I was walking along the alley between Davey Lane and the station (since the trees have dropped their leaves this has been pretty treacherous) on 19th November and there was a gentleman who had spent most of the morning and afternoon clearing the alley of all of the leaves.
I stopped to thank him and it transpired he had been doing this every year for about ten years since a lady fell and broke her leg.
He may not ever see this but I just wanted to acknowledge how nice it was to see somebody doing something so helpful for others, and not seeking any recognition for it. With so many awful stories in the press simple acts like this help to restore your faith in humanity.
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The lane is privately owned.
The Parish Council lengthsman used to do the strimming etc. Hopefully he is/will be able to continue to do so.
It's reassuring to know that there are some caring people out and about doing good work to help others.
As Councils become more "cash strapped" it would be good if we could raise a group of volunteers prepared to do this sort of thing in order to keep pathways and pavements safe for (particularly the elderly) people who need to get into the Village but don't have cars.
10 mins with the leaf blower job done . its amazing how many dog owners believe in the dog poo fairy that picks up their dogs mess after them ! all you dog owners who do pick up thank you but unfortunately some of your fellow dog walkers let the side down . ive blown the leaves to the side there are about 6 dog poo bags in amongst the leaves and some that wasn't bagged yuck.
It is usually the Community payback gang that turn up once a year.
It is remarkably free of dog do but does suffer from litter. I've done my Womble routine from time to time but we seem to have lost a bin at the station end for some reason.
the lengthsman has strimmed etc. the path, on several occasions, over the recent past. He clears away the green litter. I don't think he was ever programmed to actually clean the path. Making the Lane lighter and tidyer is one thing, but the P.C. doesn't own the Lane.
Indeed a few years back, the P.C. paid a local gardener to cut back a large amount of greenery over the Lane; the lights were also put back into working order at that time.
The ground on one side belongs (I think) to the railway, but they did not show any interest in the Lane, even though the greenery on their land protrudes into the Lane.
I am told that the lengthsman may be leaving the P.C. soon (Nigel, if you read this and I have been mis-informed, please forgive me).
The P.C. also employed an apprentice; a very capable young lady. When her time was up, there was no urgency to replace her as the F. Hall was about to be re-developed and so there would not be much work for an apprentice, for some time.
May I suggest that if a new apprentice is to be taken on and a new lengthsman, might the two job descriptions be up-dated to cover such things as lane clearing?
Just a thought.
Meanwhile on the streets of Paris...
So what can be done?
1. contact Cheshire East Officers and ask for specific places to be dealt with ?
2. contact your C.E./Borough Councillor and ask him to deal with C.E.?
3. contact your parish Council; they are not I feel actually responsible, but a P.C. will often
get sometning done, if it is for the benefit of the local community.
4. get a shovel and practise, on leaves, for the clearing of the heavy snowfalls of later this
month !
http://bit.ly/1Q4ZA7e
I hope my experience with CEC is not typical- in July someone knocked over a street light nearby; a new column was fitted within two weeks but we are still waiting for a lamp on the top of it! Despite numerous calls to Highways and promises made by them, two out of five lamps in our road are still not working.
Might be that you have to go for your option 4?
meanwhile back in Alderley Edge I will see what the 2 path ways are like after these winds ,hopefully less dog mess this time
The PC actually carried out a very thorough survey of all road drains in the Parish and submitted their findings to CE in advance of their scheduled work.
I'm not sure if the scheduled work ever happened though.
perhaps someone who knows could tell us all what is or is not happening and who may or may not be doing it?
Otherwise is it mushroom time?
I'm guessing that you might know the way of these things.
Doesn't the responsibility for clearing drains rest with CE? I understand that they had scheduled work for "The Autumn"
With this knowledge, a forward-thinking member of the PC requested volunteers to assist in surveying road drains throughout the Parish. On completion of the project a report was sent to CE pointing out the general situation and highlighting particular problems.
I was a member of the volunteer team and I covered Davey Lane and the Bollin Fields estate armed with a long stick, a notebook and a camera.
I can confirm that there were a number of blocked drains and (Graham) in Davey Lane in particular, there were several drains that were badly blocked and clearly had been for some considerable time - ie not just a scattering of this years fallen leaves but packed solid with soil and debris - probably accumulated over years.
Clearly (and for whatever reason) CE have not yet carried out the work.
Perhaps the events in Lancashire and Cumbria over the last few days might serve to focus their minds.
as I recall, the drains at the lower end of Davey Lane were not only cleaned but actually somewhat repaired a while back, Stephen Higham may well have been involved in that, so hi Stephen if you are reading this and can you elucidate ?
It surely must be a C.E. task; whether Highways or some other body; there's been so much contracting out that its sometimes hard to work out exactly who does what !
I don't wish to sound a moaner but don't you think that it would have been nice to have been told about the activity re. drains, by volunteers, before Graham et al complained?
If someone is doing something useful, please don't let their light be hidden under a bushel?
While we're at it; the drains in the Park are pretty much blocked. They usually are around this time of year. Erstwhile I found that a polite request to the Parks Officers was enough to get some chaps to turn up and have a dig/rodding. Could that be done by the P.C.?
Have a Wonderful Winter Solstice !
The lower end of Davey Lane (at it's junction with Wilmslow Road) has long been a problem and is often flooded.
Two of the worst (In my opinion) blocked drains on Davey Lane were in the section between Aldeli and the Railway Bridge - absolutely solid and these may well have contributed to the problem at the afore mentioned junction as they would not "drain" and the surface water would therefore just continue to the low lying area by the junction. The drains close to Annis Road were just as bad......I can send you photos if you like.
In answer to your "moan" about the situation. When Graham contacted the Parish Council he says that he was informed (I think correctly) that CE were scheduled to carry out work in September. He may or may not have been informed that a bunch of volunteers had been around, prodding sticks down drains in order to get an idea where the more serious problems were.
That CE have (it would seem) done nothing in the interim period is a matter for all our concern and perhaps we could collectively direct our ire toward them.
Today is Dec. 10th. That's 7 working (weekday) days and 2 w'end days.
Several worthy members of our community have passed an opinion above.
And how about the drains in the park?
Can anyone tell us all whether appoaches have been made to C.E. ? or that C.E. have undertaken to leap into action? Before xmas even ?
Have any of our Borough Councillors made a statement or two? In the spirit of xmas for example!
By the way Mike, why would you write 'camerons tory xmas bombing spree' ? a few Tory M.Ps voted against it and a rather larger number of Labour M.Ps voted for the motion. I think that is called 'Parliamentary Democracy'. You may well not agree with it (your perfect right of course, as you live in a Parliamentary Democracy) but why heap your scorn on just the Tories?
It'll soon be the 'shortest day' ; Spring is on the way !