Graham, Tom and Ian

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Lib Dems working on St Ann’s Road North parking problem

by Lib Dem team on 20 September, 2013

The Lib Dem team have been very concerned about the problems with parking on St Ann’s Road North over the last year or two, where cars from the business park have started being parked along the road.

It’s dangerous and frustrating for residents, and we’ve been working with our fellow councillors in Heald Green (where the problem parking is occuring) to see if we can find a solution.

We’re getting yellow lines painted each side of the chicanes to keep them free and improve safety. Those who use the road will also have seen that we’ve had bollards put on the pavement by the chicanes to stop people mounting the pavement to get round them.

One option to stop the parking would be to put yellow lines right down the road. The problem with that is it just moves the problem – we end up chasing cars around as they park on the other side of St Ann’s Road or move into the side roads and cause problems there.

We think to solve the problem we need to work on the causes – partly a lack of spaces for some cars on the business park, but mostly people wanting to get a quick getaway towards the M56 and it being much quicker to go through Heald Green than onto Kingsway.

We’ve got a meeting with the Development Director of Muse, the company that owns the business park, and we’ll be going to the next Cheadle Royal tenants’ meeting too. Something we’d like to see is a resumption of the shuttle-bus which ran very successfully for quite a while.

This is a real problem, and we’ll continue looking for workable solutions.

   9 Comments

9 Responses

  1. Jennifer says:

    why not persuade the owners of the site to create a new car park on land forming part of the Cheadle Royal estate with access on to St Ann’s Road. The cost should be born by the individual occupiers of the site whose employees create the problem.

  2. Iain Roberts says:

    That would be one solution, but my worry with it is it would legitimise the use of St Ann’s Road North for business park traffic.

    When the business park was first opened, it was always clear that there would be no vehicle access onto St Ann’s Road North (apart from the emergency access). If we were to change that, it would be very difficult to ever go back and we’d be stuck with the road as a legitimate route for business park traffic to take.

  3. Jennifer says:

    But, Iain, they are using it anyway and blocking the road by parking. One of the big mistakes was putting in those chicanes which seem to cause danger as quite often people don’t give way as they should. Surely humps would have been enough to slow down the traffic.

  4. Iain Roberts says:

    That’s true, Jennifer, and I won’t say there’s an easy answer. But I think the solution lies in having cars not come down St Ann’s Road at all, rather than having even more come down the road, but with a car park to park in.

  5. Smitho says:

    Am I going mad here? The root problem is the fact that at 5pm every day the business park is gridlock with traffic attempting to get onto the a34 (in either direction).
    This is compounded by cars queuing directly across the business park from Wilmslow road – blocking traffic from going into Cheadle or the a34 south. There is a serious traffic management problem here!!!!

    This isn’t the fault of businesses on the park, or the employees, or the people who live on St Anns road – but the failure of the council and owners getting together and working out a solution to exiting the business park. Instead the council seem to think putting bollards, double yellow lines etc etc will make the problem just go away, and the business park owners carry on overloading the park! Madness!

  6. Iain Roberts says:

    The main problem (though not the whole problem) is indeed too much traffic using that part of the A34, meaning it takes a long time for cars to get in and out.

    I don’t agree that there’s an easy answer to that – it’s a really tough problem and I’ve said many times I think it comes down to more road or fewer cars. Tinkering isn’t going to sort it!

    However, the fact remains that there is ample space on the business park for everyone to park, and by parking right up to the chicanes on St Ann’s Road North, business park employees are causing serious safety issues which we want to improve.

    I have sympathy with the business park users, but I have more sympathy for the residents.

  7. […] We gave the final go-ahead to double yellow lines around the chicanes and the business park pedestrian entrances on St Ann’s Road North to improve safety – we’re working on how to sort out the parking problems (see here) […]

  8. Smitho says:

    Whilst I agree that tinkering isn’t going to solve the problem it can at least help to alleviate it. The solid line of traffic queuing to get from Wilmslow Road to the A34 north means that all traffic in the business park is stationary, regardless of where people are travelling. Why isn’t there any form of traffic management here? At 5pm every day it’s just chaos with cars weaving through lanes of traffic to try and get out. Very dangerous if you ask me.

    Alleviating this will go some way to reduce the benefit people are finding from parking on the road/estate. If the council have sympathy with the residents then they should start addressing the real root of the problem!

  9. John Gray says:

    Iain, I live on The Lakes and encounter this problem daily. I have had to adjust my

    daily routines to not going out by car during the most dangerous periods: 7:45 to

    9:00 am and 3:00 to around 5:00 pm. I use the word dangerous because it is

    appropriate in my experience.
    Two examples of many:
    08:45am Driving north; pulled up at the chicane by the hospital as oncoming traffic

    has the right of way, overtaken, witness a head-to-head stand-off in the single lane

    of the chicane.
    3:30pm: Driving north, forced to wait at the chicane for what seems ages as the

    school traffic comes south, forced onto “my” side of the road by the parked cars.

    This morning a couple of cars had squeezed themselves onto the ends of the parked

    cars around that chicane. I doubt that the school bus could have got through it

    (could ask them for their experiences).

    This parking problem is not solely due to the business park cars. Parking for drop

    off/pick up at the school and the new sports centre opposite Grassmere Rd need to be

    factored in.

    I agree with Jennifer that > One of the big mistakes was putting in those chicanes

    which seem to cause danger as quite often people don’t give way as they should.> I

    believe that the traffic would flow much better along St Anns Rd Northg if they were

    removed and replaced with an enforced 20mph limit.

    Reply #6 from Iain is interesting to think about. > the fact remains that there is

    ample space on the business park for everyone to park,> But they choose to park on

    St Anns. Why … because it’s a quicker way to home for them when they leave work.

    In the short term i would suggest –
    – a day-time single yellow line all along St Anns Rd South, on both sides of the

    road, from Finney Lane to High Grove.
    – remove the chicanes
    – introduce speed monitoring (ideally enforcement)
    – encourage those that work in the business park to use the parking provided there
    – a 20 mph limit for our whole area.
    – no new exit from the business park onto St Anns Rd (Iains #2)

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