Plans to relocate allotments rely on land transfer

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The proposed relocation of the allotments from Heyes Lane to land off Lydiat Lane is part of a bigger plan which could see a new sports facility built in the village.

However, none of these plans can be realised unless Cheshire East Council (CEC) agrees to provide the Parish Council with some land they have requested, which is adjacent to the Alderley Edge bypass.

I recently met with Cllr Mike Williamson, Chairman of Alderley Edge Parish Council, to learn more about their plans for the village.

As the Medical Centre project is now progressing, the Parish Council is looking to refurbish and upgrade the Festival Hall to provide a modern and flexible venue which can be used by the community and hired out to a wider market.

The Parish Council has invited interested parties to tender for the contract to refurbish the Festival Hall. The project will include the design of a new entrance to the side of the existing building, so the main entrance will be off Heyes Lane rather than Talbot Road as it is currently.

Cllr Williams told me "We have a lump sum of £300,000 from CEC for refurbishing the hall, we have £100,000 from the precept and we will approach the Institute Trust for a grant so the refurbishment won't cost the Alderley Edge tax payer very much.

"The hall costs us about £20,000 a year to run and we want to cover that by renting it out for commercial events and we want to start showing films and staging plays."

Cllr Williamson added "We will retain the majority of the allotments as gardens and incorporate the public space that was behind the Royal Oak pub, the old bowling green. We will then create parking areas for events at the Festival Hall using grass crete which is the most environmentally friendly way we can do it. It will look more like a National Trust car park, we are not going to create a sea of tarmac, that it just not going to happen."

The refurbishment project at the hall will also include new toilets, a reception area and bar. Additionally the interior of the main Hall will be refurbished, to include a re-design of the stage and bar area with provision for a new kitchen.

Cllr Williamson said "The first thing we have to do is encourage the allotment holders to come and talk to us. We are doing this for the benefit of the majority of the village and we are never going to please everyone but I think the majority of the allotment holders will be happy. We will provide a modern allotment facility with parking and a water supply. We are prepared to spend some money to get it right. We will do away with the waiting list and also provide an allotment for Alderley Edge Community Primary School.

"Once we have spoken to the allotment holders we will go to public consultation like the GP's did."

As reported in October, the Parish Council are proposing to relocate the allotments to land off Lydiat Lane which is owned by Alderley Edge School for Girls (AESG) who in return would like a piece of land which they can build a new sports facility on.

The land which has been identified is former farm land adjacent to the bypass and near the Harden Park roundabout, which CEC purchased when the bypass was being planned.

Mike Williamson said "We have been talking to CEC about this land since July last year. George Osborne and Erika Wenzel have endorsed the plan but it is infuriating as CEC seem determined not to give us the land.

"CEC are holding the whole thing up, it was our intention to have the allotments and piece of land from CEC by October and hold a public consultation at the end of last year or January.

"We can still go ahead and refurbish the hall, modernise it and create an area where we can stage plays but to make it a real success requires us to use the allotment site. If it doesn't happen we'll have to reconsider how we manage the hall.

"If the AESG plan doesn't happen then the allotments won't move because we'll have nowhere to move them to."

I also met with Sue Goff, Head teacher at AESG, to discuss these plans.

Mrs Goff told me "We are very keen to develop our outside sports facilities at the school, for both training and matches. We are also keen to have something that can be used by the village and local clubs but until we know what land might be available we cannot do anything."

These plans all rest on CEC transferring some of their land either directly to AESG or to Alderley Edge Parish Council who will subsequently lease it to the school, but this doesn't look likely to happen in the short term.

A Cheshire East Council spokesman said: "The allotment sites in Alderley Edge are the first part of an overall programme of transfer and devolution of responsibilities from Cheshire East Council to local town and parish councils.

"The decision to include these sites in the programme for transfer was taken in September 2011, and we are now working to complete these arrangements by the end of this month.

"The overall objective behind transferring a range of locally-based assets is to ensure that their future use and investment can properly reflect local needs and aspirations. The allotments will transfer by long leasehold and are subject to legal covenants.

"Any additional sites requested by town and parish councils are still being considered as part of the ongoing programme of devolution.

"Farm land off the Alderley Edge bypass is still subject to legal process, following completion of the bypass. All additional transfers will require a Cabinet portfolio holder decision before completion."

Tags:
AESG, Alderley Edge School for Girls, Allotments, Cheshire East Council, Parish Council
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Comments

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

Fenton Simpson
Wednesday 4th April 2012 at 7:58 pm
At what point since last July did the PC mention anything about the land next-door to the bypass ? Lydiant lane was all we heard about.

You still can't grow anything on land that cars park on. No matter what the surface is made of.

Also I thought Hayes lane was a no go entry method to festival hall on safety grounds?
Heather Wienholt
Thursday 5th April 2012 at 5:46 am
When the public was consulted on the medical center plans it showed no detail of a new approach road and car park located to the side of it.

Wow! Surely the plans shouldn't change after the consultation!

