Wilmslow Town Council has taken further action to discourage pavement parking on Cliff Road, which has been safety hazard to wheelchair and pushchair users, particularly on sunny days.
At the start of June, the town council arranged for four floral planters to be installed along Cliff Road and now they have added another four.
Town Clerk Matthew Jackson said "The initial preventative measures have broadly been successful with pavement parking in the area protected being eliminated since the introduction of the planters and the section immediately beyond only being used for pavement parking on one occasion since their introduction.
"Despite this progress however further discussions took place as to what actions should be taken to tackle this problem more comprehensively until more permanent solutions are found."
The additional planters have been provided once again by Wilmslow Town Council at a cost of £1600 and were purchased following a request received from Cheshire East Council to enable the action to be taken without further delay.
Matthew Jackson added The Town Council is fully aware of the difficulties of maintaining planters in this poorly lit environment but will do their best with their horticulture partners 'Oak Nurseries' to provide a display until the highway authority are able to provide a longer- term solution and the planters can
be re-sited to better floral effect."
Cllr Martin Watkins, Chairman Wilmslow Town Council said " This problem has gone on long enough, although it doesn't have the powers of Cheshire East Council or the Police to act in dealing directly with those causing such difficulties, Wilmslow Town Council has responded positively when asked by
Cheshire East Council to take this action on their highway."
Comments
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As it takes time for CEC to implement a permanent solution, Wilmslow Town Council kindly agreed to install a temporary solution to prevent the inconsiderate parking (at the meeting it was agreed that water barriers would be used but the town council subsequently agreed to procure more planters which is a much better, and more aesthetically pleasing, solution).
The plan for the longer term was for the permanent solution to be implemented using the new CEC ward budget scheme where each Councillor is allocated £4200 per year to spend on minor highways works. The planters can then be relocated to other locations in the town. Subsequent to the meeting, I was also in contact with the Wilmslow East PCSO who had also identified some potential match funding from the Police to get the permanent solution implemented.
The next steps would be for a ward budget request to be submitted by the ward cllr, proposals drawn up by highways, an application for match funding by the police (with input from CEC), and implementation.
@Elaine Kinghorn, there is actually plenty of room for wheelchairs and buggies; when cars park there, there is NO room.
I have actually gone out and measured the footpath. At the point of the last planter, it is approximately 2000mm wide. It then narrows down to approx 1200mm and continues at this width all the way up to Styal Road. The general rule that the police use is that there needs to be a clear width of 800mm. ie the width of a double buggy or wheelchair
David Jefferay
I submitted two freedom of information requests to Cheshire Constabulary relating to Fixed Penalty Notices and Removal of Vehicles from the highway. The responses received demonstrate that Cheshire Constabulary has not issued any fixed penalty notices or had vehicles removed from Cliff Road in the last 3 years.
In my opinion, this quite clearly demonstrates that Cheshire Constabulary is not interested in being part of a solution in any way shape or form, other than to paying lip service. I can provide you with the information if you so desire. Why has it taken so long for a lowly PCSO to say that there might be match funding available?
Why has the ward Councillor not done anything before now? Why didn't he do something when there was an Area Highways Group? Will he actually do anything in the future or let you do it for him? After his "readers letter" of 28th June, he has been very quiet on the subject and decided not to respond publicly to my comments on that letter. We have exchange private correspondence with each other and agreed to disagree with each others position.