As part of the rolling programme of upgrades, two of the pelican crossings in Gatley will be replaced by puffins: the crossing by the Station and the one by the Tatton.

In addition to being newer and smarter, puffin crossings have cameras mounted at the top of the lights that track pedestrians and traffic, ensuring that pedestrians have enough time to cross the road (which can be a problem especially at the station crossing) and cars aren’t waiting around for too long when there’s no-one crossing the road.

Cheadle already has puffin crossings in the village centre.

I recently reported that Manchester Urban Traffic Control (who manage the main junctions around Greater Manchester) had agreed to change the phasing of the lights at the Kingsway/Gatley Road junction.

They’d been away and done a stack of computer modelling, looking at every permutation in changing the lights, putting in right filters and changes different parts of sequenc.

Manchester UTC told us that a right filter wasn’t viable, and other options either wouldn’t help east-west traffic, or would have a knock-on effect to north-south traffic.

The most promising option looked to be changing the phase from three minutes to two.  I wrote in more detail about what it would mean and how it should help here.

Although they’d done all the modelling and we’d been promised the change would be made in late January or early February, I checked a little while ago (standing at the junction and timing the phase) and confirmed nothing had been done.

On enquiring, we were told that they’d gone to the junction to make the change, got worried at the last minute about the effect on traffic backing onto the M60 and decided not to do it after all!

To say Mark Hunter and I were unimpressed would be something of an understatement.

The latest plan is for councillors to go down to the junction with Manchester UTC in rush hour, have them make the change and see what happens.  If traffic backs onto lane one of the M60, it can be reverted easily.  If it all goes OK, then we can see how it goes.

That should happen in the next few weeks, but it’s still be to confirmed with Manchester UTC when the relevant person comes off leave next week.

I’ve been sent this flyer detailing Network Rail’s plans for the Stockport area over the next decade or two. 

I haven’t looked into this in any detail so, for now, I pass it on without comment (but, as always, invite yours).

The ten local authorities in Greater Manchester have a decision to make over the next few weeks: whether to go ahead and form a new “City Region” - a body which would see the ten authorities working together to deliver transport (as now), post-16 education funding, skills & training funding and inward investment.

In Stockport we had an all-party briefing from officers, including Howard Bernstein who’s closely involved with  the plans.

The aim is for Stockport to make its decision at an Extraordinary General Meeting prior to the budget meeting on  25th Feb, with the Manchester-wide decision being taken before the General Election.

I should say up front that I haven’t made up my mind on this one.  I can certainly see some logic to it, but I’ve some big concerns too.

The current situation

After Greater Manchester County Council was abolished in 1985, the ten metropolitain borough councils established AGMA - the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities - as a voluntary way to work together where it made sense to do so.

Four “joint authorities” were also created to oversee/run fire, police, waste and (some) transport services across Greater Manchester.

It’s argued that AGMA has been beneficial, giving Greater Manchester a bigger voice, more influence over national and regional policy and more direct control city-wide decisions.

AGMA and the join authorities are not directly accountable to voters.  They have some accountability to councils.

The case for a City Region

The “City Region” is something new from central government.  The idea is to take regionally some of the powers currently held by Government agencies and quangos, in the area of our economic development.

For example, the City Region would control the £600 million annual budget for post-16 education in Greater Manchester, would work to attract investment and boost jobs.

We’re all joined at the hip, the argument goes.  We (the ten Greater Manchester authorities) need to work together more to benefit  us all.

The consultants say there’s no reason for this new “Combined Authority” City Region to cost more  - it’s claimed to be an efficient and effective option.

The alternatives

We’re told that there are two alternatives to this new Combined Authority City Region, covering economic development and transport.

1. Leave AGMA and the joint authorities as they are now, but create a new joint authority for economic development (on top of transport, waste, police & fire).

2. Keep the status quo.

The concerns

Here are some of the concerns that were raised in the briefing session:

• AGMA requires a 7-3 majority vote to take action - meaning that no one political party can force things through on its own.  The new Combined Authority will work on simple majority voting.
• The Combined Authority is not answerable to voters in any way.  If you think they’re doing something wrong, there’s no way you can vote to express that - especially if the leader of your council voted against the decision.  Local Authority councillors can have a degree of oversight.
• It’s much more difficult (and potentially not possible) for local authorities to withdraw from the Combined Authority once they’re in.  In fact, authorities could potentially be forced to join even if they don’t want to.
• The details are vague.  No-one knows exactly what the new body will do, how much money it will cost (or save) and whether it would be better than going it alone.  Lots of time and money has been spent investigating, but we’re still going on educated guesses.
• What if it went in the wrong direction?  Remember the Congestion Charge?  Had a referendum not been forced through, that would have been imposed by a similar body.
• Why bundle in transport (which is something we probably do want to continue being dealt with on a Greater Manchester basis) with the much woolier and less clear-cut economic investment?

This certainly isn’t my area of expertise, so there may be errors and omissions, which I’ll correct whenever they’re spotted.

In the meantime, please have your say.

It’s now snowing fairly hard, and I’ve received this information about public transport in Greater Manchester.  I’ll post more details as they come in.

Public Transport Information Alert

3 February 2010

Possible weather-related travel disruption

GMPTE is advising passengers that sleet and snow forecast in Greater Manchester this afternoon could have an impact on travel services.

Current forecasts indicate that up to 5cm of snow may fall on lower ground and up to 8cm in higher areas of Greater Manchester during the afternoon and early evening.

This could result in delays across the public transport network. For example, it is possible that some bus operators may curtail services if road conditions deteriorate.

Michael Renshaw, Interim Bus and Rail Director at GMPTE, said: “Any snow that does fall is not predicted to reach the same levels that we saw last month, but there is still the potential for the amounts forecast to cause some disruption to services, particularly during the evening rush hour.

“We would advise people to bear this in mind when planning their journeys home this evening, and to allow extra time if the expected snow arrives. Temperatures are forecast to stay low overnight, so morning services could be affected too.

“Although efforts will be made to ensure bus stations and Metrolink stops are gritted, we would also ask passengers to take extra care when making their way around.”

Regular updates on Metrolink services are provided at www.metrolink.co.uk. Rail passengers can check how services are running by logging on to www.nationalrail.co.uk. Bus passengers are advised to check operators’ websites for information on service disruptions.

On Wednesday morning I met with Mrs Yule, the Headteacher at Lady Barn House School on School’s Hill, Cheadle.  This followed concern from local residents about traffic and parking around the school at dropping off and picking up times.

Hopefully I’ll find the time to write more detail about what the school has been doing, but for now I’ll give the summary.

The school does make efforts to minimise the problems.  In the morning children are dropped off in the car par, in the afternoon picking up is obviously trickier as the kids can’t always be there at just the right time.

Exiting the school, there are “no right turn” signs, though some parents ignore them.

The school encourages parents to be responsible when parking and driving, and are very happy for the police to hand out tickets to those breaking the law.  They regularly send out letters to parents reminding them of the need to be responsible.

Of course, most people who live near a school recognise that traffic increases for short periods in the mornings and afternoons - it’s a problem every school in the country has.

And, as Inspector Gilbertson told us at the Area Committee meeting, when you have parents parking illegally and willingly accepting the fine, with no intention of changing their behaviour, there’s little police or the school can do.

But that doesn’t mean we can’t improve the situation in this case.  I was keen to look at ways the Council could help the school to stop traffic needing to come onto Schools Hill at all.

We’re going to explore whether there’s a safe and affordable way to have parents parking off Schools Hill (perhaps Cheadle Baths or the Sainsburys/John Lewis car park) and be bussed or walked to school from there.

For both the school and the Council there are issues and challenges to be overcome; but we’re talking about it, and that’s got to be a positive start.

Many bus services have been operating today, but main roads continue to be the best served routes because of the icy conditions. Metrolink has been running regular services across the network and rail operators have been operating as a full a service as possible.
However, demand on services is expected to be significantly higher from tomorrow as more people are expected to return to work and education. Some schools are also planning to reopen and parents and pupils are advised to consult with their school over the status of dedicated bus services.

Melanie Watson, GMPTE’s Interim Transport Services Manager, said: “We expect significantly more people to start using the buses, trains and trams again tomorrow and would advise people to allow extra time for their journey as a result. Efforts are being made to ensure Park and Ride facilities are accessible, although maintaining access to platforms and stations remains our priority.
“With regards to dedicated school bus services, parents and pupils are strongly advised to consult their school to check if a service is running, what route it is serving and the pick-up and drop-off points in light of the current road conditions.
“In all instances, we would ask passengers to consider the severe weather conditions before travelling, to expect some level of disruption to their normal service because of the icy conditions and to check operators’ websites for the latest service information.”
Bus passengers are advised to check www.arrivabus.co.uk, http://www.finglands.co.uk/, www.firstgroup.com/ukbus/northwest/manchester/service_disruptions/, www.rossendalebus.co.uk/serviceupdate/index.html, www.southlancs.com, www.stagecoachbus.com/serviceupdates.aspx, http://www.trentbarton.co.uk/news-and-media/travel-updates.aspx and www.warringtonboroughtransport.co.uk/indexnew.htm for service updates.
Metrolink 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.
Northern Rail advice for Monday 11 January 2010

Passengers travelling to airports for flights should check with their airline, as flights may also be affected.

Known changes to rail services today
TransPennine Express
Direct services between Newcastle and Manchester Airport will be suspended. Customers travelling between York and Newcastle should travel on East Coast or Cross Country services who will accept your ticket.
Customers travelling between York and the North West can use First TransPennine Express services.
Services between Middlesbrough and Manchester Airport will continue to operate.
Services between Glasgow Central and Manchester Airport will be suspended.
Customers travelling to and from Glasgow should change at Preston for connecting services. Your ticket will be valid on Virgin Train services.
All ticket restrictions on First TransPennine Express trains will be lifted. If you have a ticket that is valid for travel between (and including) Thursday 7th January and Sunday 10th January 2010 and you are unable to travel, your ticket will be valid for use within 48 hours of the date specified on your ticket.
Known disruptions to bus services today

All the local councillors, plus our MP, were invited to a meeting today about the plans to improve the Kingsway/Gatley Road junction.  Myself, Cllr Pam King and Mark Hunter MP were able to make it, along with representatives of Stockport Council and Manchester Urban Traffic Control.

We had a full discussion about the junction itself, plus some related issues including traffic on the South Park Road estate.

What I’ll do here is to first detail the plans for the junction, then go into more detail.

