On and off-street parking under review

This morning I made my usual journey into Wilmslow town center to park my car, before jumping on the train into Manchester, as I have done for the last 9 years. This morning there were no long stay spaces left in Wilmslow at all at just a few minutes past 9am. Thankfully a local friend came to my rescue and let me park on her driveway and gave me a lift to the station. But is it going to be like this every morning from now on? 9 years ago there were parking spaces on the roads before the council painted double yellows and restricted bays there. Then I spent 5 years parking at Broadway Meadow before that became full up before 9am, then I started using South drive long stay for around 12 months before that too became full before 9am. So I started parking at Spring Street car park for the last couple of years, however now that too is full by 9am....I saw this situation coming several years ago, why didn't the council? Why is a review only taking place now when its too late? What am I to do now? I have no way of getting to Wilmslow station without driving. As a commuter town surely there should be spaces provided for commuters! Perhaps in the short term the double yellows and restricted bays put in in 2010 should be taken away again so as to give commuters places to park while a longer term solution is found.

Similar story to Nadine Tipping's, only when I was unable to park in ANY of the (few) long-stay car parks to catch a train, I ended up completely missing my train, having to pay another fare to London, and missing a business meeting. How can Wilmslow meant to promote itself to potential residents and businesses when we don't even have enough long-stay parking for the station?

On a more mundane note, I live on Buckingham Road; the A538 end is now completely rammed with parked cars during the week, presumably belonging to people working in the town centre, who have slowly and gradually had to park further and further out from town as more double-yellow lines are painted on. Thankfully it's a wide road, but it's (many) an accident waiting to happen.

That'll be the wider public transport considerations, that take into account the cuts to bus services they are making from 1 April, will it ?. Which will encourage more car usage.

The Wilmslow Business Group brought this up 2 years ago with local councillors and town managers and we did a tour of Wilmslow car parks - and found the same thing - there are very few parking spaces in Wilmslow car parks after 9am on weekdays.

Wilmslow is not alone - Knutsford and Alderley Edge have exactly the same issues.
And with the hundreds of new houses planned for the local area - there is no provision in any planning documents for any new parking in town centres.

There is no immediate or simple solution either I'm afraid - and the local councillors and town managers know this. Without significant investment from the council.

The knock-on effect is, that it affects your high street, as people choose free out of town shopping with parking spaces to congested town centres and this has led to a reduction in footfall with big and small businesses struggling to stay open - there are now about 15 or more empty shop units in Wilmslow Town Centre (admittedly some have closed due to other factors) but still they are empty.

With workers now parking up to a ¾ mile outside the centre of Wilmslow in residential streets, knowing they can park and also to avoid paying to park all day. While rail commuters fill up the car parks that were originally intended for local shoppers - other car parks like Spring Street (the multi-storey on Water Lane) have been filled by contract car parking.

I imagine that there will be a lot of comments on this issue - but no solutions.

I know this sounds a little mundane but, if we are to consider parking, can we do anything about parking - usually by white vans at house rebuilds- on the footpath.
The footpaths at the Halliwell Jones cross roads appear to have been completely usurped and the cycle lanes out of Wilmslow travelling north no longer exist.
What is really annoying is that in most cases those parking on the footpath are not leaving enough space for two cars to pass. They are blocking the footpath but not creating any extra space on the roads.

James agree - the lack of parking provision has been known for some time. It doesn't stop Cheshire East arguing that residents of Summerfields/Colshaw/Dean Row can travel to the Leisure Centre, when everyone knows that that carpark is full soon after 9a.m. Most Mondays I emerge from my class and someone is driving round and round the carpark waiting for someone to leave.

Also it is not just the offices which have inadequate parking, what about the Health Centre? Part of its carpark was sold off to those new flats.

There doesn't appear to be any joined up thinking.

There were 2 vans parked on Broadway - well, part on Broadway and mostly on the pavement - almost at the corner. Skool was chucking out so it was causing an obstruction, and the van door was open, making getting past the van on the pavement impossible. So I had to slalom past oncoming traffic.
As I passed the van, I frowned at the 3 on the front seat and held my arms out, as if asking "Why?"
One of them shouted "what's your problem, mate?" .

Returning to the carpark at Lindow Common after walking Connie our Hearing Dog puppy in training, a young lady had parked her car.
Smartly dressed in what I would describe as office wear, complete with smart shiny footwear with a heel, she asked me if she could walk across the Common into Wilmslow. I confirmed this, told her that it was approx a mile, but the path had mud and puddles. She thanked me and off she set. In retrospect, her definition of mud and puddles is quite likely much different to mine, or Connie’s for that matter.

