COMMUNITY SURGERY - SATURDAY 27TH JULY

I am pleased to confirm that my next community surgery will be held on Saturday 27th July between 10am and 11am at Alderley Edge Library. Please do come along for a coffee and a chat about any local issues that may be giving you cause for concern.

SITE ALLOCATIONS DOCUMENT - FINAL DRAFT

Cheshire East Council has now published its long awaited Site Allocations Development Policies Document (SADPD), which will be considered at a meeting of the Council’s Strategic Planning Board on Wednesday 24th July. The document sets out the remaining sites to be allocated for housing across the borough, this time focusing on the smaller towns and villages such as Alderley Edge.

Locally, we have been allocated three small sites; two of these were in the initial draft of the SADPD which was published in 2018, a further site has been added and one site has been removed (land at Horseshoe Farm, which had previously been identified as safeguarded for employment use). As a result, the sites which now appear in the submission version of the plan are:

- land at Jenny Heyes (ALD 1) for the development of approximately 10 homes;
- land at Ryleys Farm (ALD 2) for the development of approximately 45 homes;
- land at Ryleys Farm (ALD 3) safeguarded for a future plan period, after 2030;
- land north of Beech Road (ALD 4) for the development of approximately 35 homes.

There will be a full public consultation on these plans, starting in mid-August and running for 6 weeks until approximately the end of September. Once the consultation has been launched, I will be organising meetings for residents of the areas immediately affected, to explain the plans in more detail as well as familiarising them with how to respond to the consultation process.

COMMUNITY SPEEDWATCH - CONGLETON ROAD

On Thursday 18th July, volunteers and residents from our Community Speedwatch team carried out another session on Congleton Road, this time supported by our PCSO (Anna Jenkinson). The results on this occasion were as follows:

14 vehicles were recorded exceeding the speed threshold
11 vehicles were speeding but travelling under 40mph
3 vehicles were speeding and travelling over 40mph
43mph was the highest recorded speed

The results represent a marked reduction in the number of vehicles recorded speeding at this location, which of course is good news. The details of our next session will be announced shortly; if you would like to join the team for an hour a month, please get in touch.

ALDERLEY EDGE CIVIC SERVICE - SUNDAY 7TH JULY

Earlier today I attended our Annual Civic Service, which this year was hosted by the Parish Church of St Philip & St James. Rev Robin Pye officiated, assisted by Rev Sue Swires (Minister at Alderley Edge Methodist Church). Children from the choir of Alderley Edge Primary School gave a rendition of “I am the Earth”, a song written by Glyn Lehman, whilst Cllr Mike Dudley-Jones (Chair of Alderley Edge Parish Council) introduced a speech by Greta Thunberg to the UN Climate Change Conference in Katowice, Poland - https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HzeekxtyFOY

We were also pleased to welcome civic dignitaries from other parts of the borough, including Mayor of Cheshire East Cllr Barry Burkhill and the Mayoress, Mrs Sue Bidwell; also the Mayor of Bollington, Cllr Andrew Langdon; the Mayor of Knutsford, Cllr Andrew Malloy; and the Deputy Mayor of Poynton-with-Worth, Cllr Lee Podmore. Alderley Edge Parish Council were also represented by Cllr Geoff Hall.

WEST STREET ROAD CLOSURE - MONDAY 15TH JULY

West Street will be closed on Monday 15th July, from approximately 09.30 to 15.30. The closure is necessary to lay and connect underground power cables in preparation for one-way directional signage which will be installed later this month. The one-way traffic regulation order will come into effect on Friday 2nd August.

This project has been funded through the Area Highways Group, of which I am currently the Chair, at a cost of approximately £6,000 and is intended to improve pedestrian and vehicle safety at the blind junction of West Street and South Street. The work was originally intended to be completed in April; however, there has been a delay as the Council's legal services did not act on the initial instruction.

This issue has now been followed up and resolved. Access to South Street Car Park will be unaffected, during the short-term closure of West Street.

COMMUNITY SPEEDWATCH - RYLEYS LANE

On Thursday 27th June I joined members of our local Community Speedwatch group. On this occasion we were positioned on Ryleys Lane, just next to the School Safety Zone. Between 2.30pm and 3.30pm we recorded 32 vehicles exceeding the speed threshold, with the results in full as follows:

- 23 vehicles exceeding the speed threshold, but under 40 mph
- 9 vehicles exceeding 40 mph
- the highest recorded speed of any vehicle was 48 mph
- the average speed of all recorded vehicles was 38 mph

Our next session will be on Thursday 18th July. Please get in touch if you would like to join us, as the group is always keen to welcome more volunteers.