Slow progress on Wilmslow parking review

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The long-awaited Wilmslow parking review is moving forward, albeit at a much slower pace than residents and local councillors would like.

Last year Cheshire East commissioned a review to gather evidence and an understanding of the parking situation in Wilmslow. As a result of which 47 individual measures were recommended to ensure that parking capacity supports the long-term viability of Wilmslow.

In January, Cheshire East Council launched a public consultation, inviting local residents and those who work in the townto have their say on the proposals put forward by the Council to help resolve the parking problems in Wilmslow.

However, having heard very little since then regarding the parking review I contacted Cheshire East Council and local councillors for an update.

Councillor Brian Roberts, Portfolio holder with responsibilities for parking said: "We would like to thank everyone who took part in this consultation. The results have now been analysed and the proposal reviewed in light of the representations received.

"An updated draft approach is being discussed and we expect to publish the consultation report and action plan in early September."

Councillor David Jefferay, Ward Councillor for Wilmslow East, said "It is quite a few months since the parking survey was carried out and it does seem to be taking an inordinate amount of time for the results to be published. We, the CEC Councillors, have not yet seen a draft report either. However, that does not mean that nothing is happening.

"Since May, together with representatives from Wilmslow Town Council, we have had some very constructive meetings with senior officers from Cheshire East and they are making some good progress.

"The discussions at the meetings have been based around three main agenda items; publication of the parking survey results, addressing the issues in the centre of the town (in particular Alderley Road), and increasing overall parking capacity.

"Regarding the consultation report, as Cllr Roberts' statement indicates, we are expecting publication in early September.

"On the Alderley Road situation, we have managed to secure funding and schemes for Traffic Orders (TROs) have been drafted so we are expecting statutory consultation to commence in the next month. We are hoping that those unsightly cones will be redundant by Christmas but it is very dependent on the results of the statutory consultation and, of course, the weather. Both of which are out of our control."

He added "Regarding increasing overall capacity, as with any business, capital expenditure needs to be justified so the officers are working on feasibility and the business case for a new car park. We have a big challenge ahead of us in making the case and getting agreement from the relevant stakeholders by February for inclusion in next year's budget but that is our aspiration.

"On all the above matters, the process is slow, there are a lot of hoops to jump through and, for the new car park, we are not talking small sums of money. However, we are making progress."

Tags:
Car Parking Review
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Comments

Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.

Howard Piltz
Thursday 8th August 2019 at 7:44 am
That grey car in the photo is there EVERY day. Does anybody realise just how antagonising these confounded people are ?
Caroline Williams
Thursday 8th August 2019 at 9:36 am
Back in January it was reported that the council run car parks in Wilmslow were generating revenue of almost £1 million a year, with very minimal expenditure. How about investing this back into car parking in Wilmslow? Appears the return on investment would be a good one - surely not difficult to make a business case for this. It’s not as if Cheshire East is subsiding Wilmslow’s car parking charges. There are plenty of towns round here where parking is significantly cheaper.
Rick Andrews
Thursday 8th August 2019 at 10:44 am
Hopefully action will be taken against the inconsiderate drivers who park with one side on the pavement or grass. It is an offence to obstruct the pavement and grass is clearly not designed for car wheels which cause damage.
The problem will only get worse as more office space is created with no attention to parking. Planning applications which talk about use of public transport are deluded. The developers must be made to fund suitable parking arrangements using some of the lucrative rents received. The length of time taken for the review shows how little priority is being given to this serious safety related problem by our councillors.
James MacDonald
Thursday 8th August 2019 at 7:09 pm
"You MUST NOT drive on or over a pavement, footpath or bridleway except to gain lawful access to property, or in the case of an emergency.”

Driving on the pavement has been illegal since 1835, but parking on the pavement is not (except London), despite drivers needing to drive on the pavement to park there.

