HIGHWAYS REPAIR PROGRAMME 2021/22 DETAILS PUBLISHED

Cheshire East Council has published details of its highways repair programme for the financial year 2021/22 (for full details, please see https://www.cheshireeast.gov.uk/highways_and_roads/road-maintenance/road-repair-and-improvement-programme-2021-2022/road-repair-and-improvement-programme-2021-2022.aspx).

Unfortunately, this year sees a 21% reduction (£3.9m) in the level of funding the council receives from the Department for Transport to repair and maintain the road network on its behalf. Whilst the reduction in government funding is disappointing, Cheshire East Council has attempted to make good the shortfall this year by investing £3m from its own capital budget - essentially your Council Tax.

Whilst the added investment from your Council Tax has helped, the table above clearly shows a fall in investment in the highways network this year and this inevitably means that Cheshire East Highways will be able to repair and maintain fewer roads this year than last year. Nevertheless, I have been working hard to ensure that some of our local roads do make it onto this year's list.

Macclesfield Road & Knutsford Road (from the Brook Lane Roundabout to the Ward Boundary) have both scored highly being ranked 23rd and 25th on the list respectively. There is a realistic expectation that repairs will be carried out on both routes and this should be confirmed in about 6 weeks time. London Road (between Heyes Lane and Macclesfield Road) is the next highest, ranked in 55th place.

Roads are assessed across the borough in line with the Dept for Transport's required criteria; however, to assist residents in their understanding, I am publishing the assessment criteria below along with this year's list of assessed roads (ranked in terms of score). In summary however, the criteria are: engineer/local councillor priority; road condition; number of defects per scheme; number of customer service requests (complaints) per scheme; claims per scheme; and scheme location.

ALDERLEY ROAD CYCLEWAY OFFICIALLY OPENS

As Deputy Leader of the Council and Chair of the Highways & Transport Policy Committee, I recently had the pleasure of attending the official opening of the new cycleway on Alderley Road, Wilmslow. This £1m scheme has been largely funded through the Local Enterprise Partnership's Local Growth Fund (£900,000) with a match funding contribution of £100,000 from Cheshire East Council.

The cycleway follows the modern design concept of a "shared space" scheme, without segregation for cyclists and pedestrians; however, four pedestrian/cycling symbols are to be added to the surface of the new route to advise users that it is intended for shared use. I am pleased to confirm that a number of further positive features have been included within the scheme:

- a wild flower verge is being created between the cycleway and the road surface

- a raised table has been introduced as a traffic calming measure at the entrance to Fulshaw Park South

- a new bus shelter has been installed, just after the junction with Fulshaw Park South

- the old bus shelter has been up-cycled as a team "dug out" at Wilmslow Rugby Club

- the bench by Fulshaw Park South has been refurbished using recycled materials

Furthermore, advantage was taken during the closure of Alderley Road to carry out some drainage works that have long since plagued this gateway to Alderley Edge and Wilmslow. Two existing gully connections on the north bound lane were found to have collapsed and these have now been diverted to a combined United Utilities combined drainage system, whilst additional combined drainage kerbs have also been installed at the junction with Fulshaw Park South.

Royal London will also replace a 750mm culvert within the boundary of the land under their ownership and will be renewing all gully connections on the southbound lane, as part of their planning agreement. I have also received confirmation from Cheshire East Highways that the road markings on the southbound approach to the Whitehall Bridge Roundabout will be refreshed over the coming weeks.

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.

HIGHWAYS WORKS ON ALDERLEY ROAD CYCLEWAY PROGRESSING

Work towards the completion of a new cycle way connecting Wilmslow with Alderley Edge is progressing well, with completion due towards the end of April. The £1m scheme is being funded with the help of a £900,000 grant from the Local Growth Fund and a £100,000 match-funding investment from Cheshire East Council.

Alderley Road has recently re-opened to vehicles travelling towards Alderley Edge, as 75% of the new kerbstones have now been installed, whilst footway construction and resurfacing is continuing. This week, a raised carriageway table is expected to be installed close to the junction with Fulshaw Park South, with further lining works on Alderley Road.

The project has also provided the opportunity for some much-needed carriageway resurfacing to be carried out during the period when Station Road and Alderley Road have been closed (thereby saving on legal costs associated with road closures). Carriageway resurfacing has also been carried out close to the Kings Arms Public House.

There have been some minor delays to 12-week build programme, caused partly by the pandemic and partly by bad weather earlier in the year; however, the new route which will connect up with Wilmslow High School and Wilmslow Railway Station is expected to open next month.