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Derek Wright 07854 082349

I'm looking for a gardener to start a regular slot to undertake weeding, planting, tree maintenance in Hatherton. If anyone has any availability soon, please do get in touch. Thanks.

Hello everyone, I just wanted to say I moved to the village 7 years ago and generally keep myself to myself. I have met some great people who are born and bred Audlem and have become good friends to them. I do find it so strange why a small number of people get so irate about paying a £1 to park in the grand scheme of things. When I speak to many locals most actually think it's not a bad thing as so many non locals use it as a personal car park.

I do hope Cheshire East will be able to find a way of extracting money from on line shops and supermarkets in future – because that's all that will be left trading if their parking charge plans go ahead. I suggest they do a quick Google search and avail themselves as to just how many high streets up and down the country have already been badly affected by such measures. Lack of parking and/ or parking charges ring the death knell for independent stores and the smaller mini – markets (such as Audlem Coop). Fine, if you like supporting corporate giants, and their shareholders – but these people contribute very little if anything to your local community, schools or village events & fundraising. Just what was the point in offering local businesses support during COVID – to then take the rug from under our feet later on ? Judy Evans Williams of Audlem.

How about tackling it from the back door in asking CE what they have done so far in saving their costs, before penalising everyone in trying to raise funds. An example being the shoddy pot hole management where 2 extra workmen are needed to direct traffic around the quick bucket filling of holes, whilst using their phones. I should think, rather like the NHS, that money is totally wasted on multiple management and admin layers.

Whilst I totally agree on the importance of seeing the wider context it does not help when Cheshire East Highways must waste many thousands of pounds each year on totally inadequate pothole repairs that they then have to redo a short time later.

Well said Lyn . I was at that meeting when the P C were mandated to purchase said field and car park. To say it's come back to bite us is a complete understatement. Still.we've got the Turnpike draining our limited resources. Very handy parking for the doctors . I'm sure no parking charges at Wrenbury for instance .

Whilst I am not in favour of introducing car-parking charges in Audlem, they should be seen in context. Council funding from central government since 2010 has fallen by at least a third yet their responsibilities have significantly increased. Thus, councils across the land, both Conservative and Labour, are in serious financial difficulty and seek any form of revenue raising opportunities, especially at a time of huge wage and price inflation There are very few council car parks in England, including those in Shropshire, that do not impose car-park charges. Cheshire East may or may not be guilty of 'mismanagement' but any resulting losses are chicken feed next to the huge wastage of billions spent on Test and Trace, fraudulent PPE contracts and the farcical HS2, money that would have alleviated many of the problems councils are facing.

I will be very suprised if this is NOT brought in by Cheshire east . To make things easier of a bad situation maybe try and put forward some other ideas . Free weekend parking and maybe the first hour free and also for shop owners free parking . I pressume if this goes ahead then it will be patrolled daily meaning the parking outside the butchers all the way along to boots and outside the other shops which all have a 1 hour parking only will also be patrolled , meaning all that use these all day will need to find another space elsewhere . The main road outside the cemetery etc has no double yellows so this will end up becoming the parking if they don't put double yellow lines here . At the end of the day Cheshire East want money and have no concerns about anything else !!!!! Only positive is there will most likely be somewhere to park in the car park after 10am .

Co-ordination and acting upon as a village is needed.
Sending a few comments by individual citizens to an e-mail address alone is not going to do it.
In the last meetings organised by the Parish Council, there was talk of a village meeting, to tackle various Cheshire East creeping challenges, e.g. green bin charges, car park charges.
I think now's the time.

On a positive note, perhaps the new charges will attract more regular visits by enforcement officers to the village to actually deal with our wider parking problems.

I also forsee that, at some point fairly soon, the car park is going to need a fair bit of maintenance, but also likely to eventually require the installation of electric car charging infrastructure, so I do concede there is some investment required – but there are certainly no guarantees in the consultation about where the car park fees will be spent.

Local authority geography is also baffling, the world seems to start and finish at the county boundary for Cheshire East. They should have considered that residents here are not so constrained in their thinking, and very regularly use alternative facilities in Market Drayton and Whitchurch, over the border in Shropshire. Did CE even consider the local geography and economy? I'd certainly not be against a boundary change that places Audlem in Shropshire, even though that council is far from perfect. Cheshire East do the bare minimum possible for this village, sometimes not even that, and still want increasing sums of money for their efforts.

The answer to the threat of Car Parking charges and other problems might be for Audlem to move into Shropshire. Boundary changes can and do take place so it is not impossible. When the possibility comes round we should ask tor it.

The car park and playing field were offered to the village for just £1 but following an expensive referendum carried out by Audlem Parish Council, an overwhelming majority saying yes from the village, pleas from individuals and Councillor Bailey, they chose to ignore the result and let the offer expire. Rachael Bailey warned the PC at the time that there was no certainty that CE wouldn't introduce parking charges in the future and to safeguard this we should take up CE's offer. We are now potentially left with a charge to everyone who can't walk to the surgery or other vital services and a field that has never been maintained by CE. The response I got from one Parish Councillor was "there are a lot of poor people who cannot afford an increase in the precept" well these people will be a lot more out of pocket now! This could be the death bell for local businesses and village events!

