Chatbox

We have been attending services at church view and the professionals there have nothing but praise for our practice for responding to requests etc.

I was travelling towards Audlem when said idiot in his 4 x 4 towing a trailer overtook me and 2 other cars just because he couldn't be bothered to wait. Unfortunately I didn't get his registration number either, oh for a Dashcam.

I've just been through the Swanbach ford on my way to Aston. I came back a different way.
In what other supposedly civilised and rich western European country would this intermittent but frequent hazard to road users have been tolerated for so long?
It is of course impossible to see any potholes beneath the muddy water, which poses a severe risk to those on two wheels.
Has the support of the local MP been sought?
The closure of the A529 to implement the A529 Safer Road Project later this year would seem to be an ideal opportunity to address this problem, but I have no confidence that CE Highways will do this, any more than they will address the hazard posed by the short, narrow stretch of the A529 immediately south of Heywood Lane.

Can someone please explain to me what the hell these lights achieve??? I think we can manage to go through this constant flood in single file without this absurd traffic restriction, are these lights also costing the cash-strapped council silly money as per the £1100 plus per month Adderley lights, you couldn't make it up. Just sort the problem out and you won't need to constantly attend the site throwing money at stupid options that achieve nothing

As we know, the recent heavy and persistent rain has restored and refilled the flood in the Corbrook dip.
As I negotiated it with caution today, like others I saw, travelling slowly with hazard warning lights on down the centre of the road, a 4x4 raced past me in the opposite direction at speed without slowing down, squeezing between my car and the submerged verge creating a wave of water and debris that engulfed my car and the one behind.
I wasn't able to catch the number plate, unfortunately.
We smile when kids splash through puddles in their wellies, but when you are old enough to hold a driving licence, getting behind the wheel carries with it legal responsibility, not to mention commonsense.
I realise this post is probably just shouting into the wind, but it was a timely reminder for me to be aware of other hazards on the road, even whilst you are dealing with the effects of the bad weather.

Hi Does anyone know the source of the loud "bangs/booms" near Overwater Marina, they are much louder than the usual Shotgun reports we usually hear.
they are fairly regular about every hour or two during the day, and have been going on for several weeks.
The nearest equivalent sound I have heard is the cannons at the battle of Nantwich,
I know some farmers use gas guns to scare birds, but these are usually about the same sound level as a regular shotgun.

Yet again people are not cleaning up after their dogs.
This is happening too much and all I can say is that the individuals that don't clean up know who they are. All I can say is that they are filthy selfish people who must also live in squalor.
This is happening a lot on the path beyond Mount Pleasant – why?
It's simple really; if your dog goes to the loo then clear it up and bin it.
Please.

Well said Mr. Oakes.

Kevin I think your tongue-in-cheek suggestion has more merit than your idea of housing development!! The Parish Council purchased the Turnpike field first and foremost to retain the land as a green space and most importantly to stop any building whether residential or commercial. Any suggestion of housing on the land would be a betrayal of the reason why the land was purchased in the first place and would receive little support from the community.

Possible solutions would be to abandon the idea of a car park and leave the land as a green resource for Audlem parishioners to enjoy or to spend a minimum amount on a small green car park for perhaps 10 vehicles which could be near the vehicular entrance to reduce costs. As I have indicated in a previous post l would be amazed if it would be fully utilised even with just 10 spaces as vehicles will still be parked by the Co-op or on the nearer residential estate. Obviously for special events the field could be opened to accommodate more substantial parking requirements.

I hope that everyone who read my earlier posting realised it was just a tongue-in-cheek suggestion regarding the Co-op re-locating.
On a more serious note, I have not seen any postings with a solution to the issues raised. The postings are either quoting statistics or grumbling about something or other.
I know that my previous suggestion of selling off some plots for building was not well received by many but it would be a method of generating cash. So my new thought is for the APC / Cheshire East to devise a plan to utilise part of the field for affordable housing for some of the young people of Audlem to buy. It could be restricted to, say 4 units and as the previous land owner clearly has some interest in the village by selling the land to the APC initially, they may be persuaded to waive any right for a share of the profits arising. If this were the case, all monies raised could be used for other requirements on the Turnpike Green Space. If contributors to Chatbox don't like the idea then please help find a solution because the cash requirement will not go away unless all ideas for a car park are abandoned.

Having read some of the recent posts about the Turnpike Green Space, the obvious solution is to relocate the Co-op on Turnpike. The Co-op could then be required to build a car park large enough to accommodate all future parking requirement for the village under the planning regulations. The parking problems around Kingbur Place and the Methodist chapel would be resolved, the congestion in the village would be alleviated and everyone would be happy (or maybe not). Just a thought.

