I’m back home after a couple of hours driving around Cheadle & Gatley to see how conditions are.  I made a point of visiting residential roads and spoke to quite a few people on the way.

Summary

• All the main roads are clear and, with light traffic, perfectly fine to drive down.  That includes Gatley Road, Altrincham Road, Park Road, Styal Road, Church Road, Kingsway, Cheadle High Street, Stockport Road, Manchester Road, Wilmslow Road, Delemere Road, Silverdale Road and Schools Hill.
• The bus services are running, with some delays.
• Metrolink in Manchester is running a slightly reduced service.
• At least some train services are running, but check before travelling.
• The pavements are mostly fine to walk on, with the snow still being powerdery (or cleared away in village centres).  Some, like Old Hall Road in Gatley, are getting a bit slippery so walk in the road.
• Nearly all the residential roads I visited (and it was quite a lot) are passable with care in a car.  The onlyserious  problems are on smaller residential roads with significant hills, such as Airedale Close in Cheadle.
• I’m really pleased to see that snow has been cleared from several of the hillier resedential roads including the hills on Kendal Drive, Rydal Close, Grasmere Road and Keswick Avenue.
• Refuse collections are going ahead on the larger roads, but not on smaller  residential roads.
• Recycling collections have been cancelled for today.

In a bit more detail

The roads I’ve driven or walked along today include in Cheadle:

Richmond Hill Road, Wensley Road, Marchbank Drive, Wensleydale Avenue, Airedale Close, Aysgarth Avenue, Oak Road, Oakfield Avenue, Brookfield Road, Broadway, Barcheston Road, Daylesford Road, Schools Hill, Grange Park Road, Brackenwood Drive, Mary Street, Lime Grove, Hall Street, Church Street,

In Gatley:

Firs Road, Linksway, Elm Road, Cedar Road, Burnside Road, Beech Avenue, Brookdale Road, Dingle Grove, Lorna Grove, Old Hall Road, Pendlebury Road, Frances Avenue, Springfield Road, Foxland Road, Delemere Road,Appleby Road, Gainford Avenue, Borrowdale Road, Ennerdale Drive, Kendal Drive, Eskdale, Langdale Close, Cartmel Close and St Anns Road North.

I’m happy the Council has cleared all the main roads and is doing a good job on the pavements in central areas.  I’m very pleased that many (though not all) of the steeper slopes on residential roads have been cleared.

All the grit bins I’ve checked have been empty, which is a concern I’ll be speaking to the Council about.  There are a few roads with significant slopes which could do with special attention too.

GMPTE Public Transport Information Alert

Please note this information was posted on GMPTE’s website at 0830.
6 January 2010

Severe weather update (0830)

GMPTE is advising passengers to expect further disruptions to bus and tram services today due to the ongoing severe weather conditions.

Passengers should allow extra time for journeys and use main roads to access bus services.
A list of current known service information is available below. Passengers are also advised to check www.stagecoachbus.com and www.firstgroup.com for service updates.

All Metrolink services are running to Piccadilly every 12 minutes. Passengers are advised to check www.metrolink.co.uk for the latest service information.

Rail passengers are advised to check www.nationalrail.co.uk for service updates before travelling.

For the latest advice from Greater Manchester Police, log on to www.gmp.police.uk.