Drivers clocked speeding on Altrincham and Knutsford Road

PCSO James Morris started off his shift on Saturday, 30th April, recording speeding drivers on Altrincham Road.

Between 8:35am 9:03am thirteen drivers were exceeding the 30mph limit. He then moved onto Knutsford Road in Chorley where a further 9 vehicles were noted exceeding the speed limit between 9:15am and 9:40am. Vehicles were monitored travelling in both directions but no maximum speed was noted.

PCSO James Morris said "Improving road safety is a priority of Cheshire Police, and the monitoring of speed is an important part of ensuring this. The roads were selected for speed monitoring following concerns from residents and data showing speeding regularly takes place on those roads.

"Residents wishing to raise road safety concerns, including speeding, can do so by visiting www.cheshire.police.uk/residentsvoicemacclesfield and choosing the area "Macclesfield" followed by "Wilmslow West and Chorley."

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Comments

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

Pete Taylor
Sunday 8th May 2022 at 5:35 am
Knutsford Road has become like a racetrack with many drivers accelerating away from the Fulshaw Cross (King’s Arms) roundabout as fast as their 4x4s can carry them.
Sandra Cox
Sunday 8th May 2022 at 9:04 am
Adlington Road is closed due to a sinkhole but cars are mounting the pavement to get through in spite of all the barriers and notices. They don't care about pedestrians which is creating a potentially dangerous situation.
Gary Chaplin
Tuesday 10th May 2022 at 12:52 pm
Speed trapping is all very well and good, but why Knutsford Road? What speed related accidents or KSI stats support that location?

Why not target roads that are dangerous due to speeding, the smaller roads, Gravel Lane, especially right past The Pleasure filled with children and parents crossing the road, or is is not lucrative enough?
Richard Minton
Wednesday 11th May 2022 at 7:30 am
Regarding Altrincham road , the council stretched the 30 limit out to Waters , effectively diluting its effect , (not a built up area , no houses etc etc ) when the 30 limit was just before Gorsey bank it was effective,as people could see a school in the vicinity.

Also regarding safety, on Altrincham road , when children are playing sport on Jim Everton , and there isn’t enough space for parents to park ,( so they park on the pavement/ cycle path) Make Waters open their car park to help the situation
Alan Brough
Wednesday 11th May 2022 at 4:11 pm
I agree with Richard Minton about the crazy parking outside Jim Evison Playing Fields.

My guess is that CE Council won’t allow the car park barrier to be opened for fear of Travellers gaining access - so cars are parked on the pavement.

I saw one poor woman trying to push a child in a buggy along the road, dodging in and out of the parked cars. A truly perilous position to place her in
Stuart Redgard
Wednesday 11th May 2022 at 10:23 pm
#Alan Brough

The car park barrier is open on a Sunday but there are still cars parked on the road. The car park is simply not big enough to cater for the demand on Sunday.
Mark Goldsmith
Thursday 12th May 2022 at 9:36 am
Just to clarify some points on this conversation:

- PCSO James Morris was on Altrincham Road in response to residents living there who complained to me about the speeding. I therefore asked him to target this road.

- All speeding fines go to the Treasury, not Cheshire Constabulary, so it is never about how 'lucrative' a road might be.

- Cheshire Constabulary had previously refused to use their speed cameras there because the correct speed was unclear to motorists. There was only one 30mph speed sign before Waters that was very easy to miss. Plus the lack of regular street lights along Jim Evison Playing Fields means it did not convey its 30mph speed limit until the flashing indicator at Gorsey Bank School.

- Again, acting on residents concerns, I contacted Highways and they installed extra 30mph repeater signs at Water's to fix this issue. We did not get a Traffic Regulation Order to alter the speed and did not "stretch out" the 30mph zone. It was already there.

- These new signs remove the confusion and anyone now going above 30mph is wilfully speeding. Cheshire Police are now happy to use their speed cameras there as PSCO James Morris demonstrates.

- Residents have said it has made a difference and most traffic now slows at Water's onwards, not at Gorsey Bank School. Any speeding beyond this school remains equally unjustifiable and the police can target this area too. Enforcing speeding is solely a police matter though, as the council has no powers to prosecute.

- After years of neglect, Jim Evison Playing Field has now had its playing surfaces upgraded by Cheshire East Council. They are also now reviewing the options to improve the changing facilities and the car park capacity too. However, this is green belt land, so it is highly likely planning permission will be needed to enact the improvements.

- Illegal encampments on these playing fields have happened before and remain a threat. However, Cheshire East is now finally building an official Traveller Transit Site at Middlewich, that will be completed next year. This will give the police powers to immediately move illegal campsites onto this Transit Site. So we will no longer have to go through the courts to get an Eviction Order and the protracted time it takes.

- This faster process seems to deter illegal travellers from visiting boroughs with similar transit sites. Therefore, it should finally allow the council to open up our green spaces for the purposes intended rather than having to lock them away.


Cllr Mark Goldsmith
Residents of Wilmslow
Wilmslow West & Chorley
Simon Worthington
Thursday 12th May 2022 at 12:13 pm
Mark: "All speeding fines go to the Treasury, not Cheshire Constabulary, so it is never about how 'lucrative' a road might be." True, but the highly lucrative speed awareness course cash does go to Cheshire police. Perhaps a read of the ACPO Code of Practice (all 116 pages) would be a good idea as mobile speed cameras should only be used where there is a proven road safety issue/accident record which, of course, there isn't on any of the three favourite sites for money collection, two of which you mention and all three of which have confusing or poorly sited signage.
The single 30mph sign before Waters complies with the 2016 update to regulations regarding terminal signs - a subject I had to correct Cheshire Police's tame solicitor about as he was having difficulty understanding the law!!
David Smith
Thursday 12th May 2022 at 6:28 pm
Green belt - planning permission for car parking???
See this Google maps link for just across the road from the Jim Evison Fields:

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.3359766,-2.2570072,350m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en

Did anyone get planning permission for this massive car park?