Three steps to improve the junction

1. Reduce the traffic light cycle time

The current cycle is variable, up to a maximum of three minutes.  This allows the maximum amount of traffic to go straight ahead in each phase, but means that only 3-4 vehicles from Gatley and Cheadle can turn right onto Kingsway.

The cycle is to be reduced so the maximum length is two minutes, not three.  That might not sound like a lot, but it means 50% more cars can turn right from Cheadle & Gatley (3-4 from each side every two minutes instead of every three).  The modelling that’s been done suggests that will make a bigger difference that we might think.   The planners believe it will lead to overall much shorter queues to turn right.

It should also make it slightly quicker for pedestrians to the cross the road (since there’ll be less time to wait for the next gap in the traffic).

Another benefit is that this is zero-cost.  There’s no roadworks or anything like that, it’s just a change in the computer system.

A small downside is that it slightly reduces the number of vehicles that can go straight ahead (as each phase change takes time) but the planners think that should be minimal.

This change will be made in the next few weeks.

 2. Improving flow from M60 slip road onto Kingsway

Traffic leaving the M60 to join the A34 Southbound currently gets squeezed down to one lane.  Years ago it was two lanes, but it was taken down to one after a nasty fatal accident.

We’re all keen to get this safely back up to two lanes and improve the movement of traffic onto Kingsway.

This is being looked at by the Highways Agency, along with others, and there are still quite a few questions, not least whether funding is available.

The general idea is to have two lanes from the slip road meeting Kingsway, and to have traffic lights on both Kingsway and the slip road so each one goes in turn.

3. Re-ordering the lanes on Kingsway northbound

This is another one still at the planning stage, although the idea’s been around for a while.

If you think of driving north along the A34 from Cheadle Royal towards Manchester, you’ve got three lanes as you come up the Gatley Road junction.  The left hand lane is for Gatley, the South Park Road estate, M60 westbound and M60 eastbound.  The other two lanes are for Manchester.  That results in far more traffic in the inside lane.

What we’d like is a more balanced approach to use the three lanes as effectively as possible.  That might, for example, mean the inside lane being for Gatley, South Park Road Estate and M60 westbound, the middle lane for M60 eastbound and the outside lane for Manchester.

That should result in traffic using the three lanes more evenly, meaning more vehicles getting through the junction in each phase.

One issue is cyclists going into Manchester.  We don’t want to push cyclists into the outside lane, which is dangerous for everyone.  I think there are ways round that with sensible signing and alternative routes, but it needs more work.

Background and why no right filters?

This is possibly the busiest junction in Greater Manchester, certainly one of the top few.  Were it being designed now, it would be wider and have right-turn phases (filters).  Ideally, for the volume of traffic, there would be a flyover for north-south traffic.

None of those are realistic at the moment, as you can imagine.

The planners modelled  putting in a right filter from Cheadle, or from Gatley, or both at the same time (something which you might have noticed both the Lib Dems and our political opponents have been keen on).

The modelling suggests  none of those options are viable without major alterations to the junction (the sort that would involve knocking down lots of houses!).

If you put in a right filter just from one side or the other, the other side jams up.  Put in a right filter from Cheadle and the queue on the Gatley side gets much longer, and vice versa.

So why not have a right filter from both at the same time, which is what I’ve been calling for?

The argument is  that it’s simply not safe to implement that on a junction of this size.  It would, we’re told, be too confusing for motorists and so too dangerous.   It would also lead to longer queues on Kingsway, and backing up onto the M60.

This is based on experiences with other junctions. Whilst I’m keen to have a filter if we can, I have to accept the findings of the experts and I certainly don’t want the junction to become more dangerous.

Conclusion

I’d like to thank the Council Officers and the people from Manchester Urban Traffic Control and the Highways Agency who are clearly taking this issue seriously and working hard to improve what may be Greater Manchester’s busiest junction.

We’ve got a solution that, the modelling suggests, will significantly improve things for people coming from Cheadle and Gatley and turning right.  If we’re really lucky, it will also help those going left and ahead from Gatley by reducing the pinch point on Gatley Road near Torkington Road.

Longer term, and subject to funding, we hope that the plans to improve the flow of traffic along Kingsway in both directions work out too.

So although we seem as far as ever from getting a right filter, we are making progress  and we will be seeing real changes which, we all hope, will improve the junction further.

Stockport Council have a new website up and running - simple, lightweight and giving you key information (currently which schools are closed tomorrow and what’s happening with refuse and recycling collections).

The website is www.stockportalert.org.uk

This is in addition to the standard Stockport Council website, which will also carry the information (but went down earlier this evening under the weight of traffic).

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.

Here’s the latest from Stockport Council on gritting:

A Council spokesman, said: “During the recent cold weather the Council has worked around the clock to ensure that disruption is kept to a minimum.

A fleet of eight dedicated highway gritters supported by a fleet of smaller gritting vehicles, tippers and JCB’s are working relentlessly to address the worsening conditions.

Snow and ice gritting operations will continue to be undertaken on the Council’s priority and local feeder roads, which includes bus routes, this is in accordance with the Council’s winter maintenance policy which can be found at www.stockport.gov.uk/transportpolicy

The Council has approximately 300 tonnes of grit in stock which will last for up to eight days in freezing conditions. The Council is also keen to reassure residents that they are in constant contact with the suppliers to ensure that the grit levels will be maintained throughout the winter and further deliveries are expected.

The Council is also in regular contact with other Greater Manchester Authorities to discuss and monitor grit stocks. Road users are also advised to take extra care and refer to the Highways Agency for further advice on traffic disruption on motorways and trunk roads.”

Councillors have been told that gritting will continue on all the priority and local feeder routes but not on smaller residential roads. This is the agreed policy: in common with pretty much every local authority across the country, Stockport aims to keep the main roads and busier car parks and pavements clear.

I don’t know the reasoning behind that, but I would imagine it’s partly down to the amount of salt the Council has. At least one UK council is on the verge of running out of salt due to the severity of the conditions. Stockport has enough for another 8 days, we’re told, but the more roads gritted, the less long the grit will last for.

However, I’m still concerned about certain roads such as Eskdale, where the combination of ice, hills and a lack of grit bins are causing big problems for some residents. I’ve had some (limited) success in getting these gritted just before the New Year, but I don’t know whether we’ll be able to have them done again, or if that will even solve the problem, since grit is least effective when scattered on existing ice on low-traffic roads. We could really do with either more grit bins, or at least piles of grit left on the pavement in key locations.

See also my other posts on this issue, plus the comments made on each:

Report on snow, travel and services for 6th Jan

My experiences of snow and gritting in Stockport

Stockport’s been gritting over the weekend before Christmas

How’s Stockport done on gritting (26th Dec)

Ice in Stockport - now we need to tackle the cul-de-sacs

I’ve been asked to post a list of roads being gritted.  This is the information I’ve received from the Council. I pass this on as-is.

An Ice Grit to routes 1-10 starting at 19.00 to 00.01 then a Snow Grit to routes 1-10 starting at 01.00 to 07.00

Plus designated Car Parks , Footpaths and Bus Routes

Routes 1-10 are:

PRIORITY ROUTE 1 - WINTER GRITTING

ECO CENTRE – TRAVEL TO TRAVIS BROW
TRAVIS BROW TO GEORGES ROAD
GEORGES ROAD
A6 TO MANCHESTER BOUNDARY
CROSSLEY ROAD TO BOUNDARY
A6 TO DISLEY BOUNDARY
A6 TO MACCLESFIELD ROAD
MACCLESFIELD ROAD TO POYNTON BOUNDARY
A6 TO GEORGES ROAD
BELMONT WAY INCLUDING ROUNDABOUT
LANCASHIRE HILL, TURN RIGHT
GREAT EGERTON STREET INCLUDING ROUNDABOUT
KNIGHTSBRIDGE
GREAT PORTWOOD STREET INCLUDING ROUNDABOUT
GREAT PORTWOOD STREET BACK TO OLD KING PUB
CROOKILEY WAY INCLUDING BOTH ROUNDABOUTS
CROOKILEY WAY BACK TO PORTWOOD
CARRINGTON ROAD
STOCKPORT ROAD WEST
STOCKPORT ROAD EAST
HYDE ROAD TO BOUNDARY
ASHTON ROAD TO DENTON BOUNDARY – BOTH SIDES OF ISLAND SAFEWAY
LINGARD LANE
BRINNINGTON ROAD – BOTH SIDES OF CENTRE ISLAND
TIVIOT WAY
MANCHESTER ROAD, RETURN TO BROADSTONE ROAD VIA MANCHESTER ROAD
SLIP ROAD ONTO MANCHESTER ROAD
BROADSTONE ROAD
GORTON ROAD TO STATION ROAD
STATION ROAD
GORTON ROAD TO BOUNDRY
THORNLEY LANE SOUTH
WINDMILL LANE TO GORTON ROAD
LONGFORD ROAD WEST TO BOUNDARY & BROWNING ROAD BUS ROUTE
HARROGATE ROAD & HOULDSWORTH STREET
LONGFORD ROAD TO MIILL LANE
REDDISH ROAD
SANDY LANE
RETURN TO BELMONT WAY, GRIT SLIP ROAD TO A6

PRIORITY ROUTE 2 - WINTER GRITTING

ECO CENTRE – TRAVEL TO STOCKPORT ROAD, CHEADLE HEATH
STOCKPORT ROAD INCLUDING ALL ROUNDABOUTS TO MANCHESTER ROAD
MANCHESTER ROAD TO BOUNDARY
A34 FROM MERSEY BRIDGE TO CHESHIRE BOUNDARY (INCLUDING ROUNDABOUTS & EXCLUDING SCHOOLS HILL)
A34 FROM CHESHIRE BOUNDARY TO MANCHESTER BOUNDARY
HIGH STREET
GATLEY ROAD
NORTHENDEN ROAD
PARK ROAD, TURN LEFT
CHURCH ROAD, TURN LEFT
STYAL ROAD
FINNEY LANE – TURN LEFT
TO JOHN LEWIS ROUNDABOUT THEN RETURN TO ETCHELLS RD
ETCHELLS ROAD
TURVES ROAD, TURN LEFT
CHEADLE ROAD – TURN LEFT
SCHOOLS HILL & ALL ROUNDABOUT AND TO JOHN LEWIS ROUNDABOUT
SCHOOLS HILL DUAL CARRIAGEWAY & RETURN TO WILMSLOW RD
WILMSLOW ROAD TO BROADWAY
BROADWAY TO A34
TRAVEL BACK TO WILMSLOW ROAD VIA SCHOOLS HILL
WILMSLOW ROAD TO HIGH STREET
TRAVEL BACK TO BROADWAY VIA GATLEY ROAD AND A34
BROADWAY TO WILMSLOW ROAD ( ISLANDS – SLIP ROUTES )
TRAVEL BACK TO ETCHELLS ROAD – WILMSLOW ROAD
TO HANDFORTH BOUNDARY
STANLEY ROAD TO FIRST ROUNDABOUT – STOP GRITTING
TRAVEL VIA A34 TO SCHOOLS HILL ROUNDABOUT
NORTHBOUND OFF AND ON SLIP ROADS