The police could do something about it but I have seen them drive on the pavements to park too. When the police are breaking the law who can police the police?
John Duckworth
Friday 9th August 2019 at 6:54 am
Our new local councellors are doing their best, don't hold your breath - how long does it take to have double yellow lines on Alderley Road ? I will be surprised if it's this year.
I believe that now Cheshire East is Labour run we have as much chance of getting the remaining roads attended to as planting fog !
I did say before the last local elections be careful what you wish for.
Chris Hall
Friday 9th August 2019 at 9:08 am
Double yellow lines have been painted in the lay-by on hawthorn lane near the top entrance to the Carrs.... how did that happen when we cannot get them on alderly road. Cannot believe we are having this conversation - for residents on buckingham road gravel lane etc it is a nightmare!
Mark Goldsmith
Friday 9th August 2019 at 1:00 pm
John

It takes around 6 months to get yellow lines installed because there is a legal process to go through. This should have started last August when Alderley Road became critical, but the previous Conservative councillors never started it.

Therefore, your new Residents of Wilmslow councillors have had to:

a) Secure the funding (it costs around £5,000).
b) Liaise with CE Highways to prioritise this work.
c) Get Alderley Road, Bedells Lane and Knutsford Road inspected for the new restrictions
and discuss / refine them with Highways.
d) Get internal sign off, so the process can start for the Traffic Regulation Order (TRO).

This TRO process will start later this month and is set by government. As councillors, we cannot rush it because it would compromise the legal process and therefore its validity. Ultimately, parking fines can be challenged in court, so the correct process must be followed to ensure they can be enforced. This can take 3 months depending on the scale of objections. Finally, we must book a crew to put all the yellow lines down, which is also weather dependent in November/ December.

Next month the Wilmslow Parking Review should be finalised and published, which will show the proposed parking restrictions in the rest of the town. This was promised for last Christmas by the Conservatives, so we have again inherited another severely delayed project that was promised but never delivered.

Finally, we have also started the process to build a new long-term car park in Wilmslow. This may cost £1.5m and take around 3 years to deliver, so it is not a quick fix. We need to secure the funding (not easy given the Conservative council left us with an £11m annual overspend) and obtain planning permission. However, CE are now hiring a project manager to oversee all of this, so demonstrating their commitment to making it happen.

We have also included the Wilmslow Town Council leader in all of this to ensure they are fully aware of our progress. Something else that never happened before.

Therefore, we share everyone’s frustration at the speed of all this, but after 10 years of doing almost nothing about the towns parking problems, we cannot fix them overnight. Consequently, we ask that you bear with us for another month until our work behind the scenes starts to filter through into actions you can see.

Cllr Mark Goldsmith

Residents of Wilmslow
Cheshire East & Wilmslow Town Councils
Jonathan Follows
Friday 9th August 2019 at 1:20 pm
The title of this thread is quite right.

The fact that our elected representatives of whatever hue can't have double yellow lines painted on Alderley Road since the problem parking started more than 12 months ago says it all. If they can't meet the needs of the people who elect them in this time, then what purpose do they serve?

I believe the "unsightly cones" are a private initiative and nothing to do with the council. It just happens that they work, and it just happens that nobody from the council has sought to remove them, although I'm sure their presence breaks one of more of the council's "rules".

To me this story just highlights what a joke local government is in this country. If it truly existed to serve the needs of local people, this problem would have been solved many months ago, and we all know what the obvious solution is.
Richard Armstead
Friday 9th August 2019 at 8:14 pm
Yellow lines are a sticking plaster for a broken leg. They will be welcome to improve safety at key junctions but will do nothing to attract more visitors to Wilmslow and will just transfer the problem to somebody else's doorstep. It doesn't need years of hand wringing to know that the solution is a significant increase in off street parking at reasonable cost.

I have no sympathy for those trying to balance the budget. I am more interested in where every year almost £2M clear profit from providing parking services in Cheshire East ends up. According to the Traffic Act such profit should be used to provide off street parking unless the council considers it is unnecessary or undesirable. To argue that this money is better spent continually filling in potholes at exorbitant cost is a criminal misuse of public funds.

Providing a multi-storey carpark with affordable charges will do more to satisfy residents, shoppers, businesses, visitors and commuters alike, than a can of yellow paint. What is more, CE can afford it if it looks at reducing costs and increasing efficiencies elsewhere.
Roger Bagguley
Saturday 10th August 2019 at 9:06 am
In a nutshell Richard.
Iain Macfarlane
Sunday 11th August 2019 at 3:40 pm
As a new councillor elected in May without any experience of how the Public Sector operates it has been very frustrating to encounter these delays in sorting out Wilmslow's long-standing parking problems. We had to start from scratch when dealing with Cheshire East officers as nothing had been done beforehand - Mark and Dave's comments are quite correct, we feel that we are making progress but there are legal hurdles which have to be adhered to even with putting down yellow lines and unfortunately these do take time.

