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Good work Michael Parton.
A £112,500 fee is madness, and just as worrying that the cost cannot be broken down per car park.
However, I'm not at all surprised at all.

Did your FOI request also ask how much time has been spent by council employees and others on the scheme to date and anticipated time should it go ahead?
Any company, and especially a council spending tax payers' money, should be able to report on this for any significant project. Alas, I suspect it's not been given much attention by Cheshire East.

Did they say where / how we can find their projected costs if the scheme were to go live?
So, the council time to oversee and manage it, the equipment & maintenance fees, traffic warden cost to police it, and any fees paid to private companies who would probably end up running it etc.

And are there any figures on projected lost income for local businesses?
And therefore a figure for lost business rates, VAT, excise duty, employers NI, employees NI, income tax, corporate tax, dividend tax etc.
I suspect Cheshire East do not have this because most of the impact will not fall on local government.

My complete guess, is that there will be no profit for Cheshire East if all costs are taken in to account.

I'm late to the party – sorry if these have been asked before.

Please can anyone tell me if the A529 at Corbrook and Swanbatch is safe to use this afternoon, I am currently away from the area and need to return to market Drayton this evening any information will greatly appreciated.many thanks

Michael – can you please share your request and official response to use in the protest on the 4th November and in the response to the consultation please?

Michelle Taylor's post prompts me to say again that Audlem would be better off in Shropshire.

Sadly, it would seem our inept council has no plan to address the issue at Swanbach Ford, even though it's been an issue for many years and most likely many decades.
I submitted a formal complaint detailing 11 specific concerns regarding the state of the local roads on 8th Feb and I had a full reply on 30th March.
In my opinion the response lacked detail, clarity and was completely underwhelming.
In summary (the letter is too long to add here) ...

• They acknowledge the road surface Swanbach Ford needs attention but won't do this until the drainage issue is fixed.
• The drainage issue is complex and will be costly to fix.
• There is no plan to fix the drainage issue and they can give no information on whether this will ever happen. So nothing will be done.

In case you're interested, in the same letter they said the Green Lane issue near the village – and where traffic lights have been in place since July / Aug 2022 – would be fixed circa April 2023.
The complete lack of action sums them up.

Helpless situation, and without the proper support / response.

An improper service for the Council Tax;
- Corbrook flooding – £1000s pumped, still flooding
- Sandbach ford – £1000s pumped, still flooding
- Green Lane road : 1.5 years 'solved' by means of Traffic lights
- Green bin – new charges!
- Audlem Car Park : NEW Charges...

Join the Audlem Car Park protest, in Audlem, on the 4th November, 2023 @ 11:00 a.m.

I have received the following communication from Cheshire East under the Freedom of Information Act, contents are as follows.

"I can confirm that Cheshire East Council holds the information you have requested. (Regarding the Car Park Charges) I have detailed below the information requested".

Quote – "The 19 individual town by town parking review/surveys/assessments cost in the region of £112,500 as a total, we do not hold costing information on a town by town basis."
The cost is solely the consultants employed for the proposal and does not cover the infrastructure costs etc that would be required should the policy be adopted."

For a council claiming it is in financial distress it is quite outrageous.

A highway agency guy has been stuck in the flood since 7.30am this morning. he is still there. i have given him food and drink as has my neighbours. he is diabetic and been on his feet for 12 hours. i have put a deckchair out for him to sit in but he is concious about directing traffic to minimise cars getting trapped. he is still waiting for RAC to rescue him that should have happened at 2.30pm but as of 7.30pm he is still waiting!! he is actually responsible for Shrewsbury area but feels that he should look ater this road whilst he is here. Shame those responsible for this area did not have the same drive to look after this area.

Michelle Taylor,
I can only hope that the latest motorists to be stranded put in hefty insurance claims to CEC.

In their wisdom the council have removed the road closed signs and lo and behold more vehicles trapped in the flood at Swanbach ford.
Fire engine just had to rescue another car trapped. Van also was trapped earier and highways truck trapped. this part of Green Lane is still not passable.
Why they thought it was okay to open the road i have no idea. it is chaos out here and it is getting increasingly frustrating seeing the hazard escalate as night falls.
Did the council not think it might be worth at least pumping the water out to actually make it safe to reopen the road!

