Some time ago when the surface was due to be renewed, a couple of our local councillors had the opportunity to influence the County Councils parking strategy for our High Street. Consultation had been made last year between High Street businesses and the Cheadle Town Council, Councillors felt they had a good grasp on the type of parking businesses wanted to see to improve the visitor experience, and the success of the High Street.
It is never possible to please everyone, and then there are restrictions on what could be achieved because of pavement widths, pedestrian safety and so forth. These things are far from straightforward, and to save cost the County Council decided that they would leave the town without lines for what they initially believed to be only a couple of weeks. This wasn't a terrible idea at the time because the cost of repainting was very high, and the money could be put to better use. Sadly, chaos ensued, the High Street was regularly blocked, with some driver parking where they felt like it for long periods of time, buses couldn't access the bus stops, creating a danger for passengers and pedestrians alike. It frustrated everyone, although County Councillor in charge of Highways, Mark Deaville fed in his local knowledge, and the legal process was followed by the council sending out letters and questionnaires, communication between the authority, residents and businesses was poor. Additionally parking wardens were absent from the town at a time when we really needed that enforcement. Unable to leave it any longer, the old lines were painted back in.
Finally the new scheme has arrived. If you want to know more about its creation, you can take a look at the plan and the letter from the creator of the scheme on the notice board at Greyhound Walk. You'll notice that we have some free parking, and disabled bays. What do you think about the new scheme? Is it an improvement or a disappointment? Please let us know in the comments below, no rants and please be kind to other commenters.
One thing our reporter has noticed is the infuriating amount of cars parked at night-time on the pavement. We feel that this is no longer acceptable and will seek to find out how we might improve this for everyone's safety.
We would like to thank Councillors Paul Keeling & Gary Bentley and Mark Deaville for their work in bringing this change about, we know it wasn't easy, but a change for the better perhaps for our historic high street overall.
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