Richard you are right, a multi-storey car park is of course the obvious answer but there will have to be feasibility studies carried out by Cheshire East before we even start down that road.

Cllr Iain Macfarlane
Residents of Wilmslow
Pete Taylor
Monday 12th August 2019 at 4:03 pm
Ian,

I really surprised to hear that it is going to take so long, after all before the last election it seemed that our Conservative representatives had almost done the job:

April 2019:

http://bit.ly/2Kt2aH0

In December 2018 we were told that it would be "six months before any lining and signing" would commence.

http://bit.ly/2MeK9OK

Oh well...
Manuel Golding
Monday 12th August 2019 at 4:46 pm
Pete, you are quite correct, the Wilmslow public was "assured" the necessary steps were under way towards solving the parking mayhem that was, and still is,daily overwhelming Wlm's streets which cause so much annoyance & frustration to residents.
Now that RoW councillors along with our Independent Group partners and allied with our new joint-leadership with the Labour group, can now "examine the books". It is clearly seen that what the Conservative leadership of this council was telling us can be classed simply as "porkies". They had made no positive steps to alleviating the situation.
Thankfully, Wilmslow's new team of the four Residents of Wilmslow CEC councillors along with our four Wilmslow TC councillors is making great strides toward physical solutions to the issue, including yellow lines at hazardous points, hopefully enabling multi-storey car parks, newly resourced enforcement teams along with other suggested possibilities. At the same time, we are not ignoring the other areas of concern to our town, we are looking to tackle these in the near future. Unfortunately, the local Conservative former members & their leadership have left us with huge infrastructure areas to try to remedy.
RoW is determined to make a big difference to our town which is part of our commitment to our voters in supporting the changes at the ballot boxes.
Keith Chapman
Monday 12th August 2019 at 6:54 pm
Manuel, I think ROW are doing their best but are finding it heavy going just like the Conservative regime before them. The parking fiasco illustrates the dead hand of the state at its worst. Cheshire East under any management is so tied up with procedure and red tape that it finds it very difficult to be effective. In the private sector we would have painted double yellow lines down Alderley Road 12 months ago. In the alternative universe of local government this simple solution is just too difficult. As for building new parking capacity - I just saw a pig flying past my window.
David Jefferay
Monday 12th August 2019 at 9:00 pm
I always try to be fair and give credit where it is due so, just to clarify the situation, the parking survey and the measures proposed as part of it did constitute the informal consultation so some work was done by the previous councillors securing that. However, there were no formal drawings prepared for the knutsford road and Alderley Road TROs and there wasn't enough funding in place so Rod Menlove's 6 months to lining and signing was optimistic but not wildly so.
With regards to the other areas mentioned (Lacey Green, Bourne Street etc), no work had been done on them other than the options prepared for the consultation (see the map at https://www.cheshireeast.gov.uk/car_parks_and_parking/parking-consultations/wilmslow-parking-review.aspx) so to say work was underway to get the yellow lines down was not correct and, in fact, there is significant opposition amongst officers to putting them down until there is somewhere else for the cars to go so it was never going to happen in the short term.
Manuel Golding
Tuesday 13th August 2019 at 12:04 pm
Keith, I welcome your comments above; yes RoW is doing its best to rectify much of the administrative ethos that had happened under the previous CEC leadership but we aim to be most certainly not like the Conservative controlled council however difficult that may be. Our councillors are determined to not allow the "dead-hand" ethos so beloved for inertia by the previous incumbents to persist. Believe it or not, RoW has clearly identified a large increase in car parking capacity and the new council is fully exploring the options & possibilities. Next time your flying pig passes your window he maybe touching down on one of the new car-parks. RoW had long ago proposed such a plan only for the former Portfolio holder to be unwilling to take it further, possibly that "dead hand" you refer to was too complex for him to contemplate.His only response was "the council doesn't have the money" even though the council had an annual revenue of nearly £1 Million from Wlm parking fees.
Which begs the question - what happened to Wlm's annual parking revenues under the Conservative administration?
Keith Chapman
Tuesday 13th August 2019 at 2:55 pm
