More parking spaces and one-way systems in the pipeline

As reported last week, a number of additional parking spaces are due to be created in the village centre.

In addition to the four spaces being added outside Gusto on London Road and the conversion of the three disabled/ doctors spaces outside the old surgery on George Street for general use there are plans to create another seven parking spaces.

Cllr Craig Browne explained "Parking in Alderley Edge has not become a problem overnight, rather the situation was allowed to deteriorate over a number of years. Long-term problems rarely have a quick-fix solution; however, efforts are ongoing and the Parish Council will release a statement on this shortly. In the meantime, I am working with Cheshire East Highways to try and find innovative and inexpensive ways to create more on-street spaces."

He added "In the short term, we are trying to create additional spaces as and where we can. The latest improvements will see the creation of five new spaces on South Street, as well as a further two spaces on West Street. Incrementally, when added to the spaces announced last week on London Road and George Street, these gains will amount to 12 new spaces close to the centre of the village. Working on the basis of an hourly turnover of spaces between 8am-6pm, that's enabling an extra 120 visits by shoppers over the course of the working day."

These changes should be implemented over the next 3 to 4 months.

Councillor Browne continued "In the medium term, we are also looking to introduce a one-way regime for George Street, South Street and West Street (subject to a period of public consultation) which would have the dual advantage of easing traffic flows on the blind junctions at each end of South Street, as well as potentially enabling some further parking spaces to be added in future."

Tags:
George Street, Parking, Parking , South Street, West Street
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Comments

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

Stewart Pickering
Tuesday 23rd August 2016 at 2:09 pm
Great news, especially the introduction of a one way system on South Street .... the (thoughtness) weekend parking particularly at the West Street / South Street junction leaves cars not able to turn and creates a complete blockage if cars are coming down West Street and along South Street at the same time
Geoffrey Davies-Palin
Tuesday 23rd August 2016 at 3:04 pm
This is great news. However the one way systems we have in place at the moment need to have there signage and markings updated as it is a constant daily for cars to be driving the wrong way down most of them
Stephen Justice
Tuesday 23rd August 2016 at 4:51 pm
Excellent news!
Duncan Herald
Wednesday 24th August 2016 at 8:16 am
Hopefully making a one-way system there will NOT be accompanied by double yellow lines?
Duncan Herald
Wednesday 24th August 2016 at 2:04 pm
Above, Councillor Browne writes of an 'hourly turnover of spaces'.

I can't agree that such is of much use to either shoppers or employees.

Surely a shopper needs time to browse, visit more than one shop and perhaps have lunch i.e. bringing worthwhile trade/money into the village. How much can be achieved in only one hour?

Employees? Rushing out in pairs, to swop parking places every hour?

He also writes that 'the situation was allowed to deteriorate over a number of years' and that 'Long term problems rarely have a quick fix'.
He and other members of his Party, have been in Office for nigh on 16 months and no long-term work has yet begun; as far as we know. So he may seem to be right.
But the previous plan was for a single large car-park on Heyes Lane, for up to 175 places. Is that not a longer term solution and a quick one at that?


May I repeat a question that others have mentioned? Has ought gone on to put in place the promised larger car parks (allotments site and C.H.L. Playing Field site) and if so, may we of the general public please be up-dated?

Also who is to pay for the larger car parks and what are the costings? If C. East have been asked to pay then a good job of course. If not, will it be P.C. money?

Remember gentle reader that it is your money that may be spent and so do you not believe that you should be 'kept in the loop' about where and when and how much?
Claire MacLeod
Wednesday 24th August 2016 at 7:29 pm
Duncan

You should be commended on your persistence, if nothing else. However, I simply cannot stand by and allow you to yet again suggest that the current Parish Council are being secretive or opaque in their activities. Particularly when most people who have lived here in Alderley Edge know full well that the previous Parish Council, which you were a member of, were (frankly) ousted as a result of their secretive and non-consultative activities. In comparison to the Parish Council that you were a part of, the current Parish Council have been consultative, transparent, responsive and (most important of all) honest.

You keep banging on about the Heyes Lane allotments being turned into a car park. And yet the previous Parish Council, which you were a part of, clearly lost all their seats in the last election because this was an unpopular idea (to the majority of voters, apart from, I concede, Jon Williams and David Hadley).