PRIORITY ROUTE 3 - WINTER GRITTING

COUNCILLOR LANE, TRAVEL TO A34
ON & OFF RAMP AT SCHOOLS HILL ROUNDABOUT
GROVE LANE TO CHESTER ROAD
CHESTER ROAD TO BOUNDARY DEANWATER
CHESTER ROAD TO POYNTON BOUNDARY
WOODFORD ROAD
MOSS LANE
ACRE LANE
JENNY LANE
BRAMHALL LANE SOUTH
BRIDGE LANE
JACKSONS LANE
DEAN LANE, TURN LEFT, STOP GRITTING
CHESTER ROAD, TURN RIGHT TO GRUNDEY ST GRIT TO A6
CHESTER ROAD TO JACKSONS LANE
BRAMHALL MOOR LANE TO A6, RETURN TO CHESTER ROAD
CHESTER ROAD TO POYNTON BOUNDARY, STOP GRITTING
ACK LANE EAST
ACK LANE WEST
RAVENOAK ROAD
MANOR ROAD
CARRWOOD ROAD TO BRAMHALL LANE SOUTH, STOP GRITTING
STATION ROAD, CHEADLE HULME
MELLOR ROAD, FULL LENGTH TURN IN CARPARK
ALBERT ROAD
HULME HALL ROAD
CHURCH ROAD
GILL BENT ROAD, STOP GRITTING

PRIORITY ROUTE 4 - WINTER GRITTING

ECO CENTRE – TRAVEL TO MILLGATE
MILLGATE
CHURCHGATE
SPRING GARDENS
HALL STREET
OFFERTON LANE
MARPLE ROAD
STOCKPORT ROAD
STATION ROAD
BRABYNS BROW
LOWER FOLD
GLOSSOP ROAD TO BOUNDRY (STOP GRITTING)
ARKWRIGHT ROAD
STRINES ROAD TO BOUNDRY & STATION ROAD(STOP GRITTING)
STRINES ROAD FROM ARKWRIGHT ROAD
STOCKPORT ROAD TO STATION ROAD
HOLLINS LANE
OLDKNOW ROAD
COMPSTALL ROAD
COMPSTALL BROW
COWLISHAW BROW
COMPSTALL ROAD
STOCKPORT ROAD
SCHOOL BROW
BERRYCROFT
HARRY TOWN
BREDBURY GREEN
GORSEY BROW
HIGHER BENTS LANE
LOWER BENTS LANE
GEORGE LANE
BARRACK HILL
HATHERLOW
OTTERSPOOL ROAD
DOOLEY LANE
OFFERTON ROAD
TORKINGTON ROAD TO A6 (STOP GRITTING)

PRIORITY ROUTE 5 - WINTER GRITTING

ECO CENTRE TO BIRD HALL LANE
BIRDHALL LANE
EDGELEY ROAD TO STOCKPORT ROAD. TURN RIGHT
GRIT TO WOOLPACK. TURN LEFT
GRIT BOTH SIDES OF WOOLPACK BRIDGE & J1 ROUNDABOUT
GRIT CHESTERGATE TO KING STREET WEST
WOOD STREET. TURN LEFT
GRIT BRINKSWAY TO ROCKS
EDGELEY ROAD. MORRISONS TO A6
EDWARD STREET
WATERLOO ROAD (TURN LEFT)
HOPES CARR (TURN RIGHT)
HIGHER HILLGATE
BRAMHALL LANE
BRAMHALL LANE SOUTH. TO ROUNABOUT AT B/PARK
LADYBRIDGE ROAD
ADSWOOD ROAD
LOWFIELD ROAD
LONGSHUT LANE
HEMPSHAW LANE
ST.MARYS WAY (BOTH SIDES)
LONGSHUT LANE WEST
SHAW HEATH
KING STREET WEST
HEATON LANE. TURN RIGHT & GRIT GEORGES RD TO RDBT
TRAVIS BROW
DIDSBURY ROAD
BURNAGE LANE TO BOUNDARY
KINGSLEIGH ROAD
MAULDETH ROAD
BANKHALL ROAD
MOORSIDE ROAD
THORNFIELD ROAD
HEATON MOOR ROAD
SCHOOL LANE
WHITEHILL INDUSTRIAL ESTATE
GREG STREET TO REDDISH ROAD
NELSTROP ROAD
CARNFORTH ROAD (ALL)
MARBURY ROAD
KESWICK ROAD
SHAW HEATH (LONGSHUT LANE TO BRAMHALL LANE)
ADSWOOD LANE EAST
ADSWOOD LANE WEST
GARNERS LANE
*WOODSMOOR LANE (DO NOT CROSS RAILWAY CROSSING)
MOORLAND ROAD
KENNERLEY ROAD

PRIORITY ROUTE 6 - WINTER GRITTING

LEYLAND STREET, TURN LEFT AT BOTTOM
LITTLE EGERTON STREET
BRIDGE STREET – BOLLARD!!
UNDERBANK – BOLLARD!!
CHESTERGATE – BOLLARD!!
DAW BANK TO VIADUCT STREET
BUS STATION – ALL LANES
ROCK ROW
PETERSGATE – PART
HIGH STREET
WELLINGTON STREET
MARKET PLACE
LOWER HILLGATE – BOLLARD!!
UNDERBANK, RETURN TO HILLGATE VIA PETERSGATE
HILLGATE TO EDWARD STREET
PICCADILLY TO PETERSGATE
DUKE STREET
REST OF PETERSGATE TO A6
WELLINGTON STREET TO HOPES CARR
RAILWAY ROAD AND STATION ROAD (GRAND CENTRAL)
EXCHANGE STREET
MERSEY SQUARE VIA BUS STATION
PORT STREET
BRIDGEFIELD STREET
WARREN STREET
CORPORATION STREET
NEWBRIDGE LANE
BREDBURY TIP REFUSE PLANT
MIDDLESEX ROAD
THE LINK
NORTHWAY
BLACKBERRY LANE INCLUDING BUS TERMINUS
NORTHUMBERLAND ROAD
NEW ZEALAND ROAD

PRIORITY ROUTE 7 - WINTER GRITTING

DELAMERE ROAD, GATLEY
SILVERDALE ROAD
ST ANNES ROAD NORTH
BROWN LANE
OUTWOOD ROAD (ALL)
BOLSHAW ROAD
CROSS ROAD
HIGHFIELD ROAD, CHEADLE
HEATHBANK ROAD
QUEENS ROAD
BUCKINGHAM ROAD
ORRISHMERE ROAD
QUEENS ROAD TO WEAK BRIDGE
RADNORMERE DRIVE
DEMMINGS ROAD – COUNCILLOR LANE TO WEAK BRIDGE
ST LESMO ROAD, EDGELEY
NORTHGATE ROAD
AVONDALE RD (PART) – BUS ROUTE
YORK ST (PART) – BUS ROUTE
WORRAL ST (PART) – BUS ROUTE
LOMAS ST (PART) – BUS ROUTE
CASTLE ST (PART) – BUS ROUTE
GRENVILLE STREET
BLOOM STREET
CHATHAM STREET – GRENVILLE ST TO KING ST WEST
DALE STREET TO BERLIN ROAD
HEATON ROAD, HEATON MOOR
PARSONAGE ROAD
GREEN LANE (PART)
ALEXANDRA ROAD
ASHBURN ROAD
BOWERFOLD LANE
GREEN LANE (PART) TO ALEXANDRA RD
CLIFTON ROAD
STATION ROAD
CRAIG ROAD
LANGHAM ROAD

PRIORITY ROUTE 8 - WINTER GRITTING

GRANGE ROAD
RINGMORE ROAD
DEANMOOR ROAD
MARSHAM ROAD
MOSTYN ROAD
LYNDHURST AVENUE
HARLECH DRIVE
CAVENDISH ROAD
STATION STREET
HATHERLOW LANE
POPLAR GROVE – INCLUDING BUS TERMINALS
DIALSTONE LANE
BANKS LANE
TURNCROFT LANE – FULL LENGTH
GRAHAM ROAD
LUDLOW ROAD
BIDIFORD ROAD
ILFRACOMBE ROAD
WOODLANDS DRIVE
WOODLANDS PARK ROAD
CURZON ROAD
LISBURNE LANE – ALL ROUNDABOUT
BLACKSTONE ROAD
MALLOWDALE ROAD
ALFRETON ROAD
LISBURNE LANE
HEMPSHAW LANE TO ST MARY’S WAY & CHRISTIE STREET
MILE END LANE

PRIORITY ROUTE 9 - WINTER GRITTING

COMMERCIAL ROAD, HAZEL GROVE
BOSDEN FOLD ROAD
HAZELWOOD ROAD (FULL LENGTH)
BRINKBURN ROAD
CLARENDON ROAD
TORKINGTON ROAD (TO WINDLEHURST ROAD)
WINDLEHURST ROAD TO A6
ANDREW LANE, HIGH LANE
WINDLEHURST ROAD, HIGH LANE
UPPER HIBBERT LANE, TURN RIGHT
CHURCH LANE
WATERSIDE
THORNCLIFFE ROAD
BRAMHAM ROAD
HAWK GREEN ROAD (INCLUDING BUS TERMINAL)
HIBBERT LANE, CHURCH LANE TO STOCKPORT ROAD
TOWN STREET, MARPLE BRIDGE
HOLLINS LANE
CONSTABLE DRIVE
HOGARTH RD (PART)
BONNINGTON RISE
LEIGHTON DRIVE
BENTON DRIVE
COTTAM CRESCENT
HOGARTH RD (PART)
LONGHURST LANE
KNOWLE ROAD TO SCHOOL
MOOREND ROAD
SHILOH ROAD TO MOORFIELD ARMS
CHURCH LANE (STOCKPORT ROAD TO RIDGE)
RIDGE ROAD
WYBERSLEY ROAD
CARR BROW
SANDERLING ROAD, OFFERTON
SHEARWATER RD TO BEAN LEACH RD
BEAN LEACH RD TO MARPLE RD
SHEARWATER RD TO SANDERLING RD
TURNSTONE ROAD