However much I think these new extended plans seem like a good idea for the Alderley Edge, the Heyes Lane altoments have been a community facility for decades. I have an allotment on the Chorley Hall site and in all my life in Alderley Edge I have never experienced such a community atomsphere as I do there.

It would be a VERY sad day to see a road bulldozed through the allotments.
Mike Norbury
Thursday 5th April 2012 at 8:29 am
the new sports facility will be for a privately funded school so will we all benefit from free use of the new facility?, there was no mention what so ever of a new approach road through the hayes lane allotments at the public consultation why not? aepc are being less than honest here .
they dont seem to grasp that they cannot treat our village like a sim city game . i for one have objected and raised concerns with cheshire east over this underhandedness, well done you have just endorsed what i am worried about.
new shiney allotments keep getting dangled in front of us as an alternative but the soil cultivated over decades of hard work and nurturing on an exsisting allotment site is something that you cannot replace overnight and shows your lack of understanding of allotments . please listen to what you do not want to hear and leave the allotments alone.
Melanie Connor
Saturday 7th April 2012 at 9:46 am
I think a lot of false information has been banded about by a few and my view is that we should make some things straight.
An appalling leaflet was sent out to residents containing inflamitary words that are not true. This leaflet is being being dealt with seperately.
1 thing is very clear - we have no intentions of selling off any green spaces including allotments, and I am sure you will all agree that we have worked hard for ther village to get firstly,Macclesfield Borough and now CEC to take action on upkeep etc.
It was CEC decison to pass back assets to the village for the people. This means that the PC will have the power now to run the allotments and the park, and invest into what is needed. This is a long legal process taking place all over CE.
SO LET ME STATE AGAIN FOR THOSE WHO DON'T GET IT - WE ARE NOT SELLING OFF CHORLEY HALL LANE PLAYING FIELDS & ALLOTMENTS.

H

.
Melanie Connor
Saturday 7th April 2012 at 10:06 am
Chorley Hall Lane & Beech Close allotments are the jewels in the crown of allotments in this area. They are well run, tidy and a credit to those who work hard on them. It is no wonder that there is a waiting list. ( yes, before anyone says it, I do back on to Chorley hall Lane so I do hold a personal interest).
For information - the PC has approached the Crown to get Queen Elizabeth 2 status for the playing fields, allotments and park.
If this happens it will be fantastic for the village and for the allotment society.
For Beech Road allotments - we are working on a time line and funding for the much needed drainage.
As for the Heyes lane site-in November 2011 the PC met with the Director of North West Allotments society. This was a verty amicable meeting and we were told to engage with the Allotments society. The Chairman of the Allotments Society has so far refused to meet but has seen fit to spread fear around the allotments and surrounding streets.

Mike, we will go to Public Consultation when we actually have signed the take over papers and not before. No one is shutting down the Heyes lane site tomorrow ( if at all) and likewise no one is building a road through it.
No one will be moved to a new allotment without good preperation etc. I am a gardener and I know what the worries are - the lead time in will be vast and preparation will take place. The new allotments (if they go ahead) will have all modern ameneties, in a beautiful part of the village, and already a number of allotments holders on Heyes lane have been to look at the site and have decided which spots they want.
Lets hope the Allotment Society engage with us soon, for the benefit of the whole village.
Mike Norbury
Saturday 7th April 2012 at 4:14 pm
Cllr Connor - I have lived in this village all my life. Sadly I can no longer trust the Parish Council to act in our best interests to 'pass assets back to the people' as you say.

We have to date been assured that the Heyes Lane site was not part of the redevelopment plans for the Medical Centre.

Now you casually mention an approach road will be taken across that very place. How can we trust you?
Kelvin Briggs
Sunday 8th April 2012 at 10:15 am
Good to see some positives may come out of this complex web of local change.

An outdoor sports complex for Alderley Edge School for Girls that can also be used by the local community will provide the opportunity for more people to play sport, help tackle childrens obesity and help local folk adopt healthier lifestyles. The Headteacher was quoted on this site saying it would be available for community use.

It's a real positive if it can be helped to happen. Even without the allotment issue and Festival Hall plans, would be sensible for local councils to help the school find a piece of suitable land.

In my experience virtually all sport costs money to play. Renting pitches, hiring courts , membership fees to join clubs, coaching costs , equipment clothing etc .Why shoiuld anyone expect it for free? If AESG fund it and offer it for rent that's a benefit to the village.Whether a facility is owned by a State school or Private School is not really the issue.

As an allotment holder and active local sports club member I can see some protracted negotiations and challenges ahead but would urge support for a local school investing in the village and sporting endeavour.
Alan R Davies
Tuesday 10th April 2012 at 3:24 pm
So the plan is for Alderley Edge School for Girls to build a new sports facility on former farm land adjacent to the bypass and near the Harden Park roundabout. This sounds like a precedent for the infill development we were all concerned about, and it is being promoted by our local councils and MP. I hope that somebody can tell me that I am mistaken.
Craig Browne
Tuesday 10th April 2012 at 4:39 pm
I am not sure the Institute Trust can be used to fund refurbishments to the (now) Parish Council owned Festival Hall. Charitable Trusts (such as the A.E.I.T.) are required by the Charity Commission to fund exclusively charitable projects or charitable organisations. A Parish Council, being a tier of government, does not satisfy either criterion. I suspect the Lottery, particularly the "Reaching Communities" programme, which has a track record of supporting Parish Councils, may be a better bet.
John Sanderson
Thursday 12th April 2012 at 12:47 am
Cllr Williamson quoted in main article above.

