CALL FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST - PARK REFRESHMENT FACILITY

As I previously reported in 2020, Cheshire East Council is seeking expressions of interest for the provision of a mobile refreshment facility in Alderley Edge Park. This is a project that I have been seeking to bring to fruition for several months, following a previous call for tenders last summer. On that occasion, the successful tenderer pulled out as it became clear that they were seeking to provide a permanent facility.

Contracts will be provisionally let from 1st June 2021 and be valid for up to three years. Further details can be found on Cheshire East Council's website https://www.cheshireeast.gov.uk/leisure,_culture_and_tourism/parks_and_gardens/parks-commercial-opportunities.aspx with a closing date for expressions of interest by 4pm on Friday 7th May.

Interested parties should submit their quotation and further details by email to: parks@ansa.co.uk 

I would like to thank ANSA (Parks Maintenance) for bringing this commercial opportunity forward in line with my request, as I am sure a mobile refreshment facility will be a great addition to the park and is something that will be welcomed by many residents and visitors. I am also pleased that this will also enable the public toilets next to the bowling hut to be re-opened, as part of the contract.

Please could I add that whilst I am very supportive of this opportunity, I will not have any direct involvement in the contracting process and that interested parties should take up any specific queries they may have directly with ANSA. I look forward to welcoming the successful contractor to our village park in the near future.

COMMUNITY SPEEDWATCH GROUP RESTARTS

On Thursday 8th April I was pleased to join Parish Cllrs Bev Chapman, Karen Robinson and local volunteers from our Community Speedwatch Group. This was the first time we have been able to meet since October and it was good to be together again (socially distanced, of course). 

For our first session of 2021 we were positioned at the top of Congleton Road, just short of the junction with Whitebarn Road. Perhaps unsurprisingly given the pandemic, this was one of our quieter sessions and we recorded just 12 vehicles exceeding the speed threshold. The full results were as follows:

10 vehicles speeding but travelling under 40mph

2 vehicles speeding and travelling over 40mph

The average speed of all vehicles was 37.7mph

We will be carrying out our next session in the near future. For the time being, in line with government regulations, we are limited to just six volunteers. As we hopefully continue to follow the roadmap out of the pandemic, we will be purchasing a second speed gun which will enable us to operate with more volunteers split across two groups.

PROPOSED TREE WORKS IN THE PLAYING FIELDS

Visitors to the Playing Fields (Ryleys Lane Park) will no doubt have noticed the appearance of some orange fencing over recent days. This is in preparation for some tree works to be undertaken over the course of the next week or so. The proposed works include:

Tree ref. 1518 (near the children's play area) - all primary branches are exhibiting a fungus known as innonotus hispidus (common name "shaggy bracket") and need to be topped back to a pollard point; however, the main trunk shows no sign of decay from ground level to primary furcation and has been assessed as retainable.

Tree ref. 1519 (near to the boundary with the railway line) - branches to be reduced no more than 3m from branch tips to reduce wind load moving, culminating in a reduction of no more than 20% of existing individual branch crown. Tree to be retained, as branches still have the ability to strengthen fibres around areas of dysfunction.

Tree ref. 1621 (adjacent to fence over the railway bridge) - tree has kretzschmaria deusta fungus (common name "brittle cinder") throughout the base and lower trunk. The extent of decay is believed to extend to the primary branches within the tree canopy; therefore this tree is incapable of being retained and must be felled in the interests of public safety.

I would like to thank residents for their patience and understanding in avoiding the immediate area whilst these works are being carried out. Cheshire East Council is responsible for more than 150,000 trees within highways verges alone (not including those in public parks) and therefore the task of assessing their continued vitality and potential risk to public safety is a particularly challenging one.