As 2013 draws to a close it is time to take a look back at the biggest news stories of the past 12 months in Alderley Edge and share some statistics with our readers.
During 2013 the alderleyedge.com web site has been visited nearly 400,000 times and generated well over a million page views!
Over the course of the year we've managed to publish over 670 articles and those articles have received over 1,900 reader comments. Topics which appeared regularly in the news this year included parking problems in the village, the future of Heyes Lanes allotments, plans for a new medical centre and Cheshire East's Local Plan which will guide development up to 2030.
2013 saw us welcome a number of new businesses into the village including Ayla Rose, Envy Hair and Beauty, Tea Emporium and Andrew McNulty lettings agents (which closed not long after). We also said goodbye to Alderley Rose, Jeeves of Belgravia, Bebb and Sekers Fine Art and the Britannia Building Society.
The year started with the news that the project to build a new medical centre at the front of the Festival Hall has fallen behind schedule. The intention was for work to start towards the end of 2011. In January, Cllr Mike Williamson announced that the project had slipped with work expected to start in May, however the project has been hit by further details and work has yet to commence.
In January Cheshire East Council announced plans to participate and invest in a joint venture with AstraZeneca to build a new BioScience Park at Alderley Park. They agreed to allocate £1m funding, in the form of a repayable loan to the not-for-profit joint venture company, to help establish a BioScience Incubator centre which was expected to create 440 jobs.
Another planning application to enable PizzaExpress to open a restaurant in Alderley Edge was also refused at the beginning of the year. Cheshire East Council declined to grant a change of use for the premises at 51 London Road and 7 Stevens Street from retail to restaurant on the grounds that it would have a negative impact on the vitality of the shopping area and was unneighbourly.
At the end of January the new Post Office opened its doors on West Street, with extended hours to include Saturday afternoons and a ramp which provides easier access, and the government unveiled proposals for the second phrase of the controversial £32 billion HS2 high-speed rail network which is designed to cut journey times between cities and boost regional business.
There had been speculation that the high-speed trains might pass through Wilmslow and Alderley Edge however it was revealed in January that the nearest station will be at Manchester Airport.
February started with the closure of Jeeves of Belgravia. The dry cleaners closed its doors, eighteen months after opening their first branch outside of London, because it was not economically viable - they had been sending all the garments down to London and collecting them three times a week. The property still remains empty and the latest we heard was in May when the landlords Bluemantle applied for planning permission to change the use of 43 London Road from A1 shop to A2 financial and professional services, to enable an estate agents to move in.
Following 18 months of uncertainty about the future of the Heyes Lane allotment site, Alderley Edge Parish Council agreed a number of formal proposals in March regarding what they would like to achieve. Having voted in October 2011 to take over the management of the three allotment sites in the village from Cheshire East Council, the Parish Council confirmed their plan to seek approval from the DCLG to enable them to turn the Heyes Lane allotment site into a car park and enter into discussions with Alderley Edge School for Girls to establish a new statutory allotment site at Lydiat Lane, on land owned by the school.
In March AstraZeneca announced they will close the R&D facility at Alderley Park and relocate 1600 research and development jobs by 2016, with the significant majority going to a new corporate headquarters which AstraZeneca is creating in Cambridge. In addition AstraZeneca confirmed there will be approximately 550 redundancies at the site over the next three years and around 700 non R&D are expected to remain at Alderley Park, the pharmaceutical company currently employs 2,900 people at the site.
On March 12th a major fire engulfed Panacea just before 10.30pm, which left the bar and restaurant devastated. Whilst the front facade remained intact, the roof collapsed in on itself and the rest of the building was extensively damaged. Shortly before the fire broke out two people were seen to arrive in a dark coloured vehicle. They got out and were captured on CCTV walking towards the building, then seen again leaving in the car - however, there have still been no arrests in connection with the incident.
April saw the end of the road for Alderley Motor Co. and the JN Bauer car showroom which both closed to enable Russell Homes to demolish the properties and replace them with four semi-detached town houses on Trafford Road.
In May Cheshire East Council consulted local residents on whether a plot of land in Alderley Edge should be identified for housing development. Green Belt land to the north of Beech Road was amongst a number of 'new' sites brought forward for potential inclusion in the Local Plan. It had been submitted to the Council by How Planning, on behalf of the landowners, for the development of 200 to 250 dwellings.
Hundreds of people braved the cold and damp to enjoy an action packed day in the park for the 3rd Alderley Edge May Fair which was another fantastic event for the community and particularly for Rianne Braisdell who had the honour of being the Alderley Edge May Fair Queen.
