Report back from Cheadle Area Committee, 5 March 2019

by Lib Dem team on 5 March, 2019

Cheadle Area Committee was at Trinity Church, Massie Street, Cheadle at 6pm on Tuesday 5 March 2019. The meeting was packed this week, with most people coming for one application: the education centre at 36 Foxland Road.

Here’s what’s happened:

  • A member of the public asked a question about the poor state of the pavements in Cheadle High Street. This is an issue we’ve worked hard on, but it’s not good enough. Repairs are often either not done or done poorly. We will ask someone from the highways team dealing with repairs to come to our next meeting and answer questions.
  • Residents of Madison Avenue and Vaudrey Drive submitted a petition about residents’ parking schemes. They have been waiting a long time to be evaluated, and recently the Labour Cabinet put a hold on all new schemes. A councillor suggested that, having looked at the meeting papers for the Central Area Committee, it appeared that some schemes in Labour areas were allowed to proceed.
  • The Area Conditions Officer showed us some of the work done by the community payback team: at the end of Lorna Grove, on Stonepail Road and on Mary Street. He also said that the clothes recycling bins in the Gatley Green car park are being monitored and may be removed due to the amount of fly-tipping.
  • Request for £1000 funding towards improvements to the outdoor play area at First Steps Orrishmere Pre-school was approved.
  • Request for £602 funding towards setting up a cafe at St Cuthbert’s Church, Cheadle was approved.
  • Request for £1,000 funding towards projects to reduce social isolation from Heald Green Friday Hub was withdrawn.
  • Request for £2,000 funding towards a defibrillator from Christ Church Catholic Church in Heald Green was approved.
  • Request for £800 funding towards a defibrillator from Heald Green Methodist Pre-school, Brown Lane was postponed as no-one was present to speak to it.
  • Planning application DC/071580 to covert a former shop in Foxland Road, Gatley into a tuition/education centre (NOT a mosque or prayer centre, as has been incorrectly rumoured on Facebook). We spent a long time on this, listening to what everyone said and considering the objections. We approved the application but with a number of safeguards: a condition that it cannot be used for prayers, just for education and training; shorter opening hours; a requirement for a travel plan; a requirement for occluded glass where it overlooks the house next door.
  • Planning application DC/071697 to provide a shelter for spectators at Cheadle Heath Sports Club, Norbreck Avenue, Cheadle was approved. This is a requirement for the club to stay playing in its current league.
  • Planning application DC/071697 for a home extension at 120 Lavington Avenue, Cheadle was approved, following amendments that reduced the impact on the neighbours.
  • Consultation on the way that money from planning applications goes towards funding new play equipment in parks and playgrounds. Essentially the council is proposing asking for more money from developers towards play equipment, which we agreed with.
  • Progress report on the improvement works at Abney Hall Park and Roscoe’s roundabout. Unfortunately no council officer was present to answer questions. We are concerned that a lot of work seems to be happening at the same time, which may cause too many traffic problems. We will be putting our questions in writing to the officers.
  • Report on plan for CCTV installation on Finney Lane, Heald Green was approved.
  • Proposal for centre-line on a sharp bend in Tarvin Road.
  • Proposal to put two limited-hours parking bays on Newlands Road. This is by the junction with Manchester Road. We approved this, but will need to check that they aren’t being used as permanent spaces for cars for sale from the dealership next to it.
  • Proposal to put a bench on Ladybridge Road, Cheadle Hulme – opposite the junction with Twining Brook Road was approved.
  • A request from an individual to sell flowers inside Mill Lane Cemetery was approved.
  • Plans for a major improvement to the tennis courts at Gatley Rec (an £80k investment) were presented. We will be consulting with local residents and stakeholder groups (e.g. sports clubs, Guides, Scouts, schools…) and will put the plans up here next week for comment.

All the reports, plus the agenda for the meeting are here.

   17 Comments

17 Responses

  1. Michael Brathwaite says:

    Nothing mentioned about the hidden Agenda about closing Manchester road then?