Celia, there is a very good app. which you can use to find car parking spaces. It's called "Just Park" and I've used it frequently. I can see it becoming popular in Audlem if the proposed changes go ahead.

I have just read the CEC proposal for parking charges in Audlem. In summary it is a 22 page word salad that can be summarised in one sentence :- "We need the money, and you lot are going to contribute". It takes no account of community, use, or amenity, even though it claims to, so drive to the surgery and get taxed £1 for being ill. This plan will be imposed, consultations are a waste of time as never have they been successful in preventing a resolved policy. So if we as a community want to stop this crude revenue gathering exercise I suggest we do a poll of the village residents. Publish the results and use this to justify our own outcome. And if the outcome dis agrees with CEC we take some community action and refuse to pay the parking charges, and do some community activism.

The proposed car parking charges by Cheshire East Council will affect almost everyone in the village and those that visit Audlem too. Objections or comments can be sent to a dedicated email address which Rachel has also shown in her post this morning:

carparksreview2023@cheshireeast.gov.uk

This review was carried out by an external company and I have also asked how much was spent on this review by a council that is already struggling due to mismanagement of the monies that they receive from government and more to the point, council tax payers.

This should not be allowed to happen.

Having seen the rediculous and selfish decision by Cheshire East Council to commence car parking charges on Audlems one and only car park may I submit an idea. I understand that one of the uses of Turnpike field was to create a car park which would solve parking problems in the Village as originally intended. I realise that planning is currently a problem but is in the process of being resolved. If this can be achieved and overcome then a car park, as previosly planned, could be made available. Make the parking on Turnpike free or considerably cheaper this would make the Cheshire east car park virtually redundant. If Cheshire East is not receiving any or very lttle monetary income From their cash cow there is a fair chance that we will get our car park back as it would be non viable to Cheshire East. Not without its problems but perhaps could be brought to fruition.

It is sadly ironic that for the price of parking a single car for 2 hours (£1), the village could have bought the whole car park and playing field from Cheshire East a few years ago but chose not to do so. I appreciate the objection was the ongoing maintenance costs but judging by the state of the car park, Cheshire East's spend on such matters is minimal.

I'm not sure if any publicity is planned on how to get booster jabs and it seems that it's working differently according to where you live. A pal of mine in Northwich was called by his GP surgery, but I gather that won't be happening here. It may be worth checking if elderly neighbours or relatives get fixed up. I'm informed you either need to ring 119 or preferably book online at

https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/covid-19-services/covid-19-vaccination-services/book-covid-19-vaccination/

In yesterdays Chronicle they are proposing for Audlem: 1st hour 60p rising to 6-10 hrs £3.40 or £490 for a year as example. The only way I think we could improve parking is that people with drive space near the centre advertise and come to an arrangement with people who need to park regularly.

The A529 was open at Swanbach Ford when I went through it just before 0800 today.
The A529 was closed at the top of Green Lane when I returned to Audlem approximately 2 hours later.
It is apparently beyond the capability of CE Highways to put the hours of closure on their temporary road signs, just as it was beyond the capability of Shropshire Highways when they closed the A529 just north of Adderley for a few days earlier in the year.
There were several vehicles with flashing lights and traffic lights at Corbrook and two workmen conversing when I returned mid-morning; no sign of any work actually being done, though.

I am glad AOL put the complete walk description up as several people had asked for it. To my shame, on rereading it, I have mixed up my rights and lefts. In the last sentence it is turn left back to the canal. Sorry!
.

Please would someone advise me what time approximately the jetting/rodding works (with associated road closure) start each day.
I rang CE Highways yesterday morning & was told that the road was closed each week day this week except for emergency services' and residents' access.
I went the long way round to Nantwich yesterday (Red Bull, Woore, Bridgemere etc) at approx 1515 and when I came back & travelled south from Audlem down the A529 at approx 1640 the signs warning of road closure had been turned round and the road was open.
I have to make 2 further journeys to north of Audlem tomorrow and Friday (both before 0800).
I'm fully aware of the flooding problems at Swanbach Ford but baffled as to why a 5 day road closure is necessary for rodding/jetting works.

Steph; All the ideas you have are great but (puts sensible head on now. I use it once a year and this is it's only, and maybe last, outing for 2023)
How about CCTV cameras in that area (Government Cameras) and send a fine to the offenders. That'll should possibly do the trick....perhaps. ;-)

CEC will announce details of its car parking consultation tomorrow.. The consultation will open on 20/9 and run for 6 weeks. I understand that it will be available digitally with paper copies at libraries; I will of course forward the full details once they are issued.