The following month, having closed its doors for two weeks to carry out an extensive refurbishment, the new enlarged Bubble Room opened for business. June ended with the ever popular Alderley Edge Village Fete when over 1500 people gathered at the cricket club, to enjoy the fifth summer fete which once again raised money for the Francis House Children's Hospice.
A new event took place the previous day when Castle Rock Studios hosted their debut music festival in the private grounds of their Wilmslow Road studio. As a celebration of their first year in business, CRS created its own festival to showcase some of their clients which which attracted nearly 300 people.
July was a big month for alderleyedge.com as we launched our new responsive web site which automatically adapts to the screen size of the device you are using - providing a better user experience whether you are visiting via a smartphone, tablet, laptop or desktop computer. With one unified responsive web site all our readers, irrespective of device, now have convenient access to all of the same rich content and functionality available on the desktop alderleyedge.com site. This meant for the first time mobile users have convenient access to all articles, past and present, features such as full photo galleries and have the ability to comment - replacing the need to use our App which provides access to less content and functionality.
In August 'Free After Three' parking was introduced at the South Street car park as part of a new initiative by Cheshire East Council designed to encourage more people to visit their local town or village centre and support local businesses and the following month Alderley Rose Chinese Restaurant closed its doors.
In September we reported on the tragic loss of 11-year-old Flynn Morrissey who sadly passed away following an accident on the A34 Alderley Edge Bypass. Flynn was travelling to school with his mother Nicky Morrissey and older brother Dylan when their Ford Focus collided head on in the Wilmslow bound lane with a Porsche Cayman, shortly after 8am.
The Alderley Edge Farmer's Market was held in the village centre in October. Having spent over 18 months trying to obtain permission to relocate the market to the pavement off London Road, Christine Munro, who has organised this market for the past 14 years, decided to go ahead despite the fact permission for the move has not been granted. However, since then she decided to cancel the November and December events and the future of the market remains in limbo.
In October, staff at Alderley Edge Medical Practice confirmed they are confident that a new medical centre is achievable and the newly formed NHS England confirmed that it will provide funding of £500,000 to be used as advanced rent once the new medical centre has been completed. This money is provided from NHSE's 2014-15 budget, which means that the building has to be complete and ready for occupation by 31st March 2015.
A new lingerie boutique opened in the village centre in October, Ayla Rose is a new independent venture for Juliet McLeod who previously worked as a teacher at Mobberley Primary School. The following month, the countdown to Christmas officially began when hundreds of local residents gathered on London Road for the Alderley Edge Christmas lights switch on which was performed by local celebrity Denise Welch.
Just in time for Christmas, Envy Hair and Beauty Salon opened their doors, which is a new venture for Jenny Harrison and Jacqui Cheshire, and former teacher Jennifer Hill, opened Tea Alchemist in the Chapel Road premises previously occupied by Michael J Chapman estate agents - who has now moved to a larger and brighter office on the junction of Macclesfield and Chapel Road.
Alderley Edge Parish Council launched monthly public surgeries in December, which will be held for one hour on a Saturday morning at the council chamber in the Festival Hall. These will offer residents with the the opportunity to meet with members of the parish council to discuss local issues - details of future surgeries will be listed in our events calendar.
When we launched our new responsive website in July, we set up annual visibility packages for local businesses and organisations enabling them to promote themselves and their events throughout the year, via the dominant local media. We would like to publicly thank those local businesses who have booked theses packages and allocated some of their marketing spend to our local independent business.
Without the support of the following it would not have been possible for us to continue to provide this service: Bupa Care Homes, Alderley Edge School for Girls, Alderley Pilates, Smiles Dental, Aldeli, Destinology, Harper & Quinn Hairdressers, Henry D Johnstone Jewellers, Highams, Kimble Roden Architects, Royles Jaguar, Renew Clinic, Stowe Family Law LLP and Terra Nova School - all of which are featured in our advertisers directory.
We were also delighted that Waters Corporation chose to support the service we provide to the community by sponsoring our weekly newsletter. The first members of staff are scheduled to move into the new mass spectrometry headquarters, at the 37-acre Stamford Lodge site on the A538 Altrincham Road, on January 2nd 2014.
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Do share your highs and lows of life on The Edge in 2013, and your predictions for the new year in Alderley Edge via the comment box below.
Thank you very much for taking the time to read alderleyedge.com, we hope you all have a happy, healthy and successful 2014.
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