Manuel, glad to hear ROW are looking at options for additional car parking in Wilmslow. As you know long term parking for office workers is the issue, and both Wilmslow Town Council and the Neighbourhood Plan group identified an extra storey on Broadway Meadow carpark as the best option. I doubt Cheshire East will build it as their budget really is stretched. The money raised from car park charges in Wilmslow is of course spent on other services. The best answer is for a private operator to build the car park and run it. Look how quickly houses were built at Adlington Road, Stanneylands and Heathfield Farm. The profit motive delivers. The project should go to competitive tender.
David Smith
Wednesday 14th August 2019 at 3:10 pm
Seems like more people than I could ever have imagined need to get their fingers out - firstly to set about changing the system that makes what should be simple into a lengthy complicated process. We're surrounded by Muppets!
David Smith
Wednesday 14th August 2019 at 6:12 pm
Oh, and I don't see those cones as anything like 'unsightly' - they are beautiful and doing a wonderful job. What WAS unsightly was the line of cars left there by such selfish motorists who have no right to be allowed on our roads. The lane they were parked in had an arrow indicating that the lane was for traffic going straight ahead - not STOPPED there whilst the owner was doing something else!
Chris Neill
Wednesday 14th August 2019 at 8:19 pm
What about a simple park and ride? It's been looked at but all quiet. There's lots of space along the railway line as well between the airport and Wilmslow.
Very little work needed.......
Sheila Hallas
Wednesday 14th August 2019 at 9:02 pm
With reference to the car so often parked on the verge near the Kings Arms; yes very very annoying. Known locally I think as the “slug”, (grey reg no SL).There is a yellow parking cone put there specifically to stop this dangerous parker.
More than once I have retrieved this cone from bushes nearby, or near the Fulshaw Cross, returning it to its proper place on the verge.
Why cannot the police enforce the Highway Code when car drivers flout the law.
David Smith
Wednesday 14th August 2019 at 9:11 pm
Apologies for adding another comment - but I've just seen the late news and learnt about how intense we are now finding is the extent of plastic pollution over all our planet and how we need to do something about it - but WHAT? There doesn't appear to me to be a 'cat in hell's chance' of ever starting to tinker with the problems of pollution and climate change when we can't even sort out painting a few yellow lines down a short stretch of one of our roads to solve an issue that has been getting up the noses of so many people for so long and everyone agrees must be addressed! Please don't let our council employees ever be responsible for saving the planet.
David Smith
Thursday 15th August 2019 at 7:20 am
Well done Sheila - we need more people with your attitude.
David Smith
Thursday 15th August 2019 at 9:18 am
Sorry to bother you all again - but I would like to add a bit to Keith Chapman's contribution.
When we have plenty of car parking spaces in town what then? Sorry - but selfish parking will not just disappear.
People will park anywhere they like just to save £1 per day. If money is to be spent on new car parks then the parked cars that are a nuisance to the residents of Wilmslow will have to be 'persuaded' [=forced] to pay and go and park in them. There needs to be a procedure whereby residents and their visitors can park in their own road outside their own home but visitors to the town cannot. Ideas anyone?
As I’ve said previously - a shortage of car parking is one issue. Leaving your car for as long as you wish, wherever you want and regardless of the effect on the roads, cycle lanes, driveways and pavements of the people who live locally is a completely separate issue. We are now at the point where it is ok to park somewhere if there are no yellow lines to say you cannot and sod the rest of you who don’t like it!
Nick Jones
Thursday 15th August 2019 at 9:26 am
@ Sheila
I think you would do an excellent job as Cheshire Police and Crime Commissioner !
Better than the current incumbent .. remember the inactivity hollow promises, bluster and obfuscation in November last year with Keane promising to investigate and return in a month…

http://www.wilmslow.co.uk/news/article/18350/police--crime-commissioner-called-to-action-over-alderley-road-parking-problems

Still waiting !!
Mark Goldsmith
Thursday 15th August 2019 at 9:41 am
David
The process for installing yellow lines is set by the Department for Transport. It has nothing to do with Cheshire East. We must follow government instructions and they stipulate we allow months to ensue the public are informed and can voice any objections. It is the same process all councils have to use and getting the government to change it just for Wilmslow is not a realistic proposition.