"CEC ....in the process of reviewing the parking provision in Wilmslow to ensure it meets the needs of both local residents and businesses."
..and, this present review's (I'm sure there will others in the murky past) been going on for 5 months!!
Review my backside. You only need to drive around the area any mid-week day and it can be summed up nicely - utterly inadequate and shambolic (I guess you could also apply a high proportion of that comment to dear CEC as a whole). Life for locals is a misery much of the time.
It's what you get for driving unfettered and (imho) uneccessary, unrequired development (commercial and domestic) over a number of years without any consideration of the social implications - it's all driven by money and let's be straight, greed and sheer wide eyed ambition of Council objectives, they play at god and get damn well overpaid for it in the process.
Time and time again they demonstrate incompetence and fluffed-up egos - grand gestures and schemes to catch the eye in complete disregard of the wishes exhibited by a large number of local people - the electorate.
Small things, big things, it doesn't matter. The only way to change anything is at the ballot box, forget main party politics - this is all about what the community want and for that you must have a majority of politically disinterested, public spirited council representatives.
The developers are running rabid so there isn't much time for a change - when it's gone, it's GONE, really GONE!!
With such a substantial change in the balance of decision making, more neutral councillors surely couldn't do any worse than the present bunch of inept chancers.

Jon Newell makes the point but the responsibility for enforcing legal parking on public main roads/byways and most importantly, safety, comes down to the police.
Our massive flying squad of officers (I think we have the grand total of 3 dedicated to the Wilmslow/Alderley and Handforth area) must pass lines of vans and cars every single day, many obstructing footpaths and cycleways (and wrecking grass verges/obstructing driveways in the process - not sure who takes the rap for 'policing' that) in addition to constricting such busy intersections like Manchester Road/Stannylands Road/Dean Row Road - with impunity, because it's been ongoing for years!! Police Commissioner business? Nop, he's awol far too busy building empires.

I really must stop ranting, bad for the blood pressure - but think on, please.

More yellow lines !!......Thats the CEC answer ! Its not the right answer but its theirs !!
... and no denying they are very good at displacing the problem without investing in a solution !! .... this argument has been kicked in the long grass for too long..years infact... but without parking for visitors / workers / even train users our town , its businesses and services will struggle to exist.

A plea for more disabled parking and policing to check the existing areas.I have given up trying to use the train as there is no hope to find a possible parking place anywhere near. And often go home without being able to get to the vital shops. Gwynneth Littleton.

I live on Manchester Rd, near the junction with Stanneylands Rd. The parking close to the junction, on both sides, with little regard for pedestrians or residents has got much worse in recent years. Development of one of the properties, close to the junction is certainly contributing to issue, but the main offenders are staff working at the BMW garage. This began shortly after it was acquired by Halliwell Jones and it seems the change in ownership resulted in a loss of both brain and motor function of those working there. Cars parked so far onto the pavement that people with prams have little chance as turning side ways is the only way to get past. Sadly I don't have X-ray vision so exiting the drive, when you can't see the traffic because there are lines of cars, parked down the road and very close to your gate, can be unnerving.
It will be interesting once development of Little Stanneylands begins and there's an increase in the volume of traffic turning right on to Stanneylands Road.

This is long overdue. The parking restrictions in Wilmslow are totally nonsensical. Examples:

Bourne Street

Width - quite narrow, only room for two cars side by side.
Restrictions - None.
Result - people park down both sides making it very difficult for cars to pass, and impossible for larger vehicles such as fire engines.

Broadway, Parkway, Holly Road North and South.

Width - mostly wide enough for three cars side by side.
Restrictions - mostly double yellows down one side, restricted time-limited parking down the other.
Result - most of the space is unused (except the section of Parkway closet to the town centre) and parking space for dozens of cars is totally wasted.

Hawthorn Street

Width - very narrow and busy street, particularly at rush hour.
Restrictions - no parking at morning and evening rush hours.
Result - clapped out BMW 3 series completely ignores parking restrictions and causes traffic chaos every single day. Police and Council totally uninterested.

This could all be sorted very easily with a few signs and some yellow paint!

I know that the police do not consider parking on the footpath to be an issue unless the footpath is actually completely blocked - I don't know why this should be the case but it seems that this is so. Cheshire East do not consider parking on the footpath to be an issue at all - they think it is a police matter. No one deals with it.

I do know that the planners, when grating permission for developments, specify that all construction parking should be constrained within the site - but no one enforces it.

So - a suggestion.

Include within the planning permission a clause that provides for a daily fine on the developer for every breach of the parking restriction - with a multiplier for repeat offences. The developer could build the avoidance of the charge within the development cost.

There would not be a problem with policing this. Neighbours could simply email photographs of the offending vehicles to CEC and the fine could be levied automatically on the developer.