I agree with Councillor Browne. The parking situation has, indeed, been allowed to deteriorate for a number of years and you and your former councillors had responsibility for this issue way before the existing Parish Council took over in May of last year. Your proposed 'solution' was rejected by the electorate (amongst other things), and therefore the community has entrusted this Parish Council to deal with it in a different way. I am heartened to read that not only are they taking clear and specific action (albeit incremental) to increase parking spaces in the village, but they are also keeping to their promise of keeping everyone abreast of developments - something their predecessors chose not to do, unless it suited them.

It should also not go unnoticed that the village is looking a good deal brighter thanks to the planters that the PC have introduced and got sponsorship for, from local businesses. Oh, and the plans for investment in the park, for which they consulted with and involved the local youth community. Oh, and completing the Medical Centre on time, in spite of inheriting a far from water-tight project (don't demand specifics, I have no appetite to revisit this again. It's all documented on this very site).

You may remember some months ago there was a post in which Councillor Mike Dudley Jones was quoted as saying (something along the lines of) it will be at least 5 years, possibly longer, before a large-scale, long term solution is found to the parking problem. This is not welcome news, but at least it's honest. I'm pretty sure this is because all of these long-term, large-scale parking solutions require the co-operation of, and possibly funding from, the local authority You also keep banging on about the cost of the possible solutions to the parking problem. Let me ask you... who was to pay for the cost of paving over the Heyes Lane allotments that you and your colleagues proposed? And what, exactly, were those costs in the first place?

Unless you are willing to answer the two questions above, may I suggest that you give the current Parish Council the support they deserve, as they have at least done what they promised to do? (And, in spite of your claim to the contrary in your post above, they absolutely DID NOT 'promise' car parks on the allotments nor CHL Playing Field. They merely consulted. If that word confuses you, it means asked people what they thought, and then reported back.)
Ricky Lee
Wednesday 24th August 2016 at 9:13 pm
I'm not going to choose sides but I would like to see the On-Going permanent street parking around Ryleys Lane, the Lakes and the Eaton Drive estate resolve by real Long Term parking for workers in the village.

Just adding a few spaces here and there is not going to do anything.

With schools returning soon, the parking issue is only going to get worst.

This need real solution. If not we may read in AlderleyEdge.Com of serious accidents on our village roads.

Also who designed the current temporary traffic lights? It's not logical to affect the main traffic for such small fix. Can the utility company fix the water leak asap.
David Hadfield
Thursday 25th August 2016 at 6:34 am
Well, I AM going to choose sides and for this "New" Parish Council to be in position for the last 16 months without any progress on the "Village Parking Problem" is now becoming a joke ...... they got in on the basis of doing something about the parking situation ?
What have they done so far, apart from surveys and more surveys, without anything constructive.happening ?
PC Councillors making statements that it will be at least 5 years before a long-term solution is found for the village parking problem is just irresponsible and treats the public who voted for them as idiots.
After all, this country can elect a new Prime Minister within DAYS but yet this PC have been procrastinating for the last 16 months, plus they had ample time to make plans BEFORE they were elected as that was the main issue.
The Heyes Lane Allotments solution is there but they don't have the guts to admit it.

Claire MacLeod doesn't want to visit the Medical Centre subject again, but yet she throws out statements about it .......
(so i presume whatever is now said about it, she won't respond as she doesn't want to discuss the subject any more ........ thank goodness for that, say I) ?
Just remember that the Medical Centre was 95% completed by the old PC and it was up to this new PC to finish it off. Who should take most of the credit for the building ?
....... 95% of the work by the old PC or 5% by the new PC ?

Waitrose recently decided to alter their parking system (for the better, and agreed by everyone who decided to comment about it) but all the PC could do was complain ? .......
Are the PC really being forward-thinking and positive about parking issues in the village ?
Steve Scholes
Thursday 25th August 2016 at 7:12 am
Well said Claire nobody has forgotten how dreadful the last Parish Council were.
Duncan /David sadly you are both becoming a bore.
David Hadfield
Thursday 25th August 2016 at 8:10 am
The truth always hurts certain people who cannot face true facts.
David Hadfield
Thursday 25th August 2016 at 8:43 am
If I find something boring, I don't read it or respond to it.
The subject of parking in the village may be boring to you, but to most people, it's a hot subject and very important.
Maybe you would like to expand YOUR views on parking in the village ?
David Hadfield
Kirsteen Peel
Thursday 25th August 2016 at 10:47 am
David - Steve Scholes was not saying the subject of parking was becoming a bore as I read his comment - he was suggesting that the constant sniping and negativity (not to mention trying to score points and re-write things past) displayed by yourself and Duncan Herald was a bore. I for one totally concur.
David Hadfield
Thursday 25th August 2016 at 11:01 am
Good, I thrive on comments like that. Well Done Kirsteen.
Apart from your sniping and negativity comments as above, would YOU like to join the debate about the parking situation here in Alderley Edge ?