Then how many cars are parked at the Waters complex next door?
So some cars are ok in the green belt but not others.
Councillors to reply please.

As for speeding - vehicle manufacturers stick a large instrument in front of your face showing how fast you are going. There are then good-sized signs along the road to give you a clue as to the maximum legally permitted speed and all the motorist has to do is make the needle of the instrument point to the same number as that shown by the roadside by moving their right foot up or down a bit. This does require a degree of observation and attention to what is going on around the driver all the time.
The road limit is just a legal maximum of course. It might, however, often be exceedingly sensible and much safer to make the needle point to a number on the instrument that is much lower that that displayed by the roadside.
John Harries
Friday 13th May 2022 at 8:23 am
# David Smith
Thanks for your public service in pointing that out - where did that parking business come from, it was farmland?
True, travellers (?) have been a serious issue but it surely isn't/wasn't beyond the wit (and budget) of CEC to have appropriate/adequate fencing and gates to have kept the JE playing field 'secure' from such unwanted incursions in the first place. In general the fields are heavily used at weekends and the autumn/winter months. With a bit of goodwill, thought and modest investment the Green Belt can be preserved. Waters' peripheral car parking is adjacent to the playing fields joint boundary and is vastly under utilised at weekends; Waters already support local community sport and there is a ready made car park of circa 110 spaces right next to the playing fields - so providing Waters' security can be maintained a short length extension of single track service road to the existing JE parking area plus a security gate inserted into the hedgerow could fix the present parking issues.
'Speeding' is a state of mind and it cuts both ways. Modest safe speed limits are absolutely necessary in a semi-urban environment but they are also frustrating for motorists when the environment or data doesn't justify those limits.....
Mark Goldsmith
Friday 13th May 2022 at 2:54 pm
David – the airport parking business was opened without planning permission nor consent from the landowner. Therefore, it has been stopped.

Simon – the article says James is a PCSO and mentions “speed monitoring” but not “mobile speed cameras”.

PCSO’s at Cheshire East are required to spend at least one hour a week using a speed monitoring gun to help local road safety. However, they do not have the power to issue Penalty Notices for speeding. Therefore, their guns only record the vehicles speed. This gives a visible reminder to drivers that speeding is an offence and the data helps guide Cheshire Constabulary’s other road safety initiatives. It can also generate a warning letter to the driver but this does not carry a fine nor any penalty points.

The recipient of a Speed Awareness Course choses where they take it and can do so anywhere in the country or via Zoom. This can also be through an independent company, so the link to speeding and police revenue seems quite tenuous to me. This was not a “lucrative” exercise though as it did not raise any money at all.

Neither does it fall foul of the ACPO guidance on mobile camera usage as it did not involve using mobile speed cameras.

Instead, James was admirably doing his job to help make our roads safer and to remind drivers that speeding is not tolerated. Which given the lengthy debate on this article, he seems to have accomplished rather well.
David Smith
Friday 13th May 2022 at 8:21 pm
Yes John that's a good idea to have access at the weekends to the Waters car park when they aren't using it - or perhaps on weekdays in the evenings? Some arrangement for access into the Jim Evison fields via a pedestrian pathway.
An arrangement like this perhaps should have been discussed at the planning stage and been part of the planning approval. Still if Waters wants to show they are a generous part of the Wilmslow community they should be allowed to come to some agreement for use at certain times of their car park as suggested by John.
Or looking on Google maps, there's a triangular bit of grass next to the road that could be extended for more car parking but even so still might not be enough.
David Smith
Sunday 15th May 2022 at 1:06 pm
Anyone care to educate me on who Jim Evison is [was?]?
Mark Goldsmith
Monday 16th May 2022 at 6:47 am
Hi David

I believe Jim Evison was the groundsman there for decades and the fields were named after him when he retired.

I understand his family are still in the area, so they might be able to confirm this.
David Smith
Monday 16th May 2022 at 8:25 pm
Sounds like there needs to be a plaque [blue?] on the side of the building by means of explanation and gratitude?
Robert Taylor
Friday 27th May 2022 at 6:45 am
Further corrections and observations
Prior to the construction of Waters - the science of what's possible, there was a short section of highway was 40mph, now a 30mph, so he is right about the 30mph section being stretched out. Personally I do not understand how any driver could misinterpret the signs however few.

The issue of parking on the carriageway is probably fine - a good bit of temporary traffic calming does no harm - though parking on the cycle track including next to the gate of the playing fields is an offence under section 21 of the Road Traffic Act 1988. This is a police matter to more or less go ticket everyone taht does so - that should soon stop it and generate a nice sum for the treasury to pay for heating bills.
Personally I do not quite understand all this driving to somewhere to exercise but that is just my logic.
The speeding is because of poor/lazy driving habits - the same folk that do speed through the 30 hold other drivers up in the 50mph section which follows.
Vince Chadwick
Friday 27th May 2022 at 1:53 pm
"The speeding is because of poor/lazy driving habits - the same folk that do speed through the 30 hold other drivers up in the 50mph section which follows."

Indeed so. They do 40 through the 30 section, and 40 through the 50 section. But they speed up once past The Honeybee, maybe reaching the 50 limit. That's because that section is downhill to the Bollin and the car is driving them, not vice versa. So, unbidden, it just goes a bit quicker.