SOUTH STREET THREE DAY CLOSURE FOR SURFACE REPAIRS

I would like to take this opportunity to remind residents and visitors to Alderley Edge, that South Street will be closed from Wednesday 27th July (between 08.00 and 16.00) until Friday 29th July for surface repairs. Please note that South Street will be closed to all traffic between these times and that "No Parking" restrictions will also be in operation in order to allow the works to be completed.

Over the next three years, Cheshire East Council is investing £19m (including £7m this year and then £6m in 2023/24, followed by a further £6m in 2024/25) in its highways repair programme. Unfortunately, following a 23% reduction in government funding for road repairs last year, this additional investment is having to be funded through borrowing; however, it is necessary to prevent the further decline of our road network, with the council now facing a £180m backlog of repairs.

Using the additional investment, Level 2 patching works were carried out on Macclesfield Road earlier in the Spring and I am pleased to report that these will be reinforced with top level surface dressing. These works are also due to be carried out over a three day period later this week. Further patching works to Congleton Road (from the de Trafford Arms to Melrose Way) are planned later this year.

I would like to thank residents for their patience whilst these works are undertaken.

BARCLAYS ANNOUNCE CLOSURE OF ALDERLEY EDGE BRANCH

Today, I have received the following correspondence from the Director of Customer Care at Barclays, which I am publishing as an open letter as I'm aware that there has been a lot a speculation about this locally for some time. The decision is disappointing, as Barclays was the last remaining branch in Alderley Edge and (in addition to Post Office Counter Services) this leaves the village with just one remaining ATM facility, at TESCO.

Over the last few years, we have seen the closure of face-to-face facilities firstly at HSBC (at the Parade), then Natwest and most recently, RBS. Whilst the change to online banking by many customers is undeniable (probably further accelerated by the pandemic), these decisions fail to take account of the fact that there are still a number of people locally, especially elderly people, who are not online and who are unfamiliar with online banking.

It is a shame that the banks are unable to share resources and provide a single "banking hub" in Alderley Edge that would be accessible by all customers, but when I asked about this as a possibility following the closure of RBS, I was told that each bank has its own secure system which is incapable of being accessed or being made available for access by other providers.

"Dear Councillor, I would like to give you notice of a change Barclays is making in your area. On Wednesday 5^th October, we are closing our Alderley Edge branch.

The decision to close a branch is never an easy one, however, the way people bank today is unrecognisable from 50 years ago when almost every banking transaction took place in a branch. Now, that number is less than 10%, and we need to make sure that we are providing our services in ways that best reflect customers’ needs, including outside of traditional branch formats.

This ongoing change in behaviour means we are seeing a sustained fall in customer transactions across our network and this is reflected at the Alderley Edge branch where there has been a 30% reduction in counter transactions in the last twelve months, compared to the twelve months to March 2020. In addition, we can identify that 90% of our customers at the branch are using alternative ways in which to undertake their banking, including via the telephone, online and mobile app.

Despite the branch closure, we are confident that access to banking remains sufficient in the local community; everyday transactions can be completed at any Post Office, with the closest located at 12 West Street, Alderley Edge SK9 7EG (75 yards away). There is 1 free-to-use ATM within one mile, which is Tesco at 17-23 London Road, Alderley Edge SK9 7JT (100 yards away); while the closest Barclays branches are in Wilmslow (59 Grove Street, Wilmslow SK9 1ER) and Macclesfield (10 Market Place, Macclesfield SK10 1HA).

Although the branch is closing, we will still have an active presence in the community via new and alternative physical touchpoints. We plan to provide additional face-to-face access for banking services via one of our community locations – from the point of closure. Further details, including the timings and the location, will be communicated to our regular customers in the coming days. 

We appreciate that not all of our customers will adopt change at the same pace, and we would like to underline our commitment to supporting our vulnerable customers through this change. We have also identified that in total, just 9 regular customers use this branch exclusively for their banking and do not interact with us in other ways.  We will be making personal contact with all regular branch users to discuss their options and guide them through alternative ways to bank.

As part of this closure announcement we will follow the Access to Banking Standard. This means all of our local customers will be informed of our decision at least 12 weeks before the closure via letter. We will also make available our Reasons for Closure document.

We appreciate you may receive queries from your constituents on this matter, and want to make sure you are prepared with the relevant information in this event. Despite the closure of the branch, I hope you can agree that we remain committed to meeting customer needs in Alderley Edge.

