Parish Council minutes: February 2013

I can promise Cllr Connor that the roads in Sandbach and Crewe are not getting Preferential treatment. I wish they were though. They are a disgrace just like everywhere else.

Why does there have to be talk of a police operation to target illegal parking in the village......just ticket the offenders. That will get the message across. Why waste time talking to the restaurants, they don't care where people park as long as tables are full. Far to much faffing around offenders. Just deal with it.

I agree with Sarah, as above.
Too much faffing around ... just ticket 'em and the word will get around very quickly.
Why talk to restaurants ? ........ That's just stupid !

I know that pothole. I have to drive round it on an almost daily basis. It's not a lonely pothole either, there are several others clustered around the area.

To be fair to CE when I have reported pot holes on Davy lane via there web site the holes have been fixed within a few days.

I will agree Fenton. Sadly they have been repaired very poorly though and one stretch of road I reported (because it had gone past being described as a pothole) is now breaking up again so you can hear all the tarmac hitting your car. On another note the men were sat in their van reading the paper at 10am when I passed, yet the signs were put up about 9ish.

Yes Sarah a quick fix is not always a good option. The hole on chorley hall lane re appears every 3 to 4 months. As it is on the bridge I expect it's a bigger job to cure permanently than an hours worth of Tarmac filling.

The "police operation" I witnessed consisted primarily of harassing people in the evenings who were parking on bus stops. Given the bus services end in the early evening would it not be a good idea to revise the parking restrictions to allow customers at the busy restaurants to park legally at night?

The operation also targeted taxi drivers who I noticed in particular had been waiting on London Road opposite the popular new restaurant The Botanist.

Their parking there doesn't block the road, indeed I consider that parking at this stretch contributes to safety by discouraging speeding drivers who are too easily tempted by the clear road at night.

Again I suggest this stretch is made a legitimate taxi rank for evenings only.

Heavy police presence and the reported call for night time traffic wardens will simply encourage those who drive into Alderley Edge to patronise the restaurants to consider other local towns instead.

The fire at Panacea has already put some 40 people out of work, surely we don't want to prejudice any more jobs in an otherwise thriving village?

Alderley Edge does not and should not need a heavy police presence if those breaking the law were dealt with as any one else would be parking in a bus stop during the day. The whole thing has gone past even bordering on the ridiculous.

There should be a taxi rank in Alderley, I suggest the station car park (pay and display side)

People are travelling to AE for those restaurants, they won't go elsewhere because the restaurants are not as good.

I wonder if I parked without paying in the Parade car park to do my shopping I would repeatedly get away with it, be asked nicely to move, be 'shoo'd' away, be watched but not approached off the parking warden and then the police went into Waitrose/Co Op and asked them to quietly have a word with me to highlight the problem in the hope the message will get through to me that i have to pay to park.

Sarah I think you miss my point: the parking offences seem to be in relation to bus stops which are not in use in the evenings. Therefore the offence seems to me to be irrelevant.

As regards the suggestion that parking without payment or in a restricted place should not be treated with a light touch - well in my younger days this was exactly the approach taken by both police and the local traffic warden. But of course the performance criteria back then were more aligned with keeping the community in order rather than successful prosecutions or numbers of parking tickets issued.

As for locating a taxi rank at the station car park this completely negates the point of taking a taxi - people want to find a taxi adjacent to the premises they exit.

Surely this cannot cause danger or disruption to any resident or passer by at night?

I would also like to ask just how many individuals have raised objections, rather than be informed that there have been many complaints. My suspicion is that there are just a few people who have a personal dislike for the vibrant restaurant based community which for me makes Alderley Edge such a pleasant place to live.

It's a wonderful thing to have great restaurants that so many want to visit in AE and spend their money but consideration has to be given to all re parking. Some people are so selfish they expect to park right at the door and not have to walk any distance. I can't see anyone wanting taxis parked up anywhere they fancy, do people really expect a waiting taxi they second they walk through a door. To walk from one end of AE to the other is hardly much, would it prove to be that challenging to some to walk to a taxi rank. Crikey what's wrong with folk if that's the case. It would be pleasant to leave a restaurant and stroll through the village to get a taxi, you can browse in the shop windows that way ( if it's dry of course)

Not actually sure when the buses stop using the stops in the evening but it won't free up more than 2 spaces surely. Thinking of the stop outside the bank.

I must be odd as wherever I go I always park correctly, just don't want the headache of anything else.

I agree with Stephen, the whole thing needs a fresh set of eyes. The way I see it is currently just a whole lot of messy arguments re. parking, allotments etc without a proper declaration of a village plan to address these issues. I don't partake in local council discussions nor do I actually reside in Alderley currently, however I visit daily, care for the village dearly and think it all seems rather a shambles!! However if the reality of the council meetings etc is completely misrepresented on here and hence I'm way off the mark then do feel free to correct me.

Radical and fresh thinking is the way forward. So for instance raising question of reusing bus stops when buses aren't using them, well that's got to be worth asking. Plus just blindly ignoring the facts such as drivers choosing to park illegally rather than walk, because they can, well if you ignore that then any proposed solution won't take all factors into consideration. Real, workable and controllable solutions are required, not idealistic ones.

Who is in charge of the Festival Hall? I went yesterday morning to deliver a response to the
Parish Council's letter to Allotment holders. The door was unlocked, the main hall was very warm - obviously heating been on a while. No postbox that I could see. Went upstairs to the left of door - saw filing cabinet outside - went in room - empty. Called out - no answer. Went back
downstairs and up stairs to right of door - no sign of life. Went into main hall - nobody around - went back upstairs to the filing cabinet and left the letter on the top. I hope someone finds it.
It was delivered to Festival Hall as required in letter to Allotment holders. Amazing no sign of
anybody - with the number of vehicles parked around the outside. I was doing a friend a favour in delivering the letter - and the lack of security was shocking!

Ann, I also dropped off a letter in response to the the parish council letter I received. I arrived there at 1230pm on a Saturday 3 weeks ago. The hall was open with no one around so I went up stairs to the PC meeting room.

I dropped the letter on the chairmans desk where some other post had been dropped off.

Last week I received another letter saying that I hadn't replied to the first letter !

I'm tempted to take my staple gun with me next time !