Additionally, it is not just a short stretch of road. It also covers Alderley Road, Bedells Lane and Knutsford Road too.

Sheila
Provided there is still access for pedestrians to use the pavement, then it is not an offence to park on the kerb. It is within London, but not the rest of the country.

The grey car mentioned can park on the grass because there are no legal reasons to stop them. If we "just painted a few yellow lines" as suggested, they would be unenforceable, so cars could carry on parking there. It is the legal process that takes the time, not the road painting.

The issue is this should have started in November 2018, when Conservative councillors had their photos taken with the Police and Crime Commissioner about the problem on Alderley Road. However, they didn't, so we had to start it as new councillors in June 2019.

The lines are definitely coming and we understand your frustration, but the delay rests firmly with the previous councillors. We are now following government procedure to fix this problem, while informing the public about the situation. Therefore, I think it unfair and unwarranted to label us as "Muppets" for doing this.


Cllr Mark Goldsmith
Residents of Wilmslow
Jon Williams
Thursday 15th August 2019 at 10:00 am
What a load of pointless red tape !
Alan Brough
Thursday 15th August 2019 at 11:33 am
@ Mark Glodsmith,

I think it's fair to say that people have lost confidence in "Due Process" whether it be within Local or National Government.

The fact of the matter is that this issue has been discussed and debated on here for years now and you will remember that there were concerns voiced about the very real threat to persons and property arising out of the obstructive parking on Alderley Road. It was only the intervention of person (or persons) unknown putting down a dozen or so cones that removed that threat, otherwise Rome would still be burning to the sound of violins.

I think it's generally accepted that the former Conservative-led council did absolutely nothing to accelerate a solution and indeed the patronising photo-opportunity enjoyed by the PCC and local Conservative Councillors (as mentioned by Nick Jones) will stick long in the craw.

I guess the answer is to provide a solution and then work at ensuring that the whole process is more transparent, lean and fit for purpose than has been the case.
Dave Cash
Friday 16th August 2019 at 1:27 am
Unauthorised cones on the Highway constitute an obstr canuction, which the Police can remove immediately.
On several roads in Wilmslow they appear to have taken root and are 'breeding like rabitts', with no Police interest.

Why are we allowing miscreants to avoid Justice?
Mark Goldsmith
Friday 16th August 2019 at 10:38 am
Dave

Putting unauthorised cones out is a Fixed Penalty Notice offence, with a £100 fine.

The problem is who do you issue it to? People don’t tend to put the cones out when a police officer or traffic warden is around to spot them.
David Smith
Friday 16th August 2019 at 11:15 am
Dave Cash:
I don’t think MANY will agree with you that these cones are an obstruction. If there was a referendum on the matter I bet the result would be at least 52/48 in FAVOUR! Any cone that prevents cars being abandoned for the day - sorry ‘parked sensibly’ - has got to be a better alternative. Your comment is conclusively blown out of the water when you say they are an obstruction and the police should remove them when previously the police DIDN’T consider a line of vehicles interfering with the free flow of traffic to be an obstruction and did nothing. As it has turned out these cones have shown to everyone who was sick to death of the traffic flow interruption by the Coach & Four how a simple and quick solution is possible and just how our local council is woefully inadequate in addressing our needs in certain matters.
So I have to ask WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU ON?
Oliver Romain
Friday 16th August 2019 at 12:18 pm
It’s not always a question of who. Mark Goldsmith has said previously he knows who put the cones on Alderley Road out.
On one hand ROW are up in arms about supermarket planning infringements and on the other, they are supporting illegal obstruction on the highway and hiding the identity of the culprit.
ROW have effectively given the green light for lawbreaking and for cones to appear all over Wilmslow. Cars have been damaged with vigilante behaviour. As tempers flare, this situation is likely escalate beyond damaged cars and highway obstruction unless councillors and CEC come out clearly in support of the rule of law.
ROW have made their point with their cones. Now it’s time for them to go.
Richard Armstead
Friday 16th August 2019 at 1:29 pm
What a privilege it is to live in Wilmslow and try and park in the town centre. The lack of off road parking and ever spiralling parking costs convince me Wilmslow residents are viewed by CE Highways as fair game. This has been an invidious trend over the last 15 years.