PRIORITY ROUTE 10 - WINTER GRITTING

MIDLAND ROAD
ZURICH ROAD
GENEVA ROAD
HANDLEY ROAD
BRAMHALL PARK ROAD TO CARRWOOD ROAD
FIR ROAD
SEAL ROAD
DAIRYGROUND ROAD
ROBINS LANE
NORTH PARK RD (BRAMHALL PARK TO MIDLAND RD)
NANGREAVE ROAD
HILLCREST ROAD
GUYWOOD LANE
MARSDEN ROAD
SANDY LANE
GREAVE
WERNETH ROAD - PART (TO PENNINE)
PENNINE ROAD
SMITHY GREEN
WERNETH ROAD – PART (TO PENNINE JNCT)
HIGHFIELD AVENUE
GOYT VALLEY ROAD
WILD STREET
VERNON ROAD
BROADWAY
OSBORNE STREET
KINGSWAY
WARD STREET

See also my other posts on this issue, plus the comments made on each:

Report on snow, travel and services 6th Jan

My experiences of snow and gritting in Stockport

Stockport’s been gritting over the weekend before Christmas

How’s Stockport done on gritting (26th Dec)

Ice in Stockport - now we need to tackle the cul-de-sacs

New proposals to allow councils to put in place 20 mph schemes over groups of streets without the need for traffic calming measures such as speed humps were announced today by Road Safety Minister Paul Clark.

The Government is encouraging local councils to introduce 20 mph schemes into residential streets and other roads where cycle and pedestrian traffic is high, such as around schools, shops and parks.

In the past, councils wanting to implement 20 mph schemes on groups of roads have had to do so in ‘zones’ which require traffic calming measures such as speed humps. 20 mph limits without traffic calming were only recommended on individual roads.

However, following a successful city-wide trial in Portsmouth which suggested it is possible to significantly reduce speeds on residential streets without speed humps or other traffic calming measures, the Department for Transport plans to allow 20mph limits to be used across more streets where traffic speeds are already low without the need for such measures.

Paul Clark said:

“The number of people killed and seriously injured on Britain’s roads has fallen by 40% since the mid-1990s and Britain now has the joint safest roads in the world. But too many pedestrians and cyclists – including many children – are still being killed or hurt on the roads around their homes and schools.

“We have seen that 20 mph zones with traffic calming measures can make a real difference to the safety of local roads. But we’ve also looked at the latest research and listened to councils and residents who want to introduce 20mph limits on a series of roads where physical traffic calming measures aren’t possible or practical.

“Allowing councils to put in place 20 mph speed limits on more streets without speed humps or chicanes will mean that they can introduce them at a lower cost and with less inconvenience to local residents.”

Last week a report published in the British Medical Journal found that 20 mph zones in London had led to a dramatic reduction in the number of accidents in those areas and called for more 20 mph zones and limits to be put in place.

The Government is also reiterating its call for councils to carry out speed limit reviews of their rural roads by 2011, focussing on National Speed Limit single carriageway ‘A’ and ‘B’ roads where 41% of fatalities occur. Local authorities should consider reducing the limit on the most dangerous roads where this will have a significant impact on casualties. These decisions remain entirely for local authorities to make based on their knowledge of local roads.

The Department for Transport is seeking the views of local councils on these proposals in order to allow new guidance to be published at the earliest available opportunity.

Thank you to the thirty-odd people who came to our consultation meeting about traffic in the schools hill area on Tuesday evening.  I felt it was a useful meeting: I think everyone had their say and a lot of issues were raised.

The issues mentioned include

• Long queues on Schools Hill for traffic turning onto Cheadle Road at the start and end of school.
• Heavy traffic and parking problems with children being taken to Ladybarn School.
• Speeding on Cheadle Road, Wilmslow Road, Schools Hill and Daylesford Road
• Poor visibility turning from Daylesford Road onto Schools Hill
• Water pooling at the bottom of Schools Hill
• A variety of issues relating to the heavy traffic and the Kingsway junction issues.

Sorry if I’ve missed anything - the list is from memory.  Special thanks to Steve Fox from the Council for ably assisting (Steve not only came along for the evening, he also did all the leaflets I delivered and booked the room).

A really interesting (for me, anyway) article on the law around 20mph limits and traffic calming.  I didn’t know that the law said you had to have traffic calming measures if you had a 20mph limit. (Although I’m sure some places have 20mph without traffic calming - Crossacres Road in Wythenshawe for a start).

The law seems to be that you can have a 20 mph limit without traffic calming measures, but only if the traffic is already quite slow - at least 85% of vehicles should already be going 24mph or slower.

However, the Government research is clear that 20 mph limits do work in reducing speeds and accidents (though not in getting everyone to drive slower that 20 mph).

average speeds reduced by 9 mph, annual accident frequency fell by 60%, the overall reduction in child accidents was 67%, and there was an overall reduction in accidents to cyclists of 29%. Traffic flow in the zones was reduced by 27%, but flows on the surrounding boundary roads increased by 12%. There was generally little accident migration to surrounding roads.

The Government advice on introducing 20mph zones is here.  I’ll be interested to read up on the details: certainly I agree with the author of article that any community should have all the information as early as possible.

According to a story on the BBC this morning, £50 million will be spent on upgrading facilities across ten stations.  Seven of the ten are in the North West: Stockport, Manchester Victoria, Crewe, Warrington Bank Quay, Preston, Wigan North Western and Liverpool Central.As the BBC Reports:

Last week, rail operator Network Rail announced plans to spend £3.25bn to improve more than 2,000 stations across England and Wales by 2014.

But the government’s railway “champions” - former Virgin Trains chief executive Chris Green and Town and Country Planning Association president Sir Peter Hall - have identified 10 that are in need of the most urgent work.

In a report released on Tuesday, they described the 10 as having been “left behind”.

Many were large Victorian buildings that were difficult to develop or had little commercial appeal, they said, and all had customer satisfaction ratings of less than 50%.

Manchester Victoria was judged to be the worst followed by Clapham Junction and Crewe, with all three suffering from overcrowding.

Transport bosses in Greater Manchester are encouraging people to take advantage of two days free travel on the Metrolink network.

Greater Manchester Integrated Transport Authority (GMITA) is providing free travel on Metrolink all day, from the first tram until the last tram, this Saturday, 14 November, and next Thursday, 19 November, as a ‘thank you’ to passengers.

Councillor Keith Whitmore, Chair of GMITA, said: “We’ve invested a significant amount in improving the Metrolink network this year; projects that will make journeys smoother, quieter and more reliable.

“We’ve completely replaced the city centre tracks, provided high quality new street finishes, upgraded two of the busiest city centre stops and installed the first sets of new ticket machines – major improvements that were completed on time and on budget.

“However, we fully appreciate that passengers were left without a full service while all this work was done, and we want to thank them for their patience and understanding during that time – that’s why we’ll be providing these two days of free travel.”

The city centre section closed in April and services returned on 2 November.

Major overhauls of the St Peter’s Square and Piccadilly Gardens stops – two of the most heavily used on the network – have been completed.

The St Peter’s Square stop has been widened and the platform heights modified to allow level boarding for all passengers. The Piccadilly Gardens stop has also been widened and new canopies have been installed to provide better shelter for even more people.

New state-of-the-art ticket machines that take bank notes and credit and debit card payments, have also been installed on the two revamped stops. They will be rolled out across the Metrolink network by spring next year
All the city centre stops now bear Metrolink’s new identity, which will be rolled out across the remainder of the network.

Councillor Ian Macdonald, Vice Chair of GMITA, said: “Shoppers will be able to benefit from free travel this Saturday and I hope more people will choose to leave the car at home and try the tram instead.

“Commuters will benefit from free travel next Thursday, but I hope people will also take the opportunity to travel in to the city centre in the evening to sample the Christmas markets and get into the festive spirit.

“Meanwhile, the investment in Metrolink is going to continue, with several brand new trams in service by the end of this year, all-new ticket machines installed across the network by spring next year and four new lines being built.”

A total of 40 new trams have been ordered to provide more room on existing services and to cater for passengers on new lines being built to Oldham and Rochdale, Droylsden in Tameside, Chorlton in South Manchester and MediaCityUK in Salford.

Passengers who have a season ticket which covers the days valid for free travel can claim a refund by writing to Customer Service Secretary, GMPTE, Freepost MR7 116, Manchester, M1 9QL, by 7 January 2010 with their name, address and telephone number.

They will also need to provide a photocopy of their Metrolink Travel Club membership card as well as a photocopy of their season ticket if it is still valid, or the original ticket if it has expired.

Thanks to Tim Pickstone for this story.

Sorting out a public meeting for residents to discuss the options for improving the Schools Hill/Wilmslow Road junction in Cheadle has proven to be a little trickier than I’d thought - but all part of being a new councillor, I guess.

On Tuesday at the Cheadle Area Committee, I asked for the public meeting and it was approved.  I’ve now got to chase it up and get the thing organised.

I’ve pretty much got all the information to bring along to it, so should be soon.

I’m running a series of posts to summarise over 400 pages of documents in way that helps those who live and work in Stockport Borough understand the issues we’re facing, the options we have and the Council proposals in how the Borough develops over the next 17 years.

This is the third post.  You can read my overview plus my piece on  the Accessibility Appraisal paper.  This one covers the Core Strategy DPD Preferred Options Consultation, which you can read in full, and comment on, here.

This time I’m trying to condense 140 pages into a few hundred words - wish me luck.

What issues is the strategy trying to tackle?

Although both the population of Stockport Borough and the amount of traffic has fallen slightly in the last few years, we don’t expect that to continue.   The Government is asking Stockport to provide 450 new dwellings (houses or flats) every year - that’s over 7,000 by 2026.

At the same time Stockport, like everywhere, has issues to tackle with how things are now.   We’re the third most polarised borough in the country with pockets of deprivation and much more affluent areas.  Our main roads are congested. Stockport Town Centre isn’t all it could be.  Lots of people live in the Borough and travel out for work, with lots more living outside and travelling in.  And, in common with most other areas, we have an aging population and a lack of affordable housing.

