport weekly)

Please be aware that should resident’s parking ever be granted, we will have to pay for the privillage of parking near our homes and for any visitors we may have. This is on top of the Parish precept which last year was almost the highest in Cheshire, so don’t assume that our problems are trivial.

Kriss Coombes.

Christina, a little research highlights the obvious; of which the Residents are only too aware!
Responsible Employers e.g Chess Telecom,who have had a long term commitment to the
village,have negotiated Permit spaces in official car parks, over a 17 year period, at present
£150 per car p.a. A bonus for the underpromoted / underused Festival Hall.
Where is the responsibility from other groups e.g Your son’s employers, who presumably are aware of their own shift patterns, but unconcerned about the disruption caused ?
What will happen when No.15 reopens to the parking available to Residents of Clifton Street?
More of the same,particularly as 2 groups will have involvement in 5 restaurants.
However later closing in a variety of business’s only compouds the issue, if there is no lead!
Where is the consideration in denying Residents/ Visitors access to& from Beech Cottages &
Netherfields over a 3 hour period on Friday, compromising Fire/ Ambulance/ Council/& Carers ? Did i forget to mention, a barworker, whose car totally blocked the road in both directions ! Hardly endearing behaviour.
The last point concerning “letting” would be perfect: if only 80% of the Houses in the affected
areas, contained in our proposal, had the facility of off-street parking or drives!
Meanwhile a deafening silence from the Parish & Cheshire East.

I thought when you buy a house you know if there is a driveway in front of it or not, or that you bought it right next to a main street.

These point would also be reflected in the purchase price.

I guess, Craig, its a bit like, which came first the chicken or the egg?  Which came first the restaurants or the householders.  I suppose what I’m trying to say is - did ‘you’ (‘you’ being any resident in Alderley Edge), move there before or after the restaurants came.  (Apologies to Mr Coombes or anyone who did live in Alderley Edge before the ‘glitzy restaurants).  This argument/discussion could go on till the cows come home.  At the end of the day - even if my son should park elsewhere, that is only one car less, then there would be the next car, parking where someone doesnt approve of. So, I admit, I dont know the answer.  I will be in Alderley Edge myself on Saturday, but I assure you I will park with due consideration.  My car is taxed and insured, and I shall park legally!  Be it approved by the residents of Alderley Edge though remains to be seen!

In all honestly I think some people on here need to get a serious grip of themselves. Yes parking issues are frustrating and tiring and not particularly what anybody wants to be dealing with after a long day at work but to say ‘my heart sank’ as I think one comment mentions is just a little bit amateur dramatics. The problem with Alderley Edge is not so much the issues regarding parking but the bubble that so many of it’s residents live in. Do you honestly believe that this is the only village in the UK with this problem? This country is far too small for the amount of cars driving on it’s roads FACT perhaps it’s time to accept this!! Why not ease the issue by getting rid of some of your vehicles, many households these days have 2 or more cars each. This way you are easing the parking, giving the public transport a boost and lessening your carbon foot print? Just a thought. And here is my last thought before I stop contributing any further to this discussion; if not being able to park outside of your house is the biggest concern/stress/problem in your life then you should realise just how very lucky you are indeed.

hello Jessica,

Why would you ‘stop contributing’ to this thread ?

Had this put through my door, i certainly will be attending to rasie my concerns on parking in the village and the need for a mixtiure of residents and visitor parking in the village. i suspect it could be a meeting paying us lip service before the parish council elections.

“The Alderley Edge Parish Council has recently held a meeting with Officers from Cheshire East regarding a forthcoming survey of Parking within the village. Councillors are aware that there are issues of nuisance parking and obstruction caused in Lydiat Lane, Netherfields, and adjacent streets, and that the general issue of Parking within the Village is of concern to residents, traders and employees alike.

The Parish Council is determined to see that this survey addresses real issues, and produces an opportunity for interested parties to make representations and influence any changes that might be made throughout the Village. We hope to achieve this by holding a full Public consultation, in the form carried out by Cheshire East in Wilmslow. The Parish Council is not prepared to see a ‘superficial’ survey carried out in a narrow or limited way.

The Parish Council would like to invite you to an informal discussion, so that Councillors might be informed of the issues as you see them, and listen to your suggestions for possible solutions. This will allow the Parish Council to set the agenda for the forthcoming Public Consultation, which we will drive forward, in partnership with Cheshire East.

The meeting will be in the Council Chamber of the Festival Hall, here in Alderley Edge, on Monday 4th April, starting at 7 pm. We hope you will be able to attend.”

Mike Williamson

Chairman of the Alderley Edge Parish Council.