Easy to collect.

Money for Council

Minimum disruption for local residents.

The same could be used for parking near schools although, as my youngest is now in her late 20s and I don't live near a school, I am not really one to comment.

Hi Jon Newellm

Broadway Meadows is of course meant to be one of the car parks for the "alternative leisure & recreation for Summerfields Village". After 9am Broadway Meadow is full.

See the flawed Lidl " Leisure Needs Assessment " to support their planned demolition of local facilities.

And this is is in favour of course of a huge Lidl GmbH store that only thirty odd people told Cheshire Eadt they actually want.

With the swimming pool being 1.7 miles away from Summerfields and there being no bus service available ; we drove my grandson twice to town and tried to park up.

Sadly we could not park on either occassion and this is typical.

So much then Cheshire East planning, for Wilmslow Leisure Centre being a viable alternative to the local Summerfields Village leisure & recreation facilities !

These are the community facilities you support bulldozing of for wider Lidl aisles, bigger staff accomodation, customer lavatories, more bakery lines etc etc etc

The bottom line then is that Cheshire East are actively planning to make the car parking worse in Wilmslow town centre.

All the best,

Martin Kitchin
Summerfields Residents

I wonder if CEC are capable of making a statement without using the word "strategy" because if you were looking for any evidence of a strategy, CEC is the last place you'd look. They use the word in the same manner that teenagers nowadays use the word "like". It has no meaning whatsoever, they just sprinkle it liberally like a grammatical condiment.

The parking issues around town should be come as no surprise to our councillors, it comes from their willingness to accept rapid, unchecked development with no corresponding thought or investment in infrastructure.

CEC's laughable Sustainability policy appears to be "Will this proposal divert funds away from our pensions, severance packages and internal investigations". If the answer is "no" the proposal is approved, no matter how illogical it may appear to those outside the council. Hence we have a town centre full of offices and shops with no adequate parking provision.

Firstly, On-street parking by office workers and commuters is NOT ACCEPTABLE to the residents of Wilmsloiw. I recommend a Wilmslow-wide parking limit of (say) three hours, save for residents for whom a permit scheme should be introduced as in Alderley Edge.
Office workers and commuters should be encouraged to use public transport - that as a by-product will ease the Councils expenditure on public transport, and a park-and-ride facility intriduced using unused lands adjacent to the by-pass.

Just to add a little bit more about office and shop workers using public transport.

For many it is impossible to use public transport, as they travel long distances to work in Wilmslow and public transport is just not a option due to travel time and cost verses a car.

I would say about 1,000 workers travel into Wilmslow bringing much needed commerce to the town.

A big issue is train commuters filling the local car parks - There should be provision by Network Rail for adequate car parking for the people using the station. There is not.

Also quickly pavement parking is not illegal except in London for some reason (Rule 244 of the Highway Code states: “You MUST NOT park partially or wholly on the pavement in London) - CEC could introduce a bylaw banning it - problem solved.

CEC really needs to grasp the nettle in terms of reducing parking during the daytime anywhere within walking distance of the town centre through resident-only zoning.

There are too many non-essential car journeys being made into the tow. Often journeys are made without thought of modal choice. If there are no parking spaces available can the journey have been made on foot or by cycle or by bus or taxi. There are always alternatives to this such as moving house to a place which is more accessible to journey's end.

On 3 separate visits to my dentist on Altrincham Rd ,Spring St car park was “full” even though there were dozens of disabled spaces unused and spaces where contract parking is reserved. I had to park in the road and you only get 1 hour which is no use allowing for walking from the car and the dentist running half hour late.Parking in Wilmslow has become a very stressful experience.

The building on existing carparks that the various councils have allowed Pete (see behind Slug and Lettuce) has contributed to the problem but perhaps an effort to live closer to work or vice versa would help. Natwest Wilmslow moved two staff for around two years from Glossop and Hayfield to Wilmslow branch - both had no choice but to commute by car. Various side roads are blocked by workers vehicles and the odd ticket is less than paid for parking.
"!000 workers travel to Wilmslow" - I guess thousands from Wilmslow travel elsewhere to work.
It IS illegal to drive on the pavement so how else do you get a car on one. Ticket them.
Perhaps the answer is to allow the Plod to keep ticket money. Solves two problems, parkers and cash for plod and a reduction in the addition to our council tax.

Some interesting facts here, but I'm not sure if any progress has been made.

http://bit.ly/2FEAzRj

Very tricky one to solve without everyone realising there is limited capacity on our roads. Building additional town centre car parks (where exactly, other than multi storeys on existing sites?) will only result in more congested roads in town and even less reliable journey times.