The general approach

So we expect to have thousands of new flats and houses, which means (over time), more shops, offices, schools, sport, leisure, culture and health facilities and cemetaries.  Where should they all go?

This was the subject of a previous consultation.  Different options were looked at and the conclusion was, in the main, to strengthen existing centres.  By far the most development is planned for Stockport Town Centre.  Another big chunk goes into the District Centres and the Large Local Centres, with a smaller amount elsewhere.

Stockport has 8 District Centres: Cheadle, Cheadle Hulme, Bramhall, Edgeley, Hazel Grove, Marple, Reddish and Romiley.  It has 10 Large Local Centres: Gatley, Heald Green, Moor Top, Heaton Moor, Shaw Road/Heaton Moor Road, Heaton Chapel, Davenport, Great Moor, North Reddish and Marple Bridge.

Housing

There’s more to this than just building lots of houses and flats.  How big should they be?  How expensive?  Where should they go?

The proposal in this strategy paper is

• a 50/50 split between houses and flats overall, with most flats going in the Town Centre (which will end up with a much higher population) and most houses going around the District and Large Local Centres.
• The majority of the flats to have two bedrooms.
• 40% of new housing to be affordable for those on lower incomes.
• 80% of new housing to be in existing buildings and previously developed land.
• More social rented housing for Bramhall, Cheadle Hulme, Cheadle, Edgeley, Davenport, Marple, Romiley and the Heatons.
• If Woodford Aerodrome becomes vacant, using it wholly or partially for housing is one of several options.
• Stockport currently has no formal Gypsy and Traveller pitches.  Following Government guidance, we are expected to create 35, plus another ten travelling showpeople pitches.  This should increase to 57 pitches in total by 2026 and they should be be in urban areas with good access to services.
• 50% of the new dwellings to be in the Central Housing Area, with up to 2,000 in the Town Centre (the Central Housing Area is the Town Centre plus some areas around it).
• A further 35% of new dwellings to be within walking distance of District and Large Local centres.
• 15% of dwellings to be built elsewhere.

Reducing the size of some struggling centres

Even in the recession, most of our District and Local Centres are doing OK, including Cheadle, Gatley, Bramhall and Heald Green.  Walk around them and you won’t see many empty units.

Some are suffering more, including Hazel Grove and Edgeley.  For these, one option is to reduce the size of the centres - for example, by turning retail units at the edges of the centres into residential properties.

For all centres, the paper also offers the option of limiting the number of hot food and fast food outlets either within a centre altogether or near to schools and play areas.

Cemetaries

It may not be something most of us give much thought to, but Stockport’s cemetaries will be full in 10-15 years.  Should we create new cemetaries (if so, where?) or re-use existing ones.

Strengthen District and Local Centres

The overall strategy is to maintain and enhance the Town Centre along with existing District and Local Centres.

Here, I confess, I don’t think the document is very clear (and, in one case, makes a fairly blatant mistake).  The section in question is 7.135 on page 70.  It refers to changes in planning policies.

The paper proposes  controlling the scale, clustering and mix of uses in Centres to meet local needs and enhance the viability of the Centres.  Great in principle, and fine if there are lots of retailers and developers with different schemes.  The problem comes when the commercial environment isn’t quite so strong.

You might want to have a retail outlet in a particular place, but if no retailers want to open there, your real choice might be something else (a take-away, for example) or nothing. It could well be that nothing - an empty unit - is the best choice in some cases, but we should be aware of the issue.

With that in mind, I’m not clear exactly what the paper’s proposing.

Outside Local and District Centres, the paper proposes that we permit a change of use from service to non-service (e.g. offices or residential) unless there’s a good reason not to, as part of the strategy to strengthen the Centres.

In Large Local Centres, the paper says we should restrict the size of new shops and leisure units (where not re-using an existing building) to a maximum of  500 square metres (and 250 square metres in other Local Centres).  For District Centres, the much higher limit of 25,000 square metres is proposed.  (I think incorrect wording results in this paragraph actually saying the opposite of this).

There’s also a sentence which, I think, suggests that a new small convenience store would not be permitted if other local retailers already provide the same services.

Requiring that new convenience shops meeting local needs (up to max 250 square metres) will only be allowed where there are no alternative sustainably accessible facilities.

Again, it not necessarily a problem; but I don’t understand why we’d want to single out convenience shops.  If we’re going to protect that one type of shop from competition, why not protect newsagents, cafes or hairdressers?

Building business

The plan identifies the need to build strong business centres around Stockport, and argues that this should be primarily achieved by enhancing and promoting the Town Centre for new office development.  That fits in with the principle of enhancing the Town Centre overall, and concentrates more traffic flows into the centre (which is the location best served by public transport and car parking).

In particular, the strategy is to attract ICT, digital, creative and new media companies into offices around the A6 south of the M60 - especially in the civic quarter.

There’s also strong office provision in some our District and Local Centres: Bramhall, Cheadle, Cheadle Hulme, Hazel Grove, Stepping Hill and Gatley.  These should be supported.

Heavier industry should have direct access to main access routes (e.g. motorways) without having to go through residential areas.  The Bredbury Industrial Area is given as an example of a location that fits the bill.

The report says that there’s no specific need to find new areas of employment close to deprived areas: either they are there already, or there are good public transport links from those areas to the Town Centre.

Sport, green spaces and leisure

Stockport has an oversupply of senior sports pitches (compared to the Government recommendation for how many we should have) but slightly too few mini soccer facilities.

The report also identifies a shortfall of leisure facilities in the Town Centre, Hazel Grove, Reddish, Romiley and Edgeley, with too few sports halls (relative to the population) in the north and north east of the Borough.

There’s a discussion about our green spaces, both “formal open space” - parks and similar - and other green spaces.

Should we continue the current strategy of retaining a semi-rural character for our river valleys; or should we use that space to meet more formal needs, for example by building sports pitches there?

Overall, though the Cheadle area (Cheadle, Gatley, Heald Green and the northern part of Cheadle Hulme) was identified as having more than enough formal open space (again, compared to Government recommendations), the Borough as a whole falls 105 hectares short.  The Heatons also do well for green space, with Victoria, Tame Valley and Werneth needing improvement.

The plan rejects giving absolute protection to current green space.  It gives the example of the Cheadle Committee area, where there’s lots of formal green space and a shortage of affordable housing.  It suggests the option to swap some should be left open.

Transport

The strategy paper advocates more people living, working and playing in Stockport Town Centre along with our District and Local Centres.  If that’s going to be successful, we need to be able to get to and from those places.

Issues identified include:

• a lack of orbital train links from Stockport to Manchester Airport and Tameside
• a lack of train links between Stockport and some District Centres (Marple, Cheadle) and a general weakness in public transport between Marple and Stockport
• congestion across many of the Borough’s main roads

It notes that there are plans currently in place to improve transport provision, including SEMMMS, aiming to deliver the extended A555 Relief Road by 2016 and rail improvements scheduled to start from 2014.

Other reports and plans are noted including the 2009-2015 Stockport Cycling Strategy,  the Greater Manchester Integration Transport Strategy (GMITS) and the South Pennines Integrated Transport Strategy (SPITS).

Beyond those (which I won’t cover here, but will do at some stage if I have the time), the paper comes up with a selection of ideas that fall some way short of firm proposals:

• we need to shift from single-occupancy car use to more car sharing, cycling,  walking and public transport.
• promote flexible working and home working
• introduce more 20mph zones in residential areas
• improve the network of walking and cycling routes, both direct (normally on-road) and off-road for recreational and less confident cyclists.

Disclaimer

In this post I’ve attempted to summarise Stockport Council’s Core Strategy Development Plan Document (DPD) consultation paper.  This is my own work; it is not an official Council or Liberal Democrat summary and I’d be frankly amazed if there weren’t significant omissions and mistakes.   Nothing in this summary should be taken as indicating either my or the Liberal Democrats’ support for, or agreement with, the strategy paper.

The Accessibility Appraisal Consultation Paper is part of Stockport Council’s Core Strategy - how the borough needs to develop over the next 15-20 years.  The document is being consulted on and you have until 25th November to give your opinions.

This is my summary of that paper.  Since the full document is 82 pages, you can take it as read that things are missed out.  Also, this is purely from me reading the document - which you can do too.  I’ve no extra information and I may have made mistakes.  With that in mind, let’s press on.

What’s the purpose of the Accessibility Appraisal? 

We should start off by being clear about what the document is and isn’t trying to achieve.  It doesn’t lay out proposals for what should be done in Stockport.  You won’t find plans to improve a certain bus service, build new housing in a certain area or create a new retail park.

Rather, it attempts to set the scene, to provide the basis for making those proposals, to define the problems that we need to solve and the challenges we need to meet.  Not quite as exciting, but very important.  If you’re not asking the right questions, your chance of coming up with the right answers is pretty low.

What is accessibility?

For this study, “accessibility” is simply how easy it is for people to get to everywhere they need to: their jobs, shops, schools, medical centres, hospitals, pubs, restaurants, leisure facilities, parks and community facilities.

You may reach them by car; but not everyone has a car and, even for those who do, it’s not much good saying the shop’s just down the road if you have to sit in a traffic jam for an hour to get there.  You might also get to them by train, bus, bike or on foot.

The Government is asking for over 7,500 new dwellings to be built in Stockport over the next 17 years, meaning more people and more traffic.

A big part of our challenge is to figure out how to organise that so we get the extra flats and houses in the right places and keep (and improve) this accessibility, for both new and existing residents.

Dealing with inequality

Stockport has relatively high inequality, both between areas in the borough (e.g. compare Brinnington and Bramhall) and within areas (e.g. older people).  It’s very important we provide access for all, not just the wealthier in our community.  We also need to recognise that more deprived areas have different problems, such as poorer health and higher unemployment.

Two examples

Let’s suppose we look at a relatively poor area, and we think it might be a good place to build additional low cost housing too.  So we can predict we’ll have a population who not only need all the usual services and facilities like shops and parks, but will have a higher need for healthcare and certain sorts of jobs.  Additionally, they are less likely to have cars.

For an area like this, it will be very important to ensure safe and reasonably fast access to healthcare, shops, workplaces, entertainment and the rest of it by public transport, walking and cycling.

Alternatively, we can look at a wealthier area with high car ownership.  In this case, it might be more important to look at congestion, to predict where new pinch points in the  road network will emerge and tackle those (for example, through the SEMMMS strategy).

 So what are the problems?

