Plans for Handforth park and ride scheme

Screen Shot 2020-06-18 at 18.42.02

Cheshire East Council is looking is develop a park and ride scheme for Handforth.

The primary aim of the scheme is to create a transport hub close to the railway station which will be used as an interchange between buses arriving from and departing to the proposed Garden Village at Handforth and scheduled railway services at the station.

The proposed scheme will also provide car parking, close to the station to ensure the development of the Garden Village does not exacerbate the parking congestion in and around the village centre.

Their outline application covers an area of 1.086 ha located on a small paddock of rough grassland which sits between St Benedict's Roman Catholic Church and Handforth Youth Centre, along with a small area of parking and grass to the west of the Youth Centre. Both areas of land are owned by Cheshire East Council.

It will provide a bus turning circle and shelter, 50 parking spaces required by the Garden Village, an additional 65 parking spaces for users of the station and village shops (funding of which is still to be determined) and 10 parking spaces suitable for disabled users.

It will also include secure locker parking for 36 bicycles, 8 motorbike parking bays, new pedestrian crossing points and resurfacing of footways.

The plans can be viewed on the Cheshire East Council planning portal by searching for planning reference 20/2211M.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

Comments

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

Richard Armstead
Thursday 18th June 2020 at 7:04 pm
This is the way to provide edge of centre parking to keep cars from parking in town centres, on pavements and in residential roads.

I would like to see this in Wilmslow and Alderley Edge also, to set up town centres predominantly for pedestrians and cycles. This would allow the town centres to develop their precious spaces to create a much more attractive and pollution free public realm.

This Handforth - Wilmslow - Alderley corridor would then be well served by a shuttle bus service.

Imagine all the advantages of car free, care free and pollution free town centres.

This takes vision and determination rather than trying to decide where the next car park is going to be in the town centres. Piecemeal planning applications based on increasing car numbers is not the way forward.

The unnecessary Wilmslow Business Park land would be my candidate for Wilmslow.
Dan Barnes
Friday 19th June 2020 at 7:38 pm
This is a positive move and good news that infrastructure is being planned for public transport linking new residential developments.

I agree with the previous comment that a similar approach could be taken with Alderley and Wilmslow. The current layout at Wilmslow train station car park could be massively improved. Hopefully there will be more joined up infrastructure for dedicated walking and cycling too.
Verna Riding
Wednesday 24th June 2020 at 3:16 pm
In principle this scheme sounds as though it has everything going for it. However, not so for the people whose homes back on to Station Road. There will be increased traffic on the road, plus traffic noise. Some of those properties have bedrooms which face the road and the noise will be very disruptive. Also, likely to devalue those properties - who would choose to buy a property adjacent to a Car Park!! I imagine the creation of the proposed car park will mean the felling of many lovely trees. All these things should be taken into consideration
John Harries
Wednesday 24th June 2020 at 4:45 pm
The 'CEC launch' of this great idea appeared here about 6 months back (can't be bothered to check exactly when but it matters not) and the above 3 new comments so far cannot be further from the response then - IT'S ANOTHER CAR PARK.
Perhaps the sole available location but a terrible site that will create more congestion and added danger for pedestrians. Park and ride to where (Handforth Dean already has a service bus) and various itterations of thro' local bus services has proven to be unsustainable (perhaps socially and on certain moral grounds, desireable?) so it will wither and behold - we have ANOTHER CAR PARK.
Lynne Prescott
Wednesday 24th June 2020 at 5:05 pm
This is well overdue but welcome. The old British Legion site would have been better as it would have allowed direct access to the station, but Jones homes built 4 bedroom homes on it.... looking forward to seeing how they handle station access and road crossing - when this schem was first mooted it included pavement widening which would make the bridge one way traffic only, which would mean 3 sets of traffic lights plus a separate crossing within about 200 yards, which will only exacerbate the congestion around a junction that is already much busier than it was ( do people remember how congested Handforth was when the A34 roadworks were in force?). Hope they now have a better solution.
Clive Richards
Wednesday 24th June 2020 at 5:51 pm
Will the car park be free? Will there be proper limits on the 50 cars so there is no overspill? Enjoyed my time on The Green very much and hope the benefits are there for the car park to be for users of the rail service, limiting the car journey accordingly. Green Village Should be connected by a circular bus to connect hubs eg at airport.
David Smith
Wednesday 24th June 2020 at 8:42 pm
Has nobody spotted the blunder?
Parking next to a railway station that is close to an international airport where parking is very expensive will turn the 'Park & Ride' into another Cheshire 'airport car parking facility'.
Much like the long stay car parks in Wilmslow, which are very close to the train station with an even better link to Manchester airport.
Both of these parking possibilities pale into insignificance when it is realised that the free parking in residential streets within a few miles of Manchester airport are increasingly being favoured for leaving a car and being met by a taxi for the short hop to the plane.
There are police notices on lampposts in the road by the Ship Inn, Styal 'asking' motorists to 'please' not park in that road whilst jetting off from the airport. I mean 'asking in such a pleasant manner'! So who's afraid of the 'cops' then when they ask so nicely. How about 'Park here and fly off from the airport and we will tow your car away"!
The solution to stamp this menace out is only to allow parking in any street to be on each side on alternate days. So Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday on one side of the road and Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday on the other side. A fine of £100 per daily offence will be applied, so if you jet off for 2 weeks you will likely run up a total of £700 in parking fines by the time you return.
I've mentioned this before - but guess what? No Councillor has had the courage to bother to discuss such a proposal and if they ever do it will be mired in a monologue of buck passing and a myriad of reasons it cannot be done. I mean it might mean painting some lines in the road and we all know that paint is so expensive these days.
If there's a better solution than mine I'll be pleased which will mean that finally the Muppets that run our lives around town might be getting their fingers out!
Tim Royle
Wednesday 1st July 2020 at 1:46 pm
No thank you.... There are parking spaces at the facility now that remain unused most of the time so why make more natural green land into a tarmac monstrosity...

Waste of time and money and runing the environment.