I park in Wilmslow at least twice a week for one reason or another. I pay on average £4 per week or £200 per year. This is equivalent to an extra 10% on my Council Tax. So for the privilege of parking in Wilmslow town centre I pay 10% more than Sandbach residents on my annual tax bill. If I am daft enough to use the short stay carpark near the leisure centre then it puts me up to £300 per year disadvantaged.

If you look at Bramhall in the Stockport local authority parking fees are at least half those in Wilmslow.

Combining lack of off road parking with exhorbitant prices only encourages avoidance behaviour by would be visitors and commuters alike.

Now who has allowed this to happen?

Answer - a CE council with a Conservative majority and a Portfolio Holder for Highways, thankfully now removed. RoW are working hard to turn this tanker round but while this parking situation provides CE with £2M every year to spend elsewhere in the Borough the incentive for CE to react positively is unlikely in the short term.

RoW will continue to redress this shortage of off road parking but it starts with an allocation of funds within the upcoming budgets. This alone will allow Wilmslow and it's residents and it's visitors the fair deal they deserve.
Oliver Romain
Friday 16th August 2019 at 3:17 pm
The messy and illegal ROW ‘supported’ cones and their ‘offspring’ contribute to the parking problems in Wilmslow.
ROW are actively encouraging the reduction of parking places. It’s no good painting double yellows everywhere without more spaces being made available. Reducing off road parking whilst providing no alternative will drive people to park in residential areas and result in more conflict and more pavement and verge obstruction.
Painting the town yellow will drive shoppers away and commuters into residential areas.
Richard Armstead
Friday 16th August 2019 at 3:42 pm
A quick dash to Bramhall for bits and pieces. 20p for off road parking. 'Nuff said.
Mark Goldsmith
Friday 16th August 2019 at 3:47 pm
Cllr Oliver Romain

Once again, you are willfully misrepresenting RoW on this issue. You are also not informing people you are a Lib Dem councillor for the town, despite being asked specifically to do this at the last full town council meeting you attended in June.

For the record (again):

a) I do not categorically know who has put the cones out.

b) RoW does not condone putting out cones.

c) Putting out cones is not a criminal matter though as it is a parking offence. Parking offenses were decriminalised by the Road Traffic Act 1991. Therefore, accusing us of "law breaking" over this, when it isn't a law breaking action is factually wrong and defamatory.

d) If you think putting out cones is a similar to building a major supermarket in a residential area, then please speak to those living next to Lidl and ask them if they think the same.

We want to keep people informed about the progress in these matters and to encourage a dialogue between residents and their councillors. It is therefore disappointing that as a Lib Dem councillor you just want to use it to peddle your lies.


Cllr Mark Goldsmith
Nick Jones
Friday 16th August 2019 at 3:55 pm
I think someones forgotten to take their medication !
Raymond James Wallace
Friday 16th August 2019 at 4:37 pm
We always seem to be going around in circles, it’s no use moving the problem from one place to another as we will be back to where we are now. Cheshire East dilly and dally around with whatever problem they are faced with, whether it’s flooding or parking, they seem to fart about trying to win “Wilmslow in Bloom”, who gives a monkeys when we have major problem which need urgent attention. Let’s get real, it’s no use parking on main roads and blocking emergency services and traffic visiting our much needed stores with customers, so put your hands in your pocket build proper parking facilities and charge a reasonable price for parking, otherwise even this would be a lame duck. Get the cars of the road and get them in purpose built amenities. ASAP.
Oliver Romain
Friday 16th August 2019 at 4:40 pm
Mark has been exposed and aggressively lashes out - again. Yawn.
Pete Taylor
Friday 16th August 2019 at 8:13 pm
Oliver; you are increasingly beginning to look like the nutter on our bus. Why not give us all a break?