The paper is the result of a big study that looked across the borough, worked out how good access was to all the different services in each place and mapped it.  That was also compared to areas of low car ownership and poor health.

Overall, the picture is clear.  Those of us in the centre, north and north west of the borough have - by and large - the best access to all the different services.  That’s areas like the Town Centre, Cheadle, Gatley, the Heatons, Reddish, Cheadle Hulme and out to Hazel Grove.

Those in the south and east of the borough have the poorest access to services: Bramhall (outside the village centre), Woodford, Romiley, Marple, Bredbury and Offerton, for example.

That’s not necessarily a problem right now: plenty of people choose to live somewhere more rural and happily trade-off being a bit further from the shops against living in their preferred location.

It is a problem, however, where you have a population with poor health and low car ownership who also have poor access to services; or where the roads are getting so congested that drivers can’t get to where they want to go.

So, for example, the study identifies a lack of links from Marple to Stockport Town Centre and congestion around Bramhall Moor as serious issues.  It also expresses concern about the lack of access to services in places like Bredbury Green, Cherry Tree Lane (Romiley) and Marple South (especially Hawk Green).

And to absolutely no-one’s surprise, the study idenfies congestion issues on most of the main roads around the borough.

What’s to be done?

As I said before, this report is about identifying the questions, with the answers still to come, and that’s an important thing to get right.  However, we do get a sniff of what some of the answers might look like.

The study suggests better promoting the Town Centre as  an evening destination.  That means not only having the restaurants, pubs, clubs, cinemas, theatres and the like, but also public transport links that run late into the night.

It also talks about promoting mixed developments (where you have housing, workplaces and other services all in the same area) and more “employment sites” around the borough.  The aim is to reduce the distances people need to travel, which would reduce congestion, not to mention making our lives more pleasant.

For example, the report idenfies Cheadle Royal and Woodford as two such centres, but warns that public transport access to both are currently poor and would need to be improved.

What’s there to consult on?

So far I’ve tried to summarise the content of the report.  This is a consultation and the paper says

Comments are invited on the proposed approach. By way of guidance comments would be welcome in relation to the following questions:
1. Do you agree with the principles behind the approach?
2. Do you think the process is sufficiently transparent to use as a basis for accessibility policies?
3. Do you agree with the emphasis of the approach on public choice rather than just achieving a minimum accessibility standard?
4. Would you like to see this approach applied in support other areas of policy development (such as in education or health service provision)?

What might you say?  You might think the report is about right - if so, it’s worth saying it.  If nothing else, it’ll give the people who wrote it a bit more job satisfaction!

Do you agree that accessibility is the right thing to focus on?  As we look forwards over the next two decades, should we be spending time, money and energy on minimising the travel time for people to get to where they want to go; or is that the wrong goal?

You might feel that it hasn’t got the measures right when looking at accessibility.  As the report admits, it doesn’t identify pinch points in the transport network, nor does it take into account off-road transport routes such as footpaths and cycle paths.

Perhaps you disagree with the idea of trying to bring our jobs closer to our homes and feel that a better solution would be to build a transport network to shuttle people as quickly as possible to Manchester, Liverpool, Sheffield, Leeds and elsewhere to give Stockport residents the widest catchment area for jobs.

Question 3 links into ideas of what the Local Authority - and its partners - are there for.  Is it the job of the public sector to make our transport network as good as it can be, or should we be doing much less (and so needing less money to do it, perhaps resulting in lower Council Tax).

Until 25th November, you can visit the Council’s consultation portal, read the documents, register online and submit comments.  You can also submit your comments by email to planning.policy@stockport.gov.uk.

Disclaimer

In this post I’ve attempted to summarise Stockport Council’s Accessibility Appraisal Consultation Paper. This is my own work; it is not an official Council or Liberal Democrat summary and I’d be frankly amazed if there weren’t significant omissions and mistakes. Nothing in this summary should be taken as indicating either my or the Liberal Democrats’ support for, or agreement with, the strategy paper.

Most of the things I get involved with are pretty immediate.  Problems that need fixing as soon as possible, or at most issues like the Kingsway filter that might take a couple of years to sort out.

So thinking about how I see Stockport developing up to 2026 requires a bit of a shift in focus.

That’s the idea behind Stockport Council’s Core Strategy.  Some progress has been made on this and the latest stage is now open for consultation until 25th November.

The issues aren’t simple.

Like everywhere else in the country, Stockport needs to provide new housing (at least 450 dwellings a year - nearly 8,000 by 2026.  That’s a whole Cheadle & Gatley and a bit more besides (we have about 6,500 dwellings in the ward).

What should the mix of housing be?  Where should it be located?  How many flats?  How much social housing?

How do we build the economic future of the borough, providing jobs, education and training for current and future residents?

What needs to be done to attract more people into the Town Centre along with our local and district centres (Cheadle is a district centre, Gatley is a local centre).  How do we ensure not only vibrant retail centres but also the best access for all to leisure, culture, education, health, open space and other community facilities.

How do we protect our open spaces, greenbelt land and heritage?

Stockport is already congested, so how can we get everyone moving even with thousands of extra homes?  What mix of buses, trains, facilities for cyclists and pedestrians and, of course, private car travel is right?

For the next month, you can visit the Council’s consultation portal, read the documents, register online and submit comments.  You can also submit your comments by email to planning.policy@stockport.gov.uk.

The actual consultation documents are fairly involved - together there’s several hundred pages.

So, to get more people involved, I’m currently reading and summarising the different documents - hopefully in a way that draws out the key questions and issues.

First there’s the Accessibility Appraisal.  That document sets the scene - it’s more about defining the issues than coming up with solutions.  It looks at how easy or difficult it is for people to get to where they want to go - to access schools, shops, jobs, leisure and healthcare, for example.

Next is the Core Strategy Consulation, which looks forward over the next 17 years with proposals covering housing, jobs, green spaces, sport and leisure, transport and more.

The other three papers, which I haven’t summarised yet are:

• Core Strategy DPD: Preferred Options - Habitats Regulations Assessment Screening Report
• Core Strategy DPD: Preferred Options - Sustainability Appraisal Screening Report
• Core Strategy DPD: Preferred Options - Sustainability Appraisal Screening Report Annexes

Here are a few things this week that I’ve achieved:

• The Council’s Pothole Moles have been out and about, so more of the tens of potholes I’ve been reporting are now repaired.
• The streetlight overlooking the car park on Gatley Hill is now working again.
• Work is in progress to remove the tree stumps on Brogden Drive, Gatley - an issue Pam and I raised at the end of July.
• Also on the South Park Road Estate, the promised traffic count has taken place.
• Street lamp repaired on Gatley Road, by the bus stop near Delamere Road.
• The signpost on Brookside Rec, on the path from Brookside Road, was loose and dangerous - now it’s fixed.

Meanwhile, I reported five broken streetlights on Shiers Drive, Cheadle yesterday evening.

Along with the other ward councillors, I’ve a meeting with the developers of the Tatton site this afternoon, where I’ll be hoping to find out more about what they’ve got in mind - I’ll report back on that as far as I’m able.

I wrote a little while back about the delay in Brian Millard’s traffic survey on the South Park Road Estate.

Good news - a registration plate survey was conducted today, slighter sooner than planned (moved forwards because of the imminent SEMMMS surveys).

I went down to take a look and they have people stationed on the entrances and exits to the estate, taking down registration numbers .  That means they can put the information together and be pretty certain about how many vehicles were coming on the estate illegally.

I’ll look forward to getting the results.

Anyone familiar with Gatley Station will know there’s a patch of unused ground in the car park - land that you might think (well, I did) would be quite handy for some extra parking spaces.

I asked Council officers to look into it and had an email this morning saying that the land isn’t owned by Network Rail or the Council but by Electricity Northwest Ltd. We’re making further enquiries but clearly that makes the situation difficult.  At the very least, I’d like to see the owners maintain the land properly.

Earlier in the year, Brian Millard secured an automated traffic count for the South Park Road Estate - to be positioned near the underpass.  Given that there are only 185 houses on the estate, proving just how much traffic comes on would give us good evidence to get the police to act on enforcement.

Unfortunately, there was a delay (I don’t know why, and Brian’s sad death meant it wasn’t followed up as quickly as it would normally have been).

Now, I’m told, the count will soon be with us, so watch this space.

Not having that count hasn’t stopped us speaking to the police about improving enforcement on the estate.  We haven’t got agreement yet, but we’re working on it and will continue to do so.

The Highways Agency and Manchester Urban Traffic Control are completing their latest round of modelling and investigations into the Kingsway junction.

As you may know, the Highways Agency have for some time been looking at reworking the junction, but their primary concern is the north-south traffic on Kingsway, and backing onto the M60, rather than the east-west queues from Cheadle and Gatley.

The Lib Dems have been pressing for a right filter from Cheadle and Gatley sides of the junction for several years, but the Highways Agency have always dragged their feet.  Currently, the line is that the filter may be possible only after new (welcome) work on the motorway slip road junction has been completed.

The Highways Agency proposals have not yet been finalised but look likely to include

• new traffic lights where the motorway slip road meets the A34, to control traffic merging onto Kingsway better.
• enable traffic on the motorway slip road to queue in two lanes, instead of being squeezed down to one lane before joining the A34.
• enable pedestrians to safely cross the motorway slip roads

All well and good, except there are some gaps.

No right turn for Gatley

The single biggest issue we’ve been addressing is that all this work on remodelling the junction still doesn’t give us a right filter from the Gatley side, only from Cheadle.

Good for everyone  coming from Cheadle and wanting to get into Manchester or onto the M60, not so good for people coming from Gatley and trying to get onto the A34 southbound.

So why isn’t a Gatley right-filter in the Highways Agency proposals?  It comes down to safety.  They’re concerned that other junctions with this dual right  filter have poor safety records - lots more accidents.

But does that hold water?  Perhaps there’s something special about those dangerous junctions?  Perhaps there’s something that could be done to our junction to allow safe right filters.

Can we have a right filter without the remodelling work?

The work on the motorway slip road is all very well, but not only does it not give us any sort of right filter (even just from Cheadle) for at least another year, it may not happen at all.

The most recent information I have from the Highways Agency suggests that funding for the work is not secured and, with all parties looking to cut public spending, we shouldn’t assume it will be.

So is there any chance of making progress without the slip-road work being done?

The Highways Agency seems unlikely to shorten the north-south green light sequence significantly, but it might be possible to shorten the east-west straight-ahead sequence, or take a bit off both.

