Traffic issues – is this where the planning went wrong?

A local resident who has studied the planning process for Moseley's Yard closely, has contacted Audlem Online with his view of how the planning process failed, leading to the traffic issues now regularly blocking the village. Indeed, as he spoke, a large HGV was unable to get through Shropshire Street as a low-loader was parked outside the development and traffic built up quickly from both directions.

He says that while many doubted whether there was any serious intention for deliveries to the shops to be made under the arch, the final nail in any hope that would be the case was the ammendment to planning that allowed Muller's to build a bin store in the courtyard, thus seriously reducing the possibility of delivery trucks being able to turn in the courtyard. The question that needs to be asked is how did the planners fail to see the consequences of this ammendment when they approved it. It should have been obvious to anyone, even just glancing at the drawings, that the original basis of the development – off-road deliveries – would be seriously compromised.

The question now is what will the planners do. When they contacted a local resident recently – and we published their response – they said it was down to the police to enforce the parking issue, possibly forgetting that this very week the parking responsibility shifted to the Council! As explained by PC Ken Maple on 21st January, he can only act if there is an obstruction and nobody knows, including Ken, whether Crewe & Nantwich Borough Council will send any of their newly empowered parking wardens out to Audlem.

There is a Forum discussion on this issue, so do add your thoughts. We would be particularly interested to hear from the C&NBC planning department but welcome anyone's views.

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