Styal Road safety improvements planned – but more needed

by Lib Dem team on 16 July, 2021

Cllr Graham Greenhalgh and Cllr Carole McCann

Cllr Graham Greenhalgh met with Heald Green councillor Carole McCann, officers from Stockport Council and Community officers from GMP to discuss the problems on Styal Road.

We are pleased to announce:-

Traffic counters to be installed to monitor type of traffic, speed, timings

Street lighting to undertake maintenance to automated signs

Current warning signs to be relocated

Carriageway markings to be reviewed

Lomond Road junction to be resurfaced and new markings

Graham said “This was a positive meeting. The junction of Styal Road and Lomond Road sees the most crashes, but there are more improvements needed along the length of Styal Road. We will continue to work with the council, Police and other councillors to improve safety for all road users.”

   13 Comments

13 Responses

  1. JB says:

    May we please have double white lines down the centre of the road between Heald Green and Gatley. This should remove the greatest hazard facing residents accessing or exiting the Groves and rounding the bends in the road. Cameras should also discourage speeding and ‘tailgating’.

    • Cllr Graham Greenhalgh says:

      David T, having spoken to the police and council officers I agree almost entirely with your comments above. Your points are both cogent and factually correct.

  2. David T says:

    JB, double white lines along Styal Road are an irrelevance, totally inappropriate.
    The sole issue with Styal Road is the sheer volume of traffic and the only resolution is to restrict traffic access. Start with a 7.5t weight limit, it is no longer a bus route.
    The fact that it is ‘feeder’ ‘B’ road is an obstacle to a downgrade of the route, thus traffic barring.
    All the other measures suggested above, monitors, cameras, carriageway markings, etc., all a dreadful waste of public money and time.
    There are some road users using excessive speed but so few to warrant action. Until the volume of traffic is reduced, restricted, everything else is purely window dressing by the authority to placate public opinion.
    I passed the scene this week as at least half a dozen officials in hi-vis were passing the time watching the traffic,
    I shook my head and thought how much are they being paid out of the public purse to stand road side and dream up some fancy paint scheme for the tarmac.

  3. JB says:

    Sorry David T. but you are obviously not a regular user of Styal Rd! If you were, you would know that much, if not most of the through traffic exceeds the speed limit and ignores the speed reduction signs which are regularly illuminated.
    Overtaking is an unnecessary hazzard on this winding road particularly on the hill and opposite the Grove junctions of which there are many. I agree that the largest lorries should be prevented from using this route but I for one look forward to the re-establishment of a bus service.

  4. BGB says:

    Sorry David I beg to differ regarding the speed of traffic along Styal Road. I walk every day either to Gatley or to Heald Green, living as I do, half way to both. I see the speed of vehicles at different times of the day and the majority of traffic exceed the 30mph speed limit, many of them doing more like 40mph plus. I walk in fear of serious injury or worse particularly going down to Gatley when 2 cars pass each other and the car going towards Heald Green comes within inches of my arm. The pavement is very narrow in places and it doesn’t help when people living on Nansen Road let their hedges grow to such an extent as to impede pedestrians even further. I passed a man cutting his hedge on Styal Road near to Hollyhedge Road (Wiggins Hill) last week….thank you to that man. I honestly don’t know what the answer is to this speeding problem. Electronic 30mph speed notices are generally ignored as I stand for quite a few minutes watching the traffic. A joke.

  5. JB says:

    Further to my earlier contribution, I would point out that the double white lines through Styal village have very satisfactorily controlled the traffic on this section of Styal Road – where there are far fewer intersections than the portion between Heald Green and Gatley where there are many.

  6. Pm says:

    The whole issue of styal road is not being dealt with – these are all lip service and will not slow the traffic down!!

    Look at the 20 mph through Gatley village – even the buses ignore this!

    Police and speed cameras should be the first option none of this fluffy stuff waste of time.