There are issues with this (nothing’s perfect).  If we give traffic going straight ahead from Cheadle less time, that means a longer queue.  If the queue gets so long that vehicles can’t get into the right-turn lane, it’s not much use having the right filter.

But those are possibilities, not certainties, and it seems to me worth putting in the extra effort to see if we can get around them.

 Conclusion

We’re all waiting to hear the outcome of the latest studies, so this could change next week.  However, the current situation is that the Highways Agency will allow us a right turn filter from Cheadle only, and then only if they get the budget to do the remodelling work on the M60 slip road.

Pam, Mark and I are all working to find a way to get a safe right filter from both Gatley and Cheadle, and to get it even if the remodelling work is delayed or cancelled.

A plan has been bouncing around for a while to re-label the lanes on the northbound side of Kingsway, as it comes up to the Gatley Road junction.

At the moment, the left hand lane is for Gatley Road, South Park Road Estate, M60 Westbound and M60 Eastbound, with the other two lanes both for Manchester.

The result is the inside  (left hand) lane normally having much longer queues with the other two being emptier.  That means less efficient use of the road space and fewer cars getting through the junction in each lights change.

The proposal is to change the lane designations and markings so:

• The left hand lane goes to Gatley Road, South Park Road Estate and M60 Westbound.
• The middle lane goes to M60 Eastbound
• The right hand lane goes to Manchester

All well and good, but what about cyclists?

Someone cycling to Manchester would have to pull across two busy lanes and get into the outside lane of this fast-moving dual carriageway - not ideal.

So what are the alternatives?

Following the advice in “Cyclecraft“, I go along Kingswy sticking to the left hand side of the road.  When I reach the first motorway sliproad, I start cycling down it.  Then I stop and, when it’s safe, I cross the sliproad at 90 degrees - the shortest path across.  I do the same thing for the next slip road, then again on the north side of the Mersey to get back to the left of the road.

Cycling down the middle, or outside, lane is a lot more dangerous (and scarier), as is cycling down the line where the slip road leaves the main road.

But that’s just me.  Better cyclists often prefer to take the quickest route - straight down the middle lane - and less confident cyclists go through Cheadle and past the Alex, avoiding that section of road altogether.

So my question is - how can we improve that section of Kingsway for cyclists?  Solutions can’t cost a fortune and need to be realistic.

For example, we could send cyclists onto the South Park Road Estate, under the bridge there, and then make the east side of Kingsway a dual footpath/cycleway with dropped kerbs , cut back foliage and that sort of thing.

Ideas please!

A note from Stockport Traffic Services:

As part of the SEMMMS planning programme, representatives working on behalf of Greater Manchester Transportation Unit will be undertaking roadside surveys across Stockport over the next couple of weeks. The interviews are taking place at 50 sites across East Cheshire and Greater Manchester and the information will be used in the relief road planning application to be submitted by Cheshire East (CEC), Stockport and Manchester councils next year. The surveys will generally commence at 0700hrs and be completed by 1900hrs with Greater Manchester Police in attendance at each site. At locations where there is not a suitable area to undertake the surveys such as a layby or wide carriageway, motorists will be handed forms to complete and return rather than questioned on the spot to avoid congestion as much as possible although some delays may occur.

Cheadle and Gatley

Kingsway (A34), Gatley, north of Gatley Road junction (southbound)                                  -           Friday 23 October.

Gatley Road (A560), Gatley, west of A34 junction (eastbound)                                           -           Wednesday 21 October.

Gatley Road (A560), Gatley, west of A34 junction (westbound)                                          -           Thursday 22 October.

Gatley Station is one of several stations (including Heald Green and Cheadle Hulme) getting some improvements before the end of March 2010.

The stations will get:

• A Customer Information System - the boards that tell you when the next few trains are due to arrive.
• Public Address system
• CCTV monitoring
• Passenger help points

I’ve been contacted by a resident on Gatley Road who’s been disturbed by aircraft a lot more in the last couple weeks than previously.

I’d really like to know if anyone else has experienced a noticable increase in aircraft noise over the last two weeks - please use the contact form or drop me an email if you have (let me know your address too).

As usual, despite talking about positive campaigns and working together for the good of the villages, it hasn’t taken long for the Conservatives to put out a leaflet attacking the Lib Dems.

Their latest leaflet is all about the Kingsway junction.

•  It claims the Lib Dems have achieved nothing at the junction - not very convincing when you just have to take a look to see it’s not true!  The junction re-design last year was pushed through by the Lib Dems.  It was the Lib Dems who suggested buying land from the synagogue for the left-filter from Gatley.  Despite Tory claims, it was the Lib Dems who got the wiring put in for the right filter.
• It implies that the Conservatives are somehow responsible for ongoing work from the Council, Greater Manchester Urban Traffic Control and the Highways Agency to review the junction.  If you believe the Tory claims, Cllr Jones personally sorted all this out.

Here is the truth.  For several years the Lib Dems have been working to improve that junction, and we’ve made good progress.  The redesign last year was an essential step to getting the right filter.

There are now two possibilities for the right filter.

The first is that it could go into the junction as it is now.  That’s our best option.  The latest round of modelling and counts is scheduled to be completed around the end of September, at which time we’ll be talking to the various agencies about this possibility.

The second is that it could happen following a redesign of the junction where traffic leaves the motorway.  This one’s far less certain.  There are various options under discussion, it probably wouldn’t happen until 2011 and may not even have funding.  But that option would include things like having two lanes coming from the M60 slip road onto Kingsway and having traffic lights where the slip road meets Kingsway to better control traffic flow.

Along with Mark Hunter and Pam King, I will continue to work to get the right filter as soon as we can.

Seems today is potholing day!

These all reported to the Council.  Should be marked up in the next few days and fixed in the next month or two.
1. By kerb opposite 1 Newboult Road
2. Two potholes in the centre of the road outside 2 Newboult Road.
3. Several potholes along the centre of the road outside 6 and 8 Newboult Road.
4. Several potholes along the centre of the road outside 20,22,24 & 26 Newboult.
5. Pothole outside 51 Newboult, about 40cm from kerb.
6. Pothole in centre of road outside 59 Newboult.

For several months I’ve been working on a campaign to improve the traffic situation around Schools Hill and Broadway.  I’ve been asking residents in the area for their views on what can be done.

A couple of people have contacted me, concerned that I might be proposing speed humps or similar traffic calming measures.

The answer to those concerns is a resounding “no“.  No-one has said they want speed humps, or chicanes or anything like that, I don’t think it would be a good idea and since School’s Hill is a main road, it isn’t an option anyway.

We do need to calm traffic in certain places, as well as improving traffic flow at junctions.  Options that have been suggested by residents include speed checks (which could be the ones that give you a ticket if you go too fast, or the ones that just tell you your speed), improved signs, mini-roundabouts and traffic lights.

It’s been really great to see so many ideas and I look forward to working with residents to  figure out the best solution and working to get it implemented.

Several people have requested junction protection - i.e. double yellow lines - where Stonepail Road meets Church Road.

Seems like a fair request.  Not only do vehicles parked right on the junction make it difficult to turn out safely, but elderly people can have problems crossing the road at the dropped kerb to get to the bus stop on Church Road.

We’ll make sure it’s looked into properly.

Busy day today.  My son’s off watching Stockport County (not over yet but not looking good when I checked a few minutes ago).  We’ve been delivering our latest leaflet, with more news of what I’ve been up to.

Good news: the pothole on Gatley Road opposite Springfield Road has been repaired after I contacted the Council to move things on last week.

More potholes I’ve reported have been marked up for repair, including one in Acres Road (just down from the Prince of Wales pub).

The positive response to our work on traffic problems around Schools Hill and Broadway in Cheadle continues - lots of good ideas, so please keep them coming.

Lots more to come…

(Update: looks like County snatched a draw with a penalty five minutes into injury time - will hear the whole story soon).

Hot on the heels of our success with the study into a new Cheadle railway station comes news of High Speed Rail to Manchester.

I have to say that this is even earlier in the process: the Government haven’t given their view and there are probably all sorts of barriers in the way of the estimated £34 billion to build the high speed line from London to Scotland, via Birmingham and Manchester.

But we can dream!  Maybe in a few years time I’ll be able to step onto a train in Gatley or Cheadle and be in London an hour and  a half later.  That’s about as long as it takes to get from Gatley to Liverpool by train today.

Manchester to London in 1 hour 6 minutes - it would be nice.

If you’ve been following our campaign for a right-filter at Kingsway lights over the last year, you’ll know that it’s just the Highways Agency standing in our way.

The Council want it, the councillors want it and residents of Cheadle and Gatley certainly want it.

But the Highways Agency are still dragging their heels, worried about the effect of traffic  backing up onto the M60.

The really annoying thing is they haven’t got any evidence that it’s even going to be a problem.  They say it might be a problem but they haven’t done the research to say one way or the other.

In contrast, it was Lib Dems on the Council who demanded over three years ago that the wiring be put in for the right-turn filter; and it was Lib Dems who have been pushing for the right filter ever since.

We are making progress, I really think we can make a breathrough.

If you’ve seen our latest Cheadle leaflet, you’ll know that we’ve had some great news.  The campaign for a new railway station in Cheadle has had its first major success: a commitment for a feasibility study.

This is really excellent and I’d like to thank everyone who signed and returned the petition slip - it did make a difference!

I was just dropping by Chapel Street in Cheadle to deliver a letter about our work to improve parking enforcement in the villages and what do I see?  A parking attendent handing out tickets right outside his door.

Great to see the campaign is starting to pay dividends - now to keep it going and make a real difference in Gatley and Cheadle.

I visited Firs Road today and was very pleased to see that the new road surface has been put down - and very nice it looks too.

It just covers the section near the junction with Styal Road that was especially bad - there are still a few potholes further up that need sorting out.

I also saw that the nettles on Scholes Field where the paths from Fairway and Borrowdale Road are still there.  I reported them a few days ago so hopefully we’ll see them cut back soon.

At the two meetings I attended earlier in the year, residents had three priorities:

1. Better police enforcement

2. Improvement road signs and lines

3. 20MPH speed limit across the estate (but no speed humps)

Those are still my priorities, and in that order.

What’s been achieved

New lines centre lines and arrows have been painted to make it clearer that the southern part of the old Kingsway is two-way and to make the junctions with Mardale, Lyndene and Brayston less ambiguous. Signs have also been added by the underpass and at the Mardale Drive junction to make it clearer and stop people going the wrong way onto South Park Road.