  2. Iain Roberts says:

    Hi Michael – as we mention above, we’re concerned about the amount of work going on at the same time and we’ll be writing to the council officers to ask about that. We’ve got a whole separate story on the blog about the Manchester Road plans.

  3. Phillip Gould-Bourn says:

    Education and training for or as what Iain?

  4. Stewart Bale says:

    Re Foxlands Road what is the Travel Plan .It is impossible to park there on certain days to visit the shops

    • Iain Roberts says:

      Hi Stewart – the travel plan looks at how students and teachers would travel to 36 Foxland Road. Because there are no prayers there, this new development would not add to the Friday afternoon rush. Residents were very concerned about it being a new prayer centre, so we’ve included a planning condition which would make it a breach of planning were it to be used for that.

  5. David Tomlin says:

    I guess the traffic issues are mainly on Fridays, that of course is just a coincidence after all the learning centre is not allowed to be used as a mosque is it?

    • Iain Roberts says:

      Hi David – yes, the traffic issues are mainly on Friday afternoon for the main prayers. That’s no coincidence: unlike 36 Foxland (which this application is for), 40 Foxland has always been used for prayers.

  6. Alan says:

    As I said to Alice last week, despite objections it’s been passed. Thin end of the wedge- who’s going to check it’s not used for prayers. Once again they get away with it

    • Iain Roberts says:

      Hi Alan – the rules are the same for all planning applications. If anyone believes that it is being used for prayers, they can complain to the council’s planning enforcement team who will investigate. No-one is getting away with anything.

  7. Roy says:

    I must declare that whilst I don’t live on or near Foxland Road and I am not against the application to turn a former shop into a leaning centre.
    I do have question why it was passed through unanimously without knowing what the reduced hours of operating would be, I sat close to some of the applicates at the meeting and they appeared willing to compromise on the times but now you have passed it why should they agree to reduce the 7am to 10pm times, this was quite a decisive decision and it could and should have been avoided. We need harmony and we need people to feel that they have been heard.
    I think the objectors to this plan could not understand the centre being open 15 hours per day every day, I hope you can clarify this to them

    • Iain Roberts says:

      Hi Roy – in the meeting we agreed that the hours should be reduced and suggested 8am to 9pm. That’s not for the applicants to agree, its for the planning officers to formalise into a planning condition. The applicants get told what hours they can open for.

  8. Jill Eyres says:

    Can I appeal about the parking bays on Newlands Rd being approved.? Maxwells will use them as their own parking bays.. You said ‘checks’ will be done to stop the dealership using them, by whom? the traffic warden can’t seem to enforce Maxwells to keep off double yellow lines & dropped kerbs, so this will get overlooked too. Are the yellow lines being painted back in ?

    • Iain Roberts says:

      Hi Jill,

      I think there should be a legal advert going up for those changes, in which case you can object in writing to the council. I’m not sure exactly how the relining will be done, but the end result is shown in the report. Any resident can notify the traffic wardens via the council website if you are seeing it abused.

      • Peter Rowley says:

        Hi Ann, I completely agree with you about the used car sales business. I did put a note onto to Iain’s bulletin about the very same point last week. I spend a lot of time up at the Green and see every day I am there the way they park on the double yellow lines, pavements and even the Green on occasions. I have seen the owners chatting to the wardens so I do not understand why the rules are not enforced.
        I take Iain’s point on board but in my ignorance I did not realise that we could report parking abuse on the council website so I do that if necessary.

        The owner of one of the businesses overlooking the Green continually parks on the double yellow lines in front of the Green. Due to the road works at present around there he joins his staff and parks in Queens Gardens within the residents only parking area.

  9. Ann Nield says:

    ” – – -listening to what everyone said – – – ”

    2 GENTLEMEN FOR 3 MINUTES EACH ! ! ! _ !

    • Iain Roberts says:

      Hi Ann – many people submitted comments, which were summarised in the report. I also spoke to both objectors and applicants ahead of the meeting to be clear on what the issues were. In the meeting itself, the rules were the same as for any other planning application. In the end, we have a legal duty to say whether we believe an application is in line with the council’s planning policy. In this case we did.

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