Four main roads added back into gritting programme

by Lisa Reeves

Thursday 16^th March 2023

Thu 16^th Mar 2023

In 2021 Cheshire East Council confirmed changes would be made to the local gritting routes that winter following a review.

The new routes were determined according to assessment criteria, with each road scored and ranked accordingly, following consultations with council members, area highway group chairs, schools, cycling groups, town and parish councils and emergency services.

As a result five roads in Alderley Edge were removed from the list of those to be gritted:

Chapel Road
Chorley Hall Lane
Heyes Lane
Mottram Road
Trafford Road

However, following pressure from Councillor Craig Browne, Cheshire East Council agreed that town and parish councils should have the opportunity to buy routes back into the programme, in line with local priorities.

Alderley Edge Parish Council therefore decided to take up this opportunity and pay for four of those five roads to be added back into the Council's gritting programme.

Cllr Rachael Grantham, as Chair of the Parish Council, said "As a result, Alderley Edge Parish Council has contracted with Cheshire East Highways over the next three years to ensure that Heyes Lane, Chorley Hall Lane, Chapel Road and Mottram Road will all continue to be gritted.

"The cost to the Alderley Edge is just £3000 a year, which we were able to cover without increasing the precept (our part of the Council Tax bill). There have been a number of occasions over the last few months where this service proved essential and the treated roads made for a much easier and safer commute."

Comments

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

Richard Downs

Friday 17^th March 2023 at 6:39 am

You put a bit of grit in, a bit of grit out, in, out, in, out, incompetence all about.

Jon Williams

Friday 17^th March 2023 at 9:50 am

I have seen the gritter at work at 8.00pm on Brook Lane this winter, 30 mph and a very light dusting of grit like it's made of gold.

Marc Asquith

Friday 17^th March 2023 at 11:18 am

@Jon - one of the lessons I learned as a CCC Councillor was that gritting is a sophisticated operation. Given how much grit is spread, the costs might well be the same as gold dust - so frost hollows and the like get gritted when the rest of the network does not and the amount of grit spread is carefully controlled. Gritting at 8.00am would indicate that something odd happened - even in the depths of winter, by 8.00am the air is beginning to warm and gritting would normally have been completed much earlier. Maybe it was a top up operation on one of the very cold days when it was expected to remain below freezing for the whole day ??

Friday 17^th March 2023 at 1:12 pm

Mark: I said 8.00pm ! and the gritting vehicle was doing about 30mph ! and in the morning the road was icy !

David Carey

Monday 20^th March 2023 at 2:10 pm

As someone who said Heyes Lane should never have been taken off in the first place, I have to give credit now it has been rightly added back to the schedule of work.

Marcus Holt

Monday 20^th March 2023 at 3:11 pm

Bit misleading this headline..... when I read it I thought it was Cheshire East that had a change of heart and added it back...as a resident of Heyes Lane it should never have been removed in the first place in my opinion. However the article clearly states that the Parish Council has PAID Cheshire East to add this back in. So I assume if they don't have the funds to pay next year these roads will be removed again? So maybe the headline should read "Local Parish Council Pay to have roads added back in" Well done for finding the money, but not really sure why we have to pay for this basic safety operation which I assume other towns and villages are still getting for free?

Stuart Redgard

Monday 20^th March 2023 at 8:26 pm

Marcus Holt

Your assumption is incorrect.

All roads in Cheshire East were assessed. No other towns or villages aew getting anything free!

Tuesday 21^st March 2023 at 11:13 am

@ Stuart

Alderley Edge are paying 3k a year extra according to this article, 3k that is coming from our Parish Council precept. Having checked with Wilmslow Town Council today, they are not paying any extra from their precept to CEC for the road gritting. We are.....

Tuesday 21^st March 2023 at 8:45 pm

Marcus

I find your statement challenging to believe. Why?

Because I was in attendance at the Wilmslow Town Council meeting in 2022 where the council gave the authorisation to pay CEC for the gritting of roads in the Lacey Green Ward.

I have made a freedom of information request to the council to request a copy of the approved minutes.

Wednesday 29^th March 2023 at 3:41 pm

Marcus Holt

I have just received the response to my freedom of information request.

The official minutes off the meting of Wilmslow Town Council held on the 18th July 2022 say the following:

2022/0061 GRITTING ROUTES
Resolved that the Town Council agrees to enter in to a 3-year Service Level Agreement with Cheshire East Council for the gritting of Barlow Road, Twinnies Road, Lacey Green and Holly Bank Road at a budget figure in the first year of £1,748.

Will you now accept that your opinion that Wilmslow residents are not paying any extra from their precept to CEC for the road gritting is factually incorrect?