What we’re still working on

We are currently talking to Greater Manchester Police to persuade them to provide the enforcement needed.

The Council will be cutting back foliage both by the slip road and along the old Kingsway to make sure signs are clear and the footpath on the motorway side isn’t covered in brambles.

The “Access Only” signs right on the slip road are the responsibility of the Highways Agency. We’re talking to them about cutting back foliage on the slip road and putting clearer “Residents Only” type signs further back down the slip road. We will also be looking at a 20MPH speed limit, but enforcement, signs and lines are a higher priority.

Had a trip up to Cheadle Royal this morning, which meant turning right at the Kingsway lights at 8.50am.

Since it’s the middle of August it actually wasn’t too bad  - no long queues past Torkington and Delemere blocking the left lane.  It still took the best part of five minutes to get through the lights, though.

Come on Highways Agency - give us our right filter, even it it’s only on a trial basis.  This needs sorting.

Another day, more potholes.  On Burnside Road, near Gatley Primary, residents are concerned about school parking, the road being used as a rat run, and there are a few potholes and a dangerous bit of pavement too.

On Hall Street, Cheadle (behind the church), there are parking issues too and more potholes.

Here’s what I reported to the Council today:

1. The pavement outside 1 Burnside Road, Gatley is broken and dangerous in winter - needs repairing.

2. Pothole by drain cover opposite 2 Burnside Road, Gatley

3. Pothole in road by 1 Burnside Road, Gatley

4. Pothole by kerb in front of 3 Burnside Road, Gatley

5. Pothole by kerb in front of 7 Burnside Road, Gatley

6. In front of 16 and 18 Burnside Road a puddle forms between two grids - seems the water doesn’t go into the drains but collects in front of the houses.

7. On Hall Street, Cheadle, three potholes in centre of road in front of Church Court.

8. Road surface around manhole cover approx 10m east of 6 Hall Street, Cheadle is broken up.

9. Pothole in centre of road in front of 6 Hall Street, Cheadle

10. Pothole in centre of road in front of 10 Hall Street, Cheadle

11. Pothole in centre of Hall Street, Cheadle in front of junction with Ernest Street.

I really can’t complain.  My Lib Dem colleagues have worked hard to get as many roadworks as possible out of the way in August, when lots of us are away and the roads are at their quietest.

With the A34 works, the Highways Agency are even restricting their work to weekends in August.  Much as I criticise them over blocking our right-filter at Kingsway lights, I can’t fault that.  The work has to be done some time and, short of Christmas day, that’s about as good as it’s going to get.

We also see more and more roadworks avoiding rush-hour (as the original work on the Kingsway lights did last year).

But that doesn’t stop me feeling a bit grumpy at the queues on Kingsway today, or the big queue on Wilmslow Road into Cheadle as cars tried to dodge Kingsway.

I guess what I’d like is a way to do all those road improvements with no disruption at all - a man can dream!

Good to see the large pothole near the entrance to Greenvale Drive in Cheadle has been marked up to be fixed.  I reported it a few days ago.

If you were out and about in Gatley’s lakes estate this afternoon, you may have seen me on my bike - on the search for potholes.  Several people have told me that there are too many in that area, so I set out to find and report them.

A found a few already marked up (on Borrowdale, for example) and others now fixed (Kendal Drive).  The list below is the ones still in need of attention.  I’m sure I’ve missed some, so let me know if you spot any more.
1. Outside 20 Foxland Road, in centre of carriageway, parallel lines gouged in road surface.

2. On Gainford Road, a hole developing at the edge of a patch by the junction with Appleby Road.

3. Pothole on Troutbeck Road at the junction with Keswick Avenue.

4. Pothole outside 8 Troutbeck Road, approx. 60cm from kerb

5. Pothole outside 17 Buttermere Road, approx 130cm from kerb

6. Three holes in centre of road outside 31 Buttermere Road

7. Pothole outside 20 Buttermere Road in centre of road

8. Pothole outside 66/68 Grasmere Road, 30cm from kerb

9. Two holes outside 39 Grasmere Road, in centre.

10. Holes around square patch outside 56 Grasmere Road.

11. Pothole by kerb outside 20/22 Grasmere Road.

12. Pothole on Grasmere Road, at the side of 80 Borrowdale Road, by kerb.

13. Pothole by kerb outside 13 Kendal Drive

14. Pothole by kerb outside 16 Kendal Drive

All these have now been reported to the Council for fixing.

Delivering our latest leaflet today, I noticed that one of the four bollards in Broadway’s central reservation, by the junction with Wilmslow Road, has been knocked down.

I’ve reported it to the Council to be fixed.

In our latest leaflet, we call for a study into getting Cheadle a railway station and mention that a century ago it had two.

Someone asked me where the second one was, so in case you don’t know…

Cheadle CLC station was on the Manchester Road - now it’s the Station Pub, on the site of the Golden Days nursery.  CLC is Cheshire Lines Committee (they also controlled a lot of Lancashire railway).  It was called Cheadle until 1950, then North Cheadle.  It closed in 1964, a victim of the Beeching cuts.

Cheadle LNW station opened in 1866 and closed in 1917.  It was opposite the current location of the Ashlea pub on Manchester Road.  There’s a nice photo of it here.

(The joy of Wikipedia - in reading up on the two stations, I noticed that they were referring to Cheadle LNW as being south of the High Street.  Now corrected to be north).

It’s amazing how much faster I can get around Cheadle and Gatley on my bike compared to driving - especially when I’m making lots of stops.

Anyway, dashed around this morning before the rain and, amongst other things, have now reported the following:

1. Pothole in centre Springfield Road, Gatley at the junction with Lawson Avenue.

2. Pothole in centre of Coniston Road, Gatley outside nos. 12 & 14.

3. Pothole outside 2 Wensley Road, Cheadle by manhole cover.

4. Pothole on Greenvale Drive, Cheadle 5 metres from the Gatley Road junction

5. Pothole in centre of Beech Avenue, Gatley outside no. 65.

6. The plants between the Methodist Church and Massie Street car park at the end of Ashfield Crescent, Cheadle could do with a bit of tidying, assuming it’s Council land.

7. Where Valley Road meets Cheadle Road in Cheadle, a bush is growing over the “Valley Road” road sign.

8. In Gatley, the trees by the Gatley Green car park have low branches people are having to duck under.
9. At a couple of points on the footpath from Wilsmlow Road to Ashfield Road, Cheadle (on the section between Ashfield Road and Whitegates Road) trees from gardens are growing over the path, blocking out light and being a hazard at head height.

I spent a couple of hours yesterday afternoon with Pam King and Mark Hunter, walking around Gatley and Cheadle.

I showed Mark the small lake that appears outside the Gatley Green Co-op whenever we have hard rain (it was meant to be sorted some time ago, we’re on the case).  We took a look at the clock-tower junction and the Tatton site.

Then in Cheadle we saw the Warwick Mall - the covered shopping parade that runs between Massie Street car park and Cheadle High Street.  I still don’t understand why the Tories failed to support Brian’s efforts to save it.

Onto looking at parking problems - we spent a good deal of time in Ashfield Road, then Oak Road.  Pam told us about the efforts to get improved parking restrictions at the library end of Ashfield (apparently it’s unadopted - the Council doesn’t own the road - and that’s caused complications and made the whole thing take a long time).

We were able to look at a few other places too, before time ran out.  The old Somerfield site is getting more and more frustrating - Tesco have had planning permission to put in their store there for months and I’ve no idea why they’ve chosen to hold off doing the work.

1. A big hole’s opened up in the concrete layby opposite the main post office in central Cheadle (on the east side of the road, by the old Somerfield supermarket).

2. Pothole on road by 8 Styal Road, Gatley

3. Pothole in centre of eastbound lane opposite 55 Altrincham Road, Gatley

4. Potholes and broken road surface on Thornton Gate, Gatley outside house named “Checkmate”  (question: is Thornton Gate unadopted?).

I’ve been picking up the return slips from our Keeping in Touch leaflets following Brian Millard’s sad death a few days ago.

One today really surprised me.  The writer, who has chosen to remain anonymous, is “disgusted” that Brian has failed to take action against people parking illegally around Cheadle Library on Ashfield Road, causing real problems for the elderly people crossing the road.

The problem is real, but the complaint against Brian is very unfair.

Brian has been seriously concerned about this issue for some time.  He came up with a plan for tackling it that won’t cost the Council any more money: to have a parking enforcement officer seconded to the Cheadle area on a regular basis, not just the odd hour or two here and there.

In our Keeping in Touch leaflet a couple of months ago Brian launched a campaign to make that happen.  He asked people to sign a petition for a parking officer.  We went out knocking on doors to collect more signatures and collected nearly 200.

Brian then presented his case to Cheadle’s Local Area Committee.  I even spoke to him about this very issue on the day before he died.

So to the complainer, I can only point to the facts - that far from ignoring the issue, Brian treated it very seriously indeed and was close to making real progress.

I am determined that we won’t lose Brian’s good work on this issue - I’ll report back when there’s more news.

The Highways Agency is advising drivers using the M60 between junctions 19 at Middleton and 23 at Ashton-under-Lyne in Greater Manchester to allow extra time to complete their journeys over the next six weekends.

Starting Friday (June 19), work is being carried out along this 6-mile section each weekend until August, weather permitting.

A full carriageway closure will be in place with a contraflow on the opposite side of the motorway while the work is being carried out. Various entry and exit slip roads will also need to be closed.

The work is taking place over weekends when traffic volumes are lighter and disruption to drivers can be kept to a minimum – however some delays can be expected. Work will start each Friday at 9pm and the motorway will be fully reopened by 5am each Monday.

To ensure the ongoing safety of road-users and our workforce, a 40mph speed limit will be in place throughout the roadworks – which are planned to be completed by 5am, July 27.

Overhead message signs will be used to advise drivers of the closures so they can choose an alternative route.

Highways Agency project manager Manuelle Salathe said:
“We regret any disruption this work may cause to drivers and would encourage them to plan their journey in advance and allow for extra time to get to their destination.”

The exploratory works are taking place to assess the condition of the carriageway on this section of the M60.

The Highways Agency’s North West Traffic Officer Service will deploy extra crews for the duration of the work with a dedicated patrol to cover the roadworks area and react quickly to any breakdowns or accidents to help keep drivers on the move.

The Highways Agency Regional Control Centre will be monitoring incidents and traffic conditions from motorway cameras as well as using electronic signs to provide drivers with up-to-the-minute information.