Let me help you ......
Kirsteen, where would YOU like to see more parking spaces ?
and Steve, where would YOU like to see more parking spaces ?
Duncan Herald
Thursday 25th August 2016 at 12:52 pm
Hi Kirsteen,
I do not believe that I 'snipe'. I ask questions and if questions are not answered, then what would you deduce?
Might you care to put some questions to the local authorities, to see if you can elicit the desired info. Or do you not have any questions; just faith?
Why oh why can't all the info. on the parking matters be out there in the public domain? Then a full dialogue can take place.
Just in passing, do you believe that the parking problem is being dealt with? and if it is, why don't I and others know what is 'in hand'?
By the way, I live within strolling distance of the village centre and so I have no axe to grind. So would you accept that my interest is disinterested?
Peter Watson
Thursday 25th August 2016 at 4:31 pm
I also concur Kirsteen.
Alan Brough
Thursday 25th August 2016 at 8:51 pm
I also concur Kirsteen.

Yes the pace of change is frustratingly slow, but that is NOT the fault of AEPC, it is entirely due to the hopelessly inefficient processes deployed by Cheshire East Council.

Duncan Herald, as a former Parish Councillor knows this full well, yet seeks to gain political capital by sniping (and it IS sniping) at our Parish Council for doing exactly what it said on the tin prior to election.......they have studied the problems, consulted on the problems, sought public opinion on the best solutions to the problems and then, having done all that, they are dealing with the unenviable task of trying to cajole CE into using OUR money to solve OUR problem.

As Claire MacLeod quite rightly points out, Cllr Mike Dudley-Jones very boldly (but quite realistically) warned that it could be five years or more before we see a meaningful number of additional parking spaces in Alderley Edge.

Duncan and his sycophantic side-kick David Hadfield would have us believe that, had the old Tory brigade been batting for the home side, the scores on the pavilion doors would have been entirely different.

Frankly I feel that they are deluding both themselves and us.
Duncan Herald
Friday 26th August 2016 at 10:27 am
Hi Alan,
what a rant; 'calm down dear', its only a parish council thing!

You infer that the former Conservative Parish Council had no solution but you know that is untrue.
Their proposal was to build a large car park on the Heyes Lane site (relocating the allotment users to the St. Hilary's site) and we had located the monies to do so.
The present incumbents have changed that to 2 partial car parks, one of which is to be on the very same Heyes Lane site; plus ca change eh ?

You write that delay is down to Cheshire East's processes. One of my requests is that we of the general public should be kept informed of the current state of negotiations, whereas you seem to suggest that we should humbly wait until our 'betters' see fit to spring a 'fait accompli' upon us. Do you not think, as I clearly do, that the general public should have a say before all is decided?

As to you referring to David Hadfield as my 'sycophantic side-kick'; that is simply a gratuitous insult, the like of which this dialogue can do without. For you to insult David simply because he is exercising his democratic right to disagree with your views only weakens your argument. Please can ypu swallow your bile aswe try to be polite to each other?
Duncan Herald
Friday 26th August 2016 at 10:51 am
Hi Peter,
may I engage with you on this matter?

If so, please allow me to do so by posing to you a small number of questions?
1. Do you agree that the parking situation in Alderley Edge has got worse over the last year or so?
2. If so, would you agree that no-one has yet come up with a viable long-term solution (neither the previous P.C. nor the present P.C.) ?
3. Might you concur that the most reasonable medium term solution is one large car park, probably on the Heyes Lane site (as wanted by the last P.C.) or two larger car parks on both the Heyes Lane site and the playing field site (as proposed by the present P.C.) ?
4. If you are still with me, do you think it justifiable, by the general public, that costings/business plans/details of car parks should be made public before things are 'set in concrete'?

So I'm not accused of a lack of transparency, my answers to the above are 'yes, yes, one,yes'.
Duncan Herald
Friday 26th August 2016 at 11:15 am
Hi Claire,
always good to see 'lady-in-blinkers' back in the jousting lists. Just kidding.

I shall have to defend myself now, from the accusations in your above.

1. You write about the present P.C. consulting over parking e.g. where a car park might go. Not 100% accurate imho.
The document presented to the public for voting was a list of possibilities, all of which had already been approved by the P.C. There was no mention on that document of the 'one large car park on Heyes Lane', I believe because the P.C. were opposed to that idea and did not wish to put it 'out there'. Is there some other reason that you can enlighten me with as to why the P.C. left out that idea?

2. You know that since the election, I have written that I am happy to answer any questions or accusations about the work I was involved in (park and open spaces) but that if you wished to know of my ex-colleagues, then you should approach them, not me.
So your general accusation of being secretive and non-consulting, if applied to me, I'll hurtle back into your teeth; gently of course, as a gentleman must.

3. Yes the flower tubs have brightened the village; credit where credit is due. Are there hanging baskets to follow? We tried that but alas they mostly perished of thirst !

4.Your implied criticism re the Medical Centre is rather mean-spirited of you. The whole idea and getting it launched was a ground-breaking piece of work by the former P.C. I'm happy to give credit to its being seen through by the present P.C. but don't please try to take away from the praise due to especially the former Chairman and the former Chair of Finance.

5. Indeed I do keep banging on about costs. If there is a business plan in existence, including probable costs, why can that not be shared with the public? If there is no such business plan/costings in existence, just say so? If there are negotiations going on, as we speak, with Cheshire East of where-ever else, is it some big secret?

Oh well, that's enough (for the time being). Will I get my questions answered? Or must I wait until after the aviation lessons for the bacon-givers?
Alan Brough
Friday 26th August 2016 at 4:08 pm
Duncan,

You are right in that the previous PC had a cunning and fiendish plan to make a car park out of Heyes Lane Allotments. However, it was not a plan that the majority of Alderley Edge voters supported.

There was a strong feeling that, frankly, we were being told what we were going to have and that we would have it whether we liked it or not.

It subsequently became clear that the plan was poorly thought-out, very poorly costed and that it was (in all likelihood) illegal in that it involved taking land that the PC was not entitled to take.

Ho-hum (as you like to say) all nine of the then Conservative Councillors were despatched
spectacularly to consider other ways of spending their free time and a new PC was voted in with a clear mandate to consult, report and engage.

As said already, they made no pretence that the matter would be resolved quickly, indeed they warned that it could take several years - personally I'd rather it take years than botch up a quick solution that takes much from the amenity of the village whilst giving little back.

You suggest that your betters might spring a "fait accompli" on us. How? They have been very transparent up to date and have gone to some considerable length to offer a variety of solutions based around the expressed preferences of the village folk.

You want to know more. You have every right, but why not just amble along to the PC meeting (you know where it is) and use the opportunity of "Public Questions" to ask away? I am sure you will find it a much more friendly forum than the one in which you used to partake where a certain Councillor would peer, hawk-like over his half moon spectacles and dismiss anyone daring to ask a question with utter disdain.

Happy days
Duncan Herald
Friday 26th August 2016 at 5:46 pm
Hi Alan,
yes we had a cunning plan; Blackadder would've been proud of us
.
If we had not been whupped in the election, the car park may well have been up and running by now; and the users of the allotments in their new (larger) grounds, with water and electricity on tap (pun intended).

So you agree then that there is as yet no knowledge of what may happen, in the public domain? That's what your text above seems to say.

Our plan was poorly thought out?
But we never released any great details other than that the area would be a landscaped car park, as we had not had time to get everything underway. If we'd had 16 months since then, don't you think the thing would be working?
By the way, we had talked about charging only 40p/hour in the first instance. Do we have any idea as to the possible charges in the proposed car parks?

Come on Alan; what car parks are we to get, where will they be, what capacity will they have, what will it cost and who pays? Surely there will be a business plan? After all, the P.C. are 'big' on business plans are they not. Will it be the 5 years that the P.C. spokesperson suggested?
By the way, I'm not sniping as some have suggested; perish the thought ! I simply want to know what is proposed and for the life of me, I cannot see why there is secrecy around it all.

Also is it not time that the kneejerk reaction of some writers, to blame the last P.C. for everything, came to an end? Its been 16 months; plenty of time to 'move forward'?

Have a good bank holiday.
Jon Williams
Friday 26th August 2016 at 7:36 pm
Very well put Duncan, yes come on 16 months ! I think it's time we had an account of what the P/C have done in this time.
Duncan Herald
Tuesday 30th August 2016 at 1:03 pm
Can anyone confirm something that was vouchsafed to me today ?

That the proposed small parking area to be built on the Heyes Lane allotments site is to include a 'proper' road between Heyes Lane and Stamford Rd., with parking alongside this road.

What's the most recent target number for car spaces there?
What percentage of the allotments' site area may become non-allotments?

Just curious.