Cheadle and Gatley Lib Dems are moving
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by Lib Dem team on 16 October, 2011
The Council plans to spend around £100,000 improving Cheadle village centre next year (this follows on from the work in Gatley to improve the Church Road pavement and Gatley Green).
We’d like your thoughts and ideas on what could best be done. Note that this money is for work on roads and pavements.
We’ve got a couple of ideas:
Parking bays on the High Street
Sections of Cheadle High Street are wide enough to take short-stay parking, but it currently gets messy with (illegal) parking along the road that then holds up traffic. Elsewhere there has been success in putting in parking bays where the pavement comes out to the outside edge of the bay. That clearly marks them and allows people to use them quickly whilst causing fewer hold-ups.
Roundabout at Gatley Road/High Street/Wilmslow Road junction
The idea here is to replace the current traffic light junction with a mini-roundabout and uncontrolled crossing as in the centre of Bramhall village, with controlled crossings (e.g. puffin crossings) further away from the junction. If it works, it should see traffic flowing a little more freely (though it certainly won’t make all the queues vanish). It might also improve the look of the junction and allow more space in certain places (e.g. a space for bridal cars etc. to stop more easily outside the church). We haven’t done formal traffic counts, so this is very much at the early stages.
Please let us have your thoughts on either of these, or your own ideas for what could be done.
Just to be clear, this is not a formal consultation – and there will be proper consultation on whatever does happen. We’re hoping to get more ideas to look into at this early stage, and to spot problems and opportunities. The final proposals may not include either of these ideas, but hopefully will be the best we can do for the village.
18 Comments
would the mini roundabout idea not work in Gatley at the Gatley Rd/Church Road junction ? Only asking as I’m not sure myself !!!!!
It would be better to put a mini roundabout at the junctions of Broadway/Wilmslow Road and at the bottom of Schools Hill to give vehicles a safer entry onto Wilmslow/Cheadle Road, it may also help to keep the speed down on this busy road.And also how about making the first hour of parking free in the carparks but increasing the charge slightly for parking longer then this.
We have to be careful with projecting pavements. When there is nothing about and very poor conditions it is easy to miss a narrow one as I did on back streets in Hazel Grove and put two wheels over, which was quite a double bump and bottommed the car; on a bike it would have been more serious. I’ve since puzzled over how they can be made more noticeable without obstruction. At crossings we put a projection but prevent parking in the approach. but this leaves a wide strip encouraging cyclists to race through and jump the crossing dodging the people. Widening for the whole length of the restriction would be beneficial. Cyclists like other vehicles including motorcyclists are prohibited from pulling alongside the leading stationary vehicle. If I bike is the leading vehicle a car shouldn’t pull alongside, and having been squashed in the past, I how position myself well out in this situation.
Re High Street parking – People trying to reverse park into such spaces will still cause delays. Daytime use of some resident only parking spaces would be better.
Re mini roundabout – Parts of the Gatley Road/High Street/Wilmslow Road junction junction are subject to sustained flooding whenever we have heavy rain. Resolving this issue should be part of any plan to alter the junction.
Re High Street parking – currently people are stopping on the high street outside Iceland and Superdrug, it seems to be a recent development and even on a quiet Sunday it causes problems but there are surprisingly no wardens to police this.
I would also like to see the duck pond filled in on the green. The green itself is very well maintained but the duck pond is filthy and usually full of rubbish and really detracts from the area – I don’t think ducks ever use it, they all seem to be in Abney Park.
NO MORE provision for motor vehicles, when will councils learn.
The promotion of public transport, cycling and walking must take priority.
Concerning the junction, would it not help the movement of traffic if the long-standing bus stop beside Meadows bike shop was moved further along ? outside the bath shop (directly opposite the other bus stop)?
The planting and beds on Massie Street car park are desperately in need of some updating. Broken concrete blocks hold in a mass of weeds, overgrown plants and rubbish! As a central location to the village where people arrive to park, it doesn’t give a great first impression.
Can I also point out, the more provision for motor vehicles the more cars it attracts,the easier you make it for people to use vehicles then …. wait for it ….. more people use them.
The more people use them, the less safe it is for cyclists and pedestrians, less safe for cyclists and pedestrians then more obese individuals will be wobbling out of their cars as they wheeze their way to the cake shop, the more the NHS faces total collapse.
Vicious circle, when will SMBC get a grip ?
The existing bus stop causes large traffic jams, along with lorries stopping outside the pub to unload. If there is to be any parking on the High Street it should be for the provision of a proper bus stop and loading bay. Just when are we going to get any action about the illegal parking both on the High Street and Mary Street? This is what causes the traffic jams. angerox
Has anyone noticed that if you buy a 30p car park ticket, you get £2 off at the Co-op? Now THAT makes sense and maybe we should encourage more local shops to do the same!
I would suggest the money be used to solve the numerous flooding problems. A number of parts of the pavement are such that the water drains into the shops during heavy rain.
Yes, puddles are a problem and the areas need identifying after the rain as it is difficult to envisage in the dry. Not forgetting of course the pools by dropped pavements
Having just won the battle for double yellows, allowing parking bays sounds like a case of “foot shooting”. Better to use some of the money to pay someone to patrol Cheadle all the time. Tidey, above Andrew Dawsons, still thinks he has the right to park on double yellows and I have seen an average of 6 cars on the High St still parking on double yellows incl. one guy who was there for approx. 2 hrs! This is like squeezing jelly but if the council don’t clamp down hard on illegal parking, it will simply continue. Its a danger to pedestrians and other motorists when the width of the High St is restricted. I also think we need D/Y’s on Milton Crescent; the illegals will simply park there as they do now, rather than part with 30p. Again the guys from M Cool park there all day – no wonder they can afford personalised number plates on the van!
I fully agree with the comment above.
Why are councils so reluctant to stop illegal parking , seemingly they will do anything else than enforce the law.
Have a permanent warden in the area (Gatley,Cheadle), the fines will pay for their wages.
It’s councils failings and unwillingness to clamp down on anti-social/criminal behaviour by motorists, enforce the law, problem solved.
I also agree with the above comments. You can paint as may yellow lines as you want but if the usual illegal parkers know that they have about as much change of seeing Lord Lucan as a traffic warden they will continue to park. I am convinced that a major factor in the traffic ( the Cheadle crawl) is this illegal parking. We all know who the usual culprits are !
Come on, Iain, you must respond to these comments about enforcing parking rules.
On parking, only to say what I’ve said elsewhere – the Council’s just taken on 6 new traffic wardens, four specifically for the local and district centres. We’re getting tougher on handing out tickets.
It’s simply not true that the Council’s unwilling to enforce – the number of fines handed out show otherwise.
That’s good news, Iain. Why don’t you put details of the increase in the number of fines in a future newsletter. That would enable your subscribers to spread the word that the Council is getting tougher.