Unauthorised occupation at Life Leisure car park
Cheadle and Gatley Liberal Democrats
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Unauthorised occupation at Life Leisure car park
Labour lose in Stockport, cling onto power with Tory deal
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Lib Dems demand action after flooding
by Lib Dem Team on 14 June, 2016
The Lib Dem team have asked for action on flooding in areas affected around Cheadle & Gatley including:
- Manchester Road
- Wilmslow Road near Shiers Drive
- Underpass beneath A34 onto South Park Road Estate
- Blockage in drains around Borrowdale Avenue and Appleby Road
- Longley Lane (just in Manchester but still a problem for us)
- Brookfield Road
- A34/Gatley Road junction
- Gatley Road at Micker Brook (by Milton Crescent)
We’ve requested that gullies be jetted clear at all locations and, if there are other problems (often the case) then those are investigated and tackled, whether it’s the Council, United Utilities or another organisation responsible.
The Lib Dem team are calling for a full investigation into the flash floods that have hit across Stockport in the last few days. In Bramhall, Hazel Grove and Offerton over a a hundred houses have been flooded. In Cheadle and Gatley we saw flooding deep enough that cars had to be abandoned under the bridge on the road to the South Park Road Estate, with deep pooling and flooded basements and cellars as well.
A fallen tree was cleared from Silverdale Road overnight on Monday after Cllr Graham Greenhalgh reported it to the Council.
“We would like to thank the emergency services, council officers and residents who rallied round and made sure people were kept safe during the flood,” said Iain Roberts.
“But there are three important questions that must now be answered.
“First, there was a lot of rainfall in a short period of time, but not a record amount. Why did houses flood that have never flooded before? Why did houses flood where the Environment Agency has said the risk was less than once every hundred years? Why did houses flood where there are flood defences in place and where improved drainage systems have only recently been installed? Had local drains and sluices been maintained according to the council’s specifications?
“Second, once the water started rising, was everything possible done to protect people and property? We have heard that the council’s emergency number was not answered and then went offline. We are concerned not enough happened shortly following the issue of the Environment Agency alert early on Friday evening.
“And third, what needs to be done to stop this happening again? What lessons can be learned from this event to reduce the impact of any future flood events.
“We will ask the council for a detailed report on all of this to come to the next Environment and Economy Scrutiny Committee on 7th July.”
the A34 / Gatley road junction has been flooding for years.
Is it coincidental that since you have lost control of Stockport and you are suddenly raising issues that should have been addressed whilst you were in charge?
EG – food outlets in Gatley.
No, we’ve raised the issues consistently over the last few years and will continue to do so, whether or not we’re running the council. We’ve reported back more than once on the A34/Gatley Road flooding issue and, as I told you last week, we’ve campaigned on food outlets in the past.
Then clearly you are not very effective
With respect, I’ve asked for things to be done in the past – and not wishing to be political, we had a LibDem MP and council majority at the time. Professionaly speaking, it never fails to amaze me how public facilities (i.e. Drains etc) and buildings suffer from damage and wear when simple and regular relatively low-cost maintenance could be implemented.
It’s an ongoing problem. Under the Lib Dems, the Council put an extra £300,000 into clearing drains but I won’t pretend there was enough money to do everything we wanted.
But we shouldn’t kid ourselves that the answer is just about clearing drains. Often it’s blockages in the pipes, capacity issues or more serious problems around the rivers and brooks. Those are the questions we need to be asking.
Yes, agreed. But a lot was spent on re-paving Cheadle – which is not up to the job, but the surface water drains were not upgraded at the same time. False economy.
Robert, but what gives the better photo opportunity, a pavement in Cheadle or underground drainage?
Robert is so right he and I are in the same business so we can with confidence say the paving work carried out in Cheadle is a poor job and will cost us the ratepayers in the future.
I hope we the tax payers will not be paying for putting right the shabby work done by the councils preferred contractor who paved Cheadle. Also in the past gully cleaning was a routine job this seemed to ceased can someone explain why this important maintenance job is no longer carried out.
A few years ago I reported a blocked drain outside my house on Gatley Road a few days after reporting it a Sunday in fact along came a gully cleaning vehicle which spent 5 minutes (no joke) rectifing the problem,and 45 minutes parked up outside my house reading the paper instead of cleaning other grids/gullys in Gatley Road, could this lack of control explain our recent problems with flooding
In March/April of 2014 I reported to you the blocked gullies on the north and south sides of Gatley Road, Gatley between the Tatton Cinema and Kingsway junction, blocked gullies on the west side of Old Hall Road Gatley, together with roadside furniture at Kingsway junction ( now removed ) and the damaged handrail on the footpath steps which runs to the side of Barnes Hospital, the handrail being damaged some 6 months previously as a result of a road accident.
As a result of the lack of any remedial action I again reported this to you via E mail on 27.12.15,at the same time I reported the blocked gullies via the council website job reference
numbers 102225546,102225547 and 102225549 relate.
In view of the news letter and the apparent lack of any action I have today checked on the website only to find that all three job numbers are marked ” UNDER INVESTIGATION ” some 15 months after being initially reported.
The hand rails on the footpath have still not been repaired
some 21 months after being damaged removed.
Is this good enough?
Hi Keith,
My understanding is that the gulleys along that section of Gatley Road were cleared. During the recent flash floods I’ve not had any reports of flooding along that section, and didn’t spot anything myself – have you seen otherwise?
Hi Roy – we’ve reported on the Cheadle paving elsewhere and we’re pressing the council to get it repaired. That should indeed be at no cost to the taxpayer.
I can’t comment on the gully cleaning vehicle – though I guess we all get lunch breaks at work and maybe that was his?
Your very generous in thinking they were due a break that was the problem with the contractors laying paving start at 9am due to health and safety (traffic) then at 9.30 pop into Greggs for a well earned snack fir our break ? , if these contractors worked for private companies and not tax funded councils they would spend less time drinking tea/reading the paper and more time doing what is required, we are paying good money out but getting a very poor return for it, I don’t blame the Lib Dems for these problems, the council has a tradition of Custom and Practise which means if you contract for any council or government job ,the you can overcharge and under deliver, just look at any state project (M60 smart motorway working week Monday to Friday, Manchester Road cycle path/route nearly 2 years late and temporary barriers still on site and being charged for)
Roy – just to make one point, the contractors work for private companies. The council pays a fixed rate and it’s up to the companies to sort out their work practises to maximise their profit (or otherwise).