The speed limit as you approach Alderley Edge from Wilmslow has changed.
The 30 mph zone has been moved to start at the Harden Park roundabout, instead of starting by Horseshoe Farm on Wilmslow Road.
A spokesperson for Cheshire East Council, said: "The need for a new lower speed limit for Wilmslow Road was indentified via investigations conducted in conjunction with Alderley Edge Parish Council.
"It was suggested that improvements could be made to coincide with the opening of the new bypass."
Councillor Nigel Schofield confirmed that the Parish Council had requested the change in order to lower the speed limit by Ryleys playing field for safety reasons and, by moving the 30 mph sign to the roundabout, it is hoped that the lower limit will act as a disincentive for drivers to cut through the village and encourage more people to use the bypass.
Councillor Schofield said "The next phrase is to introduce an advisory 20 mph limit in the immediate area of the schools. It is still to be decided whether this will be during the school term time only, during the school opening hours or permanent.
"We are waiting for final comments from the Council."
Comments
Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.
I have written to the council with my concerns before, but to no avail. They are reluctant to put in sleeping policemen or similar and when they recently set a policed speed trap up, they located it on the bad bend outside Granthams!
Also recently the council saw fit to place a non policed electronic devise which flashed up your speed if you were over the 30mph limit... so, what did the speeders do? They increased their speed to see what dizzy speeds they could hit down Heyes Lane, Oh yes and I have been declined planning permission for gates on my property (to protect my kids safety) as this is deemed to 'upset the through flow of traffic down Heyes Lane!!!!
Is there anyone who would like to discuss the crazyness of the councils decisions?
Should be followed up with ticketing if the data shows a problem in the area...
I have never seen anyone pass through a red light.... when someone has already stopped. Its a sort of rolling 20mph road block.
2 poor cats have been brutally killed on Heyes Lane in recent months by speeders - I fear for any pedestrians, should they be hit by these senseless speeders.
Only seen one near to Chelford village hall! Is this why tippers are still using Chelford Road to go through to Holmes Chaple Road?
They need to remove the old large 30 signs at horseshoe farm, amd have smaller repeater ones instead, I presume this has still to happpen?
Repeater signs are not necessary, there are more than enough different types of signs through the village to either distract motorists or for them to ignore - the signs at the Merlin have already been mentioned, but there the owners could help by making the entrance and exit more clearly defined and signed.
Talking of signs does anyone know when the fixing of new sign on the railway bridge is to be completed, or indeed the sign by the pelican crossing and park entrance heading north?
The Parish Council long ago complained about the silly phrasing on the bird cages (which themselves obstruct eyelines, dangerously so by the Edge layby where they block pedestrians' view just where they need to cross the main road).
Ian, strange that you mention cobbles; the centre of Prestbury has two (I think) bands of cobbles accross their main road through their village; I'd like to see something similar in our village but any such would have to be costed of course.
It is counter-intuitive, but appears to be proven that if you take away all signs and remove the distinction between pavement and roadway, drivers become uncertain and drive more cautiously. Better anyway than having a 20mph limit which (a) makes people focus on the speedo instead of the road ahead and (b) encourages most drivers to drive *up to* the limit (plus the 10% allowance). I'd rather my children were missed by an attentive driver doing 30+ than hit by one focused on keeping precisely to 22 mph.
nothing ever goes... what goes round, comes round? The idea of cobbles appeals to me as an individual; both the look of them i.e. the village/rusticity thing and I imagine that a couple of swathes of cobbles accross the London Rd. would slow traffic? After all, the cobbles are already/still there, 'neath the tarmac layer.
If you guys out there agree or disagree, please make your thoughts known... sort of democracy at work?
There's not a lot of money in the pot for village highways but there is a little (damn money seems to evaporate/dribble away as time flies!).
As to your point about removing distinction...in Poynton (I am told) they've done that on Park Lane... its called 'shared space'... I haven't seen it myself but one person I know who lives in Poynton called it a ******* disaster... anyone out there seen it? if so,what do you think of it?
http://www.localwebring.co.uk/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=233
Cheshire East have lost most of their Traffic Engineers in order to save money. Experts such as Rob Cramer have been made redundant. As an example of the insanity that this produces, James Howard, whose expertise is in Traffic Wardens and Parking Enforcement is now running all parking issues, he has no experience in traffic flows and the needs of residents to park near to their homes. His basic focus is revenue generation - not traffic management. He is learning slowly - but the council did have people with this expertise and let them go.
The options open to the Council are always limited. For instance, I have not checked but, I suspect that the Council are simply not permitted to put sleeping policemen on Heyes Lane. Further, even if it was permitted - I am willing to bet that a substantial proportion of the residents would object. Humps cause lots of noise for the adjacent houses.
I have pressed for years for the Pelican crossing signals near to the schools in the village to have speed sensors fitted. Its common in France. Approach the crossing too fast and it turns red. Sadly, these signals are not approved for use by the government and so we could not do it.
If you want to introduce a 20 mph limit - its needs to be a special zone with lots of other measures in place. Again, I wanted to introduce this along Ryley's Lane from the Junction with the old A34 and Chorley Hall :Lane but to introduce a whole zone was way beyond the spare budget. So all we are left with is the proposal for an advisory speed limit.
And so we come to enforcement. For the last 10 years the police have objected to almost every speed limit that has been proposed on the basis that in a world of falling budgets, they would not engage in additional enforcement. Speed limits are tricky. If you make the speed limit too low for the road - then research shows that it is generally ignored. It is possible to suggest that there should just be more enforcement - but remember - falling budgets and reducing enforcement by the police. The skill is to make the road 'appear' to the motorist to be a road where the actual limit is about right. One interesting bit of research shows that most people who speed, live in the locality. They think they know the road and do not need to be careful about the unknown.
Finally. The Speed Indicator Device - SID. Although some are available to the police, the majority of the ones you will see about are used by Cheshire East, often at the request of a local parish council. There is a huge waiting list and so any request may have been made ages ago. They have two general effects: firstly they do tend to make drivers look at their speed and slow down. Secondly they store the data so that the speed limit can be reviewed. Sadly the council officers have still not learned that the data is skewed. Most people actually do slow down when they see the device and so the device records much lower average speeds than are experienced when the device is absent.
One way that the Councils - Parish and Cheshire East - can really have an effect on speed is to introduce a volunteer Speed monitoring group. Bizarrely these are most active in the small and medium sized villages such as Lower Withington and Mobberley. The Parish Council funds the purchase of a speed gun. CE provides training and approval for the scheme. Volunteers then spend time operating specified sites in the village. Speeding motorists get a letter from the police advising them that they have been observed speeding. The presence of a fluoro jacket and a speed gun has a dramatic effect on the speed of passing motorists ! I am surprised that we do not have such a group in Alderley Edge.
Hope some of that is helpful info.
Marc - now an ex-CE councillor :-)))))
:-(