Alderley Edge Parish Council has confirmed that a thorough parking review will be carried in the village and that all options are up for discussion.
Speaking at an informal public meeting on Wednesday, 3rd June, Councillor Rachael Grantham "We need to carry out a review of our roads and parking - it is essential that we come up with a solution. We need to present well costed ideas that will find a solution not just to fix it for tomorrow, or next month or next week but will take us to 2030 and beyond."
Craig Browne, Mike Taylorson and Myles Garbett met with James Howard, Project and Development Manager at Cheshire East, and Louise Mitchell who is in charge of enforcement earlier that day.
Mike Taylorson said "We discussed a number of options related to initial proposals, after being informed by Michael Jones (Leader of Cheshire East Council) that all options were on the table.
"We're exploring these and will revert with proper information once we have it."
Councillor Mike Dudley-Jones added "There was a tendency perhaps in the discussions that went on before that we were stabbing our fingers at short term solutions without any proof they would actually be effective and that is simply not on.
"Alderley Edge needs a 2030 to 2050 solution, one that lasts, one that's substantial and one that takes the problem away once and for all."
"The process has started and we will not do anything that will not involve you and long discussions about how best we go about it but virtually every option that we choose to look at is on the table, which is a long way from where we were in early April."
Mike Taylorson confirmed that the review carried out in 2011 by Cheshire East Council will be looked at again "to produce a better result".
He added "We have to take stock of what we have at the moment and find a better way of using it because I think we've had situations which were allowed to continue, for example London Road was effectively unenforceable for a period of 3 to 4 years because the signage and timings on London Road were incompatible so you would not have seen the issuing of hardly any parking tickets on that stretch."
Mike Dudley-Jones concluded by saying "There will be a lot of work going on and I'd like to think that at the next informal meeting, in a couple of months time, we will have some progress."
Comments
Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.
If there is to be a covenant against building, what happens to all the ideas put forward at the recent meeting e.g. a skateboard arena, basketball court etc?
Would a no-building covenant mean the final end of the hopes for a cafe in the park?
The displacement of parking in Wilmslow and A/E merely pushes the problem further round the corner......... The needs of the evening /night time economy is different to those of the the working day or weekend...... With a thorough understanding hopefully a more meaningful solution can be found.... Then I can get to my bank instead of going to Wilmslow
Might we at least see a full list of the options being considered?
I am heartened by the idea of considering all options and taking the blinkers off. It feels like the right way to go about things.