    • Iain Roberts says:

      Perhaps so, but since the government won’t let us put in speed cameras, and since the Police don’t have the funding to be able to do speed patrols on Styal Road and catch burglars and robbers, we are left to do the best we can with the other means at our disposal.

  7. David T says:

    JB, I am a resident of Styal Road, between Heald Green and Gatley. I also have an occupation that involves working road side on Styal Road, close to Stanneylands Road/Old Altrincham Road towards Styal Prison, it’s a faster section of road than Gatley/HG Styal Road. I know from experience that double whites have had little effect on that stretch of road (30mph), as evidenced by regular radar checks by Cheshire Police and discussion by Styal Parish Council meetings.
    Walking along the very narrow pavement alongside Styal Road to HG or Gatley is unnerving, I know, your arm is inches away from car door mirrors, as they seemingly zap past, but in realty only at speed limit. A narrow road exaggerates speed.
    A recent GMP speed camera operation located at Firs Road /Styal Road was inconclusive, the bar being set at 35mph.

  8. Jane says:

    A mini roundabout on Styal Rd at the end of Hollyhedge Rd would be a good start in slowing traffic but the stretch of road between Hollyhedge & Church Rd needs a camera…it would pay for itself in less than a week!

  9. BGB says:

    David, I respect your views but as from my own very, very personal experience, and I get what you say about the narrow road causing untrue reality speeds but, for a start, when cars are travelling along Styal Road to HG and are passing oncoming traffic, surely they should slow down a little when they see a pedestrian passing at the same time. They generally don’t!! I don’t own a car although I have been a driver in the past, so I can quite easily assess speeds. Also, to debunk your theory of cars sticking to the 30mph, you only have to stand by the electronic signs either towards Gatley or towards HG and in the VAST majority of cases, it lights up telling the drivers they are exceeding the speed limit. They might be, for instance, doing 35mph but, that is not the maximum speed limit allowed along this road. It is, by law, 30mph. No argument. I think much more testing needs to be done over a longer period of time and at different times of the day. Not 30 minutes on a week day at 1.30pm or thereabouts. I rest my case. No more comments from my goodself, I have better things to do with my time. Thank you

  10. Graham Greenhalgh says:

    To expand on the details above. The group ‘watching’ traffic on Styal Road consisted of: 2 Traffic Police Officers providing expert advice on road safety. Three Council Officers based in the disciplines of: Road Surface, Signage and Lighting and road markings. Together with a councillor from each of the wards: Carole McCann from Heald Green and myself from Cheadle and Gatley.
    The process we undertook was to walk Styal Road and plan actions and improvements to increase safety on this stretch of road.
    This list of agreed actions are shown above.
    Counter to this the things we cannot influence; we have no authority over the road in East Cheshire; Stockport Council can not prosecute or fine speeding or indeed any moving traffic offence which would render speed cameras a cost for no consequences; we can not control poor quality drivers as such but we will try to influence using the methods within our control, signage, road marking and road surface improvements
    Speeding is the most commonly quoted issues.
    The police have attended Styal Road with speed guns or speed cameras on 28 occasions. Although I do not have details they report few actionable speeding offences.
    The speed indicator signs will trigger at any speed over 30 mph. The actual speed may not be actionable just over that limit.
    In 2006 the council undertook a 12 day analysis of traffic speeds on the stretch of Styal Road between Heald Green and Gatley. A synopsis of the results are: with a total of almost 53000 vehicles monitored (4400 per day) the technical standard 85th percentile (the speed at which 85% of all traffic at all times is travelling at or below) was 36 mph. Traffic exceeding 40 mph was 4.41% and exceeding 50 mph was 0.22%. The councillors have agreed to spend more money on a new speed report to check the average and excess speeds registering this year. Full results will be made available.

    This same report will confirm the latest traffic volumes.

  11. t says:

    I have never seen such a waste of time and money , its all just hogwash to make you think something is happening, i have lived on styal rd for 50