OPENING TIMES EXTENDED AT ALDERLEY EDGE LIBRARY

I am delighted to report that, from Tuesday 14th June, opening times at Alderley Edge Library will be extended to 20 hours a week. The library was forced to close during the pandemic, before re-opening one day per week in the spring of last year. During that time, the library service has lost three members of staff: one to long term sickness, one to retirement and another to alternative employment with another local authority.

The library service has recently recruited and trained three new members of staff and so from this coming Tuesday, we look forward to meeting Debbie, Laura & Stephanie who will be at Alderley Edge on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. In addition, from early July, the library will also be opening again on Saturday mornings, which will take us back up to our pre-pandemic opening hours.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our community volunteers, who have helped to keep the library open on Tuesday afternoons since the autumn of last year and will continue to run Tuesday afternoon sessions going forwards. I will be organising a special thank you event at the library later this month, when all of our volunteers will be presented with certificates and a small gift from the library service.

The new opening times from Tuesday 14th June are displayed below.

COMMUNITY SURGERY - SATURDAY 28TH MAY 2022

I would like to remind residents that I will be holding my regular monthly surgery on Saturday morning between the hours of 10am and 11am at Alderley Edge Library. Please do come along and join me for a cup of tea/coffee and a chat about any local issues that may be causing you concern or which you feel I might be able to help you with.

Following the news that Cheshire East Library Service have appointed three new Library Assistants to cover Alderley Edge Library, I am delighted to announce that the Library will be fully open once again on Saturday mornings from the beginning of July. Until then, the Library will be open on Saturday morning for visitors to my surgery only.

CHARITY WALK RAISES OVER £3,000 FOR VISYON & UKRAINE

Following my sponsored walk from Alderley Edge to Manchester on Friday 13th May, I would like to take this opportunity to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone who sponsored me or supported me in any way with the event. Cllr Rob Moreton and his team set off from Congleton at around 7.15am and I joined them at the Alderley Edge Ward Boundary by the junction with Whitebarn Road and Congleton Road when they arrived at about 10.30am. After a brief pit stop for a coffee in Alderley Edge, we continued on towards Manchester carrying collection buckets, as well as blue and yellow balloons.

After arriving in Wilmslow, we walked along Grove Street where we were delighted to be stopped by two Ukrainian refugees who introduced themselves to us and thanked us for what we were doing; they also asked to have their photographs taken with us. At around 12.30pm we arrived in Handforth, where we had another brief pit stop to pick up another coffee and a bacon sandwich, before continuing our journey towards Cheadle Royal and then onwards into Manchester. We were supported along the way by a number of car drivers, who honked their horns as they drove past, with some pulling over to make donations.

The final three miles of our journey, from Parrswood to Manchester City Centre were hard going; our feet and muscles started to ache as we knew we were getting closer, but still feeling like we were a long way from the finishing line. We finally arrived in St Peter's Square, where we crossed the finishing line to the tune of the Town Crier's Bell and rapturous applause from locals as well as our support team. After the obligatory photographs to prove we had actually done it, we retired to a local hostelry for a well-earned rest and some equally well-earned liquid refreshment.

Now that the final tallying up has been done, we are delighted to report that our efforts raised £2,966 in advance sponsorship for the youth mental health charity, Visyon (www.visyon.org.uk) and a further £356 in donations received on the day towards the British Red Cross Ukraine Appeal. Once again, on behalf of Rob & myself can I say a huge THANK YOU to everyone who contributed and supported us.

MACCLESFIELD ROAD TO CLOSE FOR REPAIR WORKS

As I reported recently, a number of our local roads have been included in the carriageway repair programme for 2022/23. This follows a decision by Cheshire East Council to invest an additional £19m in the capital repairs programme over the next three years. Last week, level 2 patching repairs were carried out on Stevens Street and Eaton Drive.

I have now received notification that repairs will be carried out on Macclesfield Road, during the period from Wednesday 25th May to Tuesday 31st May (not including the weekend). This will involve Level 2 patching repairs from the junction with Woodbrook Road, to the junction with Birtles Lane (Over Alderley), followed by surface dressing.

Unfortunately, during this period there will be a full road closure in place, from the junction with Congleton Road, to the junction with Birtles Lane. Residential access will be retained wherever possible, although there will be some disruption whilst the works are carried out. The official diversion route will take drivers along Congleton Road to Monks Heath.

As a reminder to residents, Congleton Road, from the de Trafford Arms to the junction with Melrose Way in Nether Alderley, is also included in this year's capital programme and works will be carried out later in the year. On behalf of Cheshire East Highways, I would like to thank residents for their patience and apologise for any inconvenience caused.