Let me get this clear. You need to persuade Cheshire East to give up some green belt on Wilmslow Road so that AESG can build a sports centre. In return, AESG sell you some green belt down Lydiat Lane and you move all the allotments there from Heyes Lane. On the vacated allotments, you build some car parking and a new road through to a new entrance to the Festival Hall which you need to create because you have allowed a new medical centre to be built on the front which replaces the existing entrance. Right? I can think of at least four good reasons why this plan will fail. You know what they are. 'Best forget it.

My alternative solution takes account of Alderley Motors which seems to have disappeared from your radar but it has not landed anywhere yet! You build a small but adequate motor servicing unit at the back of the car park of the Festival Hall. You persuade the landlord of the existing Alderley Motors to build a medical centre there on Trafford Road. Call it the Russell Centre. You then have choices about refurbishing the intact Festival Hall itself. If you are inspired, you bulldoze it flat and build a new sports centre which you let to AESG who share it with selected users. That is it. Simple. What do you think? Here are a few advantages:- you build on no green spaces; you satisfy everyone's needs; you upset nobody; you save a fortune.
Ricky Lee
Thursday 12th April 2012 at 9:23 am
John,

I'm not part of any side but I see a problem with your idea.

It doesn't make business sense for the Alderley Motors Landlord to replace one tentant with another unless there is a high increase in rent. Also who will be paying for the building to be modernised?

I think the landlord is hoping to develop and sell. Like many property developer that operates here!
John Sanderson
Thursday 12th April 2012 at 11:25 pm
Ricky

I cannot beleive that any developer would want to modernise the existing buildings.
I am not a developer....at the moment :-)

I agree that the commercial side needs to make sense. There was an arrangement between a developer and the land owner, the Parish Council, for the building of the medical centre at the Festival Hall. The developer collects rent and eventually the agreement expires and the building becomes unencumbered property of the Parish Council. I do not know any details but it is one example of how a new property can be funded by a developer who is not the landowner. There must be many other ways of doing it.

The site occupied by Alderley Motors is quite big and so I expect other developments could accompany the new medical centre there. It seems to me that the Parish Council aspirations are in trouble and other possibilities need to be considered on their merits. We all want a new medical centre.

I hope you agree that it is worth looking at the idea in detail with all the parties involved. Obviously this website is not the place to do that but folk could write in to support the idea.
.
Duncan Herald
Wednesday 18th April 2012 at 5:28 pm
Hi John,
We met for the first time at this week's parish council meeting; I was surprised, as you didn't look like a devil incarnate; hope you can say the same!

To repeat what has been said before; the plan for the developer to build the new medical centre and be re-paid from rents, over a specified time means that the village gets its desperately needed new medical centre for free, in the near future (we hope!). As far as I am aware no-one has come up with another plan to get a free medical centre.

As to your earlier comment that the Hall could be bulldozed; we considered that, but with the proviso that it would be replaced by a new Hall, but alas the estimated cost (depending on who was asked) was in the region of £1.5 million to £2.5 million. All those in favour of a massive increase in the parish precept? I thought not.

In passing re. the proposed design of the new medical centre. At the recent evening in the Hall, where the proposed design was shown; the feedback I got was that few people hated the design and few people loved the design; so I guess that the term 'acceptable' is about right. The architect was there and when I mentioned that some of the people living close to the site were worried, he said (I think I've got this right but that's just my opinion) there might be a little 'wriggle room' in the design to accommodate any such feelings.
John Sanderson
Friday 20th April 2012 at 12:50 am
Duncan

Thanks for your comment.

I would like a new medical centre along with most people. However, I do question whether it should be on the front of the Festival Hall and whether it should be a three storey building. There are consequences for council tax payers because of the expenditure on a new entrance and for folk who live adjacent and for the Heyes Lane allotments. When the development drawings were presented to the public a short while ago, the doctors explained clearly to me that the top floor is needed to generate income and so is the pharmacy. The space is not needed for the medical practice. This is at variance with the statement of the Parish Council Chairman at its meeting last Monday. My suggestion, detailed above, to build on the site of Alderley Motors, if all parties agree, is a serious one. At that location a 3 storey building will be more acceptable and the savings in money and upset considerable.

On a separate but related issue, there is the question mark over the financial viability of the Festival Hall. The most recent Parish Council accounts show that it is losing money at an alarming rate. If any further capital monies are spent on it, there should be a proper financial basis. The recent appointment of a Festival Hall manager could make the finances even worse because of the costs of employment. I have no problem with the person appointed, by the way.
Norma Turner
Friday 27th April 2012 at 9:09 pm
Hindsight is a wonderful thing. No one would of suffered lose of allotments or any green spaces
if the Medical Centre we had in the village hadn't been sold off!