Park and ride for commuters/all day parking is definitely worth considering but it will only ever be attractive if the “ride” part is as smooth as possible with very frequent service and significantly cheaper than current all day parking charges.There has to be an incentive in price and ease of use for it to be viable. Perhaps edge of town parking along the bypass and next to Waters (multi storey on existing site to minimise footprint) combined with a frequent circular Wilmslow bus service for locals and commuters alike would help do the trick! I won’t hold my breath though.

Anybody tried recently to park on Summerfields Village ?

If you are lucky enough to find a bay then you can bet your bottom dollar you will find it too narrow to get into and . . . open all doors.

Okay if you want to sit there but the idea is to get out !

And of course the car parking will get worse if Lidl are ever allowed by Cheshire East planning to plough ahead with their huge destination store that very few people say they want.

Yesterday we gave up & went to Handforth instead to do the shop.

Paul it is not just the width of the bays, but also the sharp left turn into the section of Lidl's own parking at the side. Also there are only a limited number of disabled spaces and where are the mother and baby spaces which have to be larger and wider? Does the new store have the latter because I thought that planning policy was that stores over a certain size had to have these?

Unless the council take the issue seriously and introduce significant extra parking, perhaps by building up again rather than seeking extra ground space, then Wilmslow will suffocate itself. The issue with catching trains is an excellent one, the limited long stay parking is a serious issue, I once had to drive to Stockport to find a parking space close to a station. While they are at it, get rid of those awful new ticket machines, very few people remember their registration numbers and they take ages to process tickets. For a ten minute stay recently I queued for seven minutes behind two others just to buy my ticket. What a waste of investment.

Just to clarify, the car park adjacent to Wilmslow Health Centre was sold by
CHESHIRE EAST COUNCIL despite residents and Wilmslow Health Centre making
representations to the council regarding the impact on parking spaces for
the elderly and infirm. Wilmslow Health Centre never owned the adjacent car
park. It was CHESHIRE EAST COUNCIL that sold it to the developers, Pegasus.

If zones in the town centre are made resident only, it just displaces the problem further out. I work in Hale and a lot of the roads around there are resident only. If there was a decent public transport system then I may be tempted to use it - but the only thing happening at the moment is more and more cuts to public transport. Public transport is simply not an attractive or practical option for a lot of people. I sometimes use the 88 bus and it is OK - but it takes a lot longer door to door than driving and the service is soon to be reduced to one an hour. So I normally drive and I park on a residential street - even though it is still a fair walk away from the office (because the village centre streets are resident only). The alternative would be paying £7 a day in a car park (prohibitively expensive). Local residents may resent me and my colleagues parking in their street - but we help to support the local economy. Along with the other companies in Hale we buy our lunches in the local shops and cafes, support the local pubs etc. My reasoning is that the people who park in my road whilst I am at work are supporting the local economy in Wilmslow. I agree that we need better parking provision in Wilmslow but any changes made would need to keep the town affordable and attractive for everyone - businesses, employees, shoppers and residents.

About five (5) years ago Residents of Wilmslow (RoW) proposed a possible solution to the then growing daily parking problem, since then it has become considerably worse.
The solution was to find & use edge of town sites incorporated into a Park & Ride scheme. I know of two sites that would be ideal, taking at 200 to 300 vehicles between them off the roads and subject to the site owners' approvals. However, the idea was rejected on the basis of "costing too much" and this without even exploring the idea or sites.
CEC needs to look far & wide for the growing problem, its first duty is to protect its residents well-being, to require business owners to pay for parking of its employers who wish to drive in or for those employers to obtain their own parking facilities; long-stay/daily parking on a employer's season ticket; restrictive on street time to between one to three hours, dependent on location. Yellow lines, which is CECs first port of call (it is rumoured that the council bought a job lot of surplus yellow paint) only pushes the parkers into someone else's front of home & not the real answer; "kicking the car further down the road".

Plenty of Space at Royal London

GREAT idea Nick, providing a new entry/exit is constructed from the A34 By-pass (as RoW has been advocating for quite some time). Ideal for Park & Ride.

Make pavement parking a ticketable offence via a bylaw and enforce. Safer for padestrians and more money for services. Also employ traffic wardens after 6pm too where safe to do so.

Hi Oliver,

It was good to see two traffic wardens patroling outside the Rex this morning but it's a pity that an increasing number of retail units are empty and the town continues to under trade.

Cheshire East need to do everything to protect Wilmslow & Handforth and to put them first

For a start they shouldn't be actively be encouraging out of town shopping centres for example in Summerfields Village.

Unless Cheshire East act now, there's a risk Wilmslow will slide back to the ghost town we remember in the 80s.

CEC are not allowed Traffic Wardens, since accepting, several years ago, de-criminalised enforcement, just CEOs.