RJW; it is not Cheshire East who pop up here to “fart about” with In Bloom, although I can see where you are coming from. There are some faded-bloom ex-Councillors involved, who can’t quite grasp that they were sussed out and chucked out. The rest of the In Bloom volunteers seem to work tirelessly, without seeking the photo-op vanity thing.
Unfortunately the legacy of the last regime at CEC is proving difficult to unpick; Mendacity was rife.
Oliver Romain
Friday 16th August 2019 at 8:46 pm
Pete no one is forcing you to read so if you don’t like it, move on and don’t bother with the name calling it doesn’t work. Saying offensive things only serves to lower people’s opinion of yourself and whatever points you want to raise.
Richard Armstead
Saturday 17th August 2019 at 9:24 am
Has anyone noticed the most recent restrictions on parking at the Wilmslow Leisure Centre car parks? Not only is it an astronomical £3 for 3 hours but you cannot extend your stay and hours for charging have increased from 10hrs to 15hrs in any 24. If ever there was a borough council determined to make the pips squeak, this is it.

Not happy with discouraging shoppers in the day time CE are after the evening visitors to make sure they think twice about frequenting our town centre to enjoy themselves.

CE Highways officers forced through increased charges and restrictions before the local elections on 02 May sure in the knowledge that the Conservatives were on a hiding to nothing. They also knew that incoming independent councillors would not have stood for it.

This mentality and downward slide is hard to reverse but I for one am happy that we have RoW on the case determined to change things for the better.
Patricia Winter
Saturday 17th August 2019 at 1:12 pm
I am a regular user of our excellent leisure centre. Before the change in charging and time restrictions it was very difficult for users needing to find a parking place to access the classes and facilities of the centre. The parking places in the two small leisure centre car parks were usually blocked for significant periods by office workers understandably wanting to use relatively inexpensive car parking in the centre of Wilmslow. Some people may think that users of the leisure centre should be prepared to walk to it and indeed most people do, but this is to overlook the fact that many classes are designed for the rehabilitation of people recovering from serious illnesses and also people with young children who cannot walk long distances in a timely fashion. It should be noted that the number of disabled spaces is very small. It should be also noted that if you use the leisure centre then the parking charge is refunded to you. In the past I have known of people forced to return to their homes due to the inability to find a parking space. I think that we need to support those wanting to access a healthier life at a reasonable cost and enable them to access our leisure centre. If it is not used then we will surely lose it.
David Smith
Sunday 18th August 2019 at 8:12 am
https://inews.co.uk/essentials/lifestyle/cars/car-news/pavement-parking-fine-possible-new-laws/
The key word here is COULD.
So have your say to turn this into a MUST and a WILL by contacting to OUR MP [YOURS too!] whose contact details are at the link:
https://www.esthermcvey.com/contact
David Smith
Sunday 18th August 2019 at 3:59 pm
If anyone has looked at the link you will also see the words "...although drivers who park their car in a dangerous position, or cause an unnecessary obstruction to other road users, can still be fined." Now I don't know about you but surely the silly parking at 'Cone Central' by the Coach&Four should fall into one of these categories - but who decides? The Police [too busy with other stuff], the council [can't be bothered] the police commissioner ['I've aske the council to do something but don't hold your breathe']?
Nick King
Monday 19th August 2019 at 11:53 am
Just so we all know what we are talking about, what suggestions do we have for the location of the proposed Milti £Million Multi Storey Car Park in Wilmslow, and mindful of concerns over delay voiced above, what do we consider would be a reasonable target date for the first car through the barrier?
There is no problem installing a residents only regime where housholders park in their road for an annual fee ( used to Police the system ) and then purchase vouchers for the use of their visitors - it's common practice! All the Council have to do is abide by the rules to ensure it's all legal, which of course, might take a little while.
Rick Andrews
Monday 19th August 2019 at 2:45 pm
Maybe Royal London could be asked to double the size of their proposed 1000 space car park by making it multi storey and charge a reasonable price for office workers in Wilmslow to use it. The fundamental reason for the parking problems is uncontrolled office development over the last 20 to 30 years with no significant construction of parking facilities. New spaces are required to ease the problem. Desperate times.
Robert Taylor
Thursday 22nd August 2019 at 6:48 am
I've said before and I will say again, we do not need more on or off street long stay parking in Wilmslow. Long stay does not help trade nor sustainable commuting habits.

It is widely recognised in planning and transport planning disciplines that availability of more parking influences journey choices in favour of the car.

I would much rather the parking fee income finance funding for improving the rail station, measures to restrict traffic through the town centre and the subsidising of quality bus services.
David Smith
Monday 26th August 2019 at 8:48 am
Just noticed that Cheshire East is featured on BBC2 today 26th August at 1310hrs.