Reader's Letter: Congleton Road

Firstly you are right we have a great group of volunteers who look after the flowers in the village, tidying and upkeep of the station as well, but wrong on the "no money mantra". Its that simple, there is no money! We need potholes doing, we had roads last winter that are no longer being gritted, Adult social care that's in desperate need of more funds and then everyone will moan when the council tax goes up. I see voluteers litter picking, and the occasional council employee, but again, where is the money for that? As for your comment on "behind their desks and ivory towers" well, whilst I don't know him personally, our CEC councillor seems to be always around the village out and about, I have seen the councillors from the Parish council litter picking in the park and weeding and watering plants, however if you think more can be done then stand at the next election and see itnfrom the other side. I love my village however this is cosmetic and more tax payers money should not be spent on this when it's so desperately needed elsewhere. Personally I would like to see those who have been sentenced to community service to be made to do these jobs, but doubt that will happen.

Hi Terence,

Thank you for your letter and photographs. Cheshire East Council has an annual weed treatment and spraying programme, which is carried out in August of each year. Outside of this, Councillors or members of the public may request targeted interventions on an ad hoc basis, which the Council's Street Cleaning Team respond to as and where they are able.

For example, I recently put in a request for weed treatment around the perimeter of South Street Car Park and am pleased to say that the Team have responded positively over the last few days (you can see the photographs I have posted to my twitter feed, here: https://twitter.com/Craig_9320/status/1551885939953262593/photo/3).

In preparation for the visit of the North West in Bloom judges at the end of next week, together with the Parish Council I am also arranging a working group to go round the village and carry out weed removal this coming Saturday morning. I will also be joining the Alderley Edge in Bloom volunteers with their weekly litter pick next Monday morning.

Cheshire East Council has a number of "Clean Teams" around the borough (https://www.cheshireeast.gov.uk/waste_and_recycling/street_cleansing_and_litter/clean-teams.aspx) and frequently relies on these volunteer groups to carry out additional or targeted activities at local level.

Kind regards,
Craig

Agreed - no money to employ people. I worked partially in this field at another County Council over 30 years ago and we had dedicated staff constantly tidying such areas in every street and lane. No longer. Didn't need weedkiller either - just dug the weeds out. Now we should not use weedkiller so even this is not possible.

Our estate roads in Gawsworth are just the same. I do what my grandmother did two generations ago and keep in front of my house clear as possible. If everyone did that then there would be an improvement. We even keep grassed areas neat and mown and then watch the school drop drivers run their Chelsea tractors over these and tear up the ground. All very frustrating.

Perhaps an effort should be made to cure the problem at source, ie, there are litter laws in this country they are never enforced. Why are we such a dirty nation.

Where is the pride of the homeowners themselves in taking responsibility for the pavements outside their own homes? When I lived in Alderley Edge I regularly cleared the leaves/litter from the pavement outside my house to keep my property looking smart and passers-by were often incredulous that I was doing this telling me it was the Council's job. So the logic is that people would rather see scruffy streets outside their home than spend half an hour tidying it up -- ridiculous. In Germany everyone is responsible for ensuring the pavement and gutters outside their houses are swept and kept clean and are fined if they don't. My Mother is German and she kept up this practice and clearly passed it on to me. I'm no Europhile but this is one 'rule' we would do well to adopt here. However, many homeowners don't have enough civic pride and see keeping our local community clean and tidy as 'someone else's job', even if those 'someone else' are hard pressed volunteers who do things that could easily be done by residents themselves.

"Cheshire East Council has an annual weed treatment and spraying programme, which is carried out in August of each year."

I would like to know why it is done in August when some weeds start to die by then anyway

Perhaps an effort should be made to cure the problem at source, ie, there are litter laws in this country they are never enforced. Why are we such a dirty nation.