We all know our charity shop is the best, but being asked to bare with you in the middle of February is a strange way to attract customers. Maybe leave it until the weather's a bit warmer?

Hi Peter,

Further information re drones and LFA9 from RAF Shawbury website.

"The National Air Traffic Service (NATS) have also produced a free safety app called Drone Assist which is well worth downloading. The App along with others, can be found on the Apple App Store or Google Play Store.

Finally, we would kindly request that any drone operator intending to fly within Low Flying Area 9 (Shropshire and borders of adjacent counties), please inform us on 01939 250351 Extension 7163 so we can warn our crews. In times when this number is unavailable, please use our Drone Notification Form. We will only want basic information such as location, height and timings. "

Well said Geoff. If people (or rather, when) people park on double yellow lines near the Co-op or outside Kingbur Place or the Fire Station when theres legal, empty spaces outside the Upholsterers or Willams' for example, theres no way they're going to park on the Turnpike Field and walk all that way to the Village!
As always; I'm not talking about people with exemptions of course.

Nigel, thanks for the link. What a load of largely unenforcable red tape. I suspect there are many "blind eyes" in HMRC or Trading Standards over this.
Nick, the answer to your question is (I think) here buried in the rules:
"You can use rebated fuel for electricity generation and to heat premises that are not used for commercial purposes."

On loan for one day on 19th March, for a private lunch party (which will incidentally also be a 'Christening' of the new extension of the Audlem Methodist Church) I wonder if anyone has a flip-chart, smallish black-board, notice board or similar that I could borrow to display a seating plan ? Thanks.

Thanks David, but I didn't mean to imply that the drone was being flown irresponsibly. I understand that they can be flown up to 400 feet high and I have no way of knowing what altitude this one was, probably quite legal though. My concern is with the potential issue of shared airspace over the village.

Well said Wes. I have the feeling a car park on Turnpike field will be something of a white elephant as car owners will still park outside the Co-op and on the Windmill Fields estate as both are nearer to the village centre. When the road was resurfaced some months ago and the Chairman of the Parish Council opened the field I never saw more than 3 cars using the field and if they were entering the village from the Whitchurch/Market Drayton they had no other alternative.

As ratepayers we are providing toilets for visitors and I don't think it is a Parish Council responsibility to provide additional car parking for visitors as surely this should be a responsibility of Cheshire East. It's not surprising we have one of the highest precepts when the Parish takes on financial commitments which should be funded by the unitary authority.

Good to see that having long left the EU people still like to blame it for government policy they don't like. Meanwhile the British Chamber of Commerce reports that Brexit is said by 71% of businesses to be hampering business.

So , for the original question and from the government site.... Quote ... Fully rebated kerosene is unaffected by these changes and can be used for all heating uses.

So for heating oil nothing changes

Hi Peter,

I'm not sure if there is a form to submit to RAF Shawbury before drones are flown in the area, but these are the details to report drones that are flown irresponsibly. RAF Shawbury Operations on 01939 250351 Extension 7163.

It is also well worth noting that the pilots from the base do use the A525 as a visual reference point when flying to areas like Whixall Moss or the Coole Lane area, and from personal experience, there are a number of Confined Area locations in the vicinity too (where they hover only a few feet from the ground)

From 1st April there are changes to the rules over the use of red diesel. Plant and machinery that were able to use it will not be able to from 1st April, unless they are being used for agricultural use of fur maintaining a golf course, so things like diggers, mowers etc used elsewhere will have to use white diesel.

See the link.
Unless I am mistaken then there will be changes from April.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/changes-to-rebated-fuels-entitlement-from-1-april-2022/check-when-rebated-fuel-can-be-used

On Tuesday afternoon approaching four o'clock, I noticed a large drone complete with flashing strobe light over Salford side of the village. It seemed to be flying high and was visible for 10 minutes or more. Whilst it was still in our vicinity one of the Shawbury helicopters flew past, fast and low, just to the south of us and from my position appeared to be lower than the drone. Food for thought.

As the Shawbury squadron regularly have periods when they overfly our village, is there any requirement for local drone fliers to give Shawbury advance notice of their activities?

I saw somewhere that the ongoing problem is that they are not being permitted access to the adjacent farmland to effect whatever repairs they need to complete. Hard to see what they can do in the circumstances – I assume they'll have to take the matter through the courts, although I would have thought that public authorities have some sort of statutory right of access in these circumstances.