Hi

Can any local farmers help to unblock the drains for us please? Windmill Lane Buerton. We have a lot of elderly living here. Due to the main Woore Road being closed, we have no way of getting through to get to Audlem, unless you drive a 4 x 4

Thank you

I have started thinking about my email to Cheshire East as the charges will surely be very bad for the local economy. I found the Rural Action Plan online. These brief extracts demonstrate that different parts of the Council don´t talk to each other.

"Positive planning allows rural communities to adapt and thrive.

The rural economy does not sit in isolation from other factors which can impact upon its growth, sustainability and resilience: Planning, affordable housing, public transport, access to health facilities, education, older people's services, fuel poverty, viable local services, character/quality of environment and community engagement are all part of an associated matrix.

Local services such as village shops, pubs and post offices are at the heart of functioning communities, as well as offering a lifeline to many vulnerable residents. Investment in local services not only benefits communities but also employee recruitment and new business development."

Eric Callwood's on the Whitchurch Road, are great for large bags of potatoes – and very accessible to the village. Last farm on the right, as you approach the Coole Lane (Overwater Marina) turn when leaving the village (large white farm house) – so less than a mile out of Audlem.

Interesting article on the BBC website this morning which might be of some interest to local residents. In the year to March 2023, the Home Office recorded 1.25 million cases of fraud. Just 4% were investigated and only 4000 cases ended up in court. Mmmm....

If they upped their game they wouldn't need to take the easy route of stinging the motorist:

Cheshire East Council dished out just 22 fixed penalty notices as 4,456 fly-tipping offences plagued the borough
Fly-tipping costs Cheshire East about £239,000 a year but the council has a 'dismal' record for dealing with it and issued just 22 fixed penalty notices for 4,456 offences, councillors heard.

Re kitchen fitter. Sorry I should have given my email address, I think!.?

lizziedrippingnb@gmail.com

Thanks Gloria

Hi, does anyone know where I, locally, can buy large bag of potatoes (56lbs)

MASSIVE THANK YOU TO THE PEOPLE OF AUDLEM AND THE COOP for helping raise money to support our current community groups, Audlem Saints FC, Friends of Audlem School and Audlem and district community action. Today is the last day of fundraising for these fantastic causes. Watch this space for details of our new causes who you can begin fundraising for from tomorrow just by scanning your membership card every time you shop. THREE CHEERS FOR THESE AMAZING GROUPS�'�🏻�'�🏻�'�🏻

Couldn't agree more with Nigel's comments. We need some proper accountability. And before we get the excuse that the weather over the last two days has been exceptional, when we drove through the Swanbach flood last weekend my wife and I both thought it was worse than before CE's work and the same later in the week, both before the latest deluge.

When Iwrotemy previouspostto welcomeCarol aboardthe good ship, Audlem, I neglected to point out that we certainly need a ship to navigate the recent flooding problems!!, especially in Corbrook and Swanbach, it seems?

Is Corbrook passable this morning...by car ?

Bruce makes a very good point. Could CE, possibly Councillor Bailey, please advise what work was on the bill of works or job sheets for the recent road works at Corbrook A529 and Swanbach A529. I feel this should be aired publicly as I feel I'm not seeing value for money on my council tax.

After driving through umpteen floods yesterday I thought of a useful use for HS2, Drains instead of Trains..

The reason there's a dip at the old railway bridge at Swanbach is when the railway company constructed the railway they would have dug the road out to give height to the bridge instead of raising miles of track. Now there's no railway or bridge why not fill the dip back in to it's original level?

you are absolutely right Bruce. only one week after the supposed "fixing the issue" at Swanbatch the road flooded again.

I complained to the council and they sent me a letter stating they didnt consider it dangerous!! it is an utter joke. i have made so many complaints over the years but still no action. i have in the past had to go out in my hi-vis to slow the traffic down myself in torrential rain and some chose not to take my visual warning and then were shocked to find their reg plate floating in the water.

I don't care what the council say, it is dangerous and they need to fix it, whether that be sorting the drains out or heightening the road, but at least put a visual on the bridge wall of the depth.