Graham, Tom and Ian

Your Lib Dem team for Cheadle West & Gatley Learn more

Date set for Cheadle car park pricing change

by Lib Dem team on 15 March, 2016

Following the public meeting on Cheadle parking organised by the Lib Dem councillors, we’re working to get the agreed proposals through as quickly as possible.

At the meeting, we agreed to revert to the old parking fees for Cheadle as a first step and look at a whole range of other suggestions for further improvements after that. The parking fees will be 30p for up to 2 hours, £1.50 for 2-3 hours and £5 for more than 3 hours.

The legal process of advertising the change is now moving ahead and that takes a few weeks.

To our surprise, it turned out that the longest delay was on getting the people out to reconfigure the parking machines – the council does it very rarely of course, so gets an external company to do the work.

The planned date for the change to be made is 19th April 2016

We know there are people who need to park all day (for example, if they work in the village) who won’t want to pay the £5. That’s good – the idea of the higher charge is to free up spaces, not to make more money. There are a number of places to park for free within a couple of minutes walk of the village centre and without inconveniencing local residents so if you’re in that position, please do get in touch.

 

   22 Comments

22 Responses

  1. Janet holmes says:

    Hello…..please advise where the above mentioned places are.I will tell friends and visitors about them. Thanks in advance.

  2. Tony says:

    Well if it’s not about making money, scrap the charges altogether !!

    • Iain Roberts says:

      Hi Tony – it’s about covering the costs of maintaining the car parks in good condition – any extra money goes on fixing roads and pavements. Plus if we scrapped the charges altogether, the car parks would most likely be full of all-day parkers with no space left for short stay.

  3. Andrea sheridan says:

    Hello. Will there be short stay and long stay car parks? Or is this the first stage? Many thanks.Andrea

  4. Sue Sharp says:

    It definitely penalises certain businesses more than others… someone visiting the hairdressers for a longer time will now have £5 added to their hair do…. that’s quite a hike. People visiting the area for that purpose may go elsewhere. Local businesses will then lose customers. Its a shame .

    • Iain Roberts says:

      Hi Sue – that’s why we had a big public meeting to air all the views and get the balance right. If someone has a haircut that takes more than three hours, they will either need to pay the £5 or do something different (e.g. get the bus in, get dropped off, park a couple of minutes away and walk in). You’re right though – there’s no one solution that’s perfect for everyone.

  5. John Bodicoat says:

    So we’re back to paying 30p for 10 mins whilst we nip into the banks. Thanks.

    • Iain Roberts says:

      Yes, if we want to free up more short-stay parking for traders and we want to do it quickly then that’s the best option. Of course there’s no shortage of free parking for short-stay if you’re willing to add a minute or two onto your walk (e.g. top of Ashfield Road or Oak Road).

  6. Roy says:

    Well said Iain, if you can’t do a haircut in under 3 hours maybe you’re in the wrong job. Given the very high prices that hairdressers charge Women, perhaps hairdressers should provide complimentary parking for their valued customers and pay the parking fee on behalf of their clients.

  7. Janet holmes says:

    I would like an answer to my earlier comment.

  8. Janet holmes says:

    Let’s leave the narrow footpaths to one side. I very well understand why some are not appropriate…however, the question remains….why not use bollards to prevent obstruction and damage?
    A boards are everywhere …..reducing the pavement area regardless of the width….they are meant to be on the inside next to the business , not at the pavement edge. Why is this allowed, who is meant to control this?

    • Iain Roberts says:

      Hi Janet,

      As I mentioned in reply to your previous comment, bollards are an option and you’ll see quite a few around, but many of our pavements are quite narrow so in some places bollards would narrow the pavement too much and make it difficult for people (especially with buggies and wheelchairs) to get through.

      The Council does have a policy on A-boards – roughly speaking they should be either next to the business or in line with bollards/posts. If you see one that isn’t, please do let us know.

  9. Janet holmes says:

    Yes. I asked for information about the parking spaces within a few minutes walk of the High street.

  10. Hayley says:

    As a part time worker (4.5hrs per day) in cheadle, I currently pay £1 a day to park. This is going to jump to £5 which is a huge rise. £100 per month out of a single mums salary is a huge dent and somewhat unjustified. Many people come to Cheadle as its a lovely high street and the parking is reasonable. You’re going to affect workers and businesses by putting in these changed.

    • Iain Roberts says:

      Hi Hayley – absolutely agree, and that’s the trade-off – we don’t have a perfect solution. What we do have is enough free parking within a few minutes walk of the centre for people to park without inconveniencing residents or having to pay the higher prices. If you want to drop me an email letting me know where you work, I’ll happily give you some suggestions on where you could park for free.

      • john says:

        I am interested in your reply to Hayley as not at all specific and you earlier mentioned ashfield road and oak road I believe .Ashfield road has a doctors senior citizen and special housing on it an is full during the day very narrow and people already drive 4 wheels on the pavement very dangerous , oak road is very residential regocnised by the council as it has a 20 speed limit so come on Ian where else is free parking and not going to inconvenience or wide up Cheadle residence

  11. john says:

    I would also like the location of parking within a few minutes available without affecting local residence answered as this seems to be ignored especially as we now have all day parking outside my home during the week and can only see this getting far worse no question.

  12. Janet holmes says:

    Hello again…..My taxes are up to date with SMBC!
    This is my third request for details of free parking spaces as previously mentioned….you have overlooked my messages, or perhaps avoided same?

    • Iain Roberts says:

      Sorry Janet – been hectic and not had time to go through all the comments and reply in full.

      Here are a few suggestions where two or three more cars could park during the day without causing problems to local residents (assuming people are sensible, naturally):
      – Wilmslow Road south of Charlotte Street
      – Oak Road
      – Whitegates Road
      – Newboult, New Hey, Bulkeley

      All those roads have spaces while residents are out of work during the day. There are others too, of course.

  13. John says:

    I think it’s for the best revert to the old parking fees for the time being to give everyone time to work this through. Because it really does need some thinking through.

    We have to be realistic: parking locally nowadays is like a combat zone. I can still remember the time when people who came to visit me could park in front of my house. Now, with the school opposite, i often have to argue my way out of my property between 15:10 and 15:30. How is that right? When i drive up St.Anns Rd at that time of day i get cars coming at me, aggressively challenging me at those lane restrictors so that i have to stop. People can have such a deluded opinion of their self importance, it would seem. So thoughtless, so selfish.
    Can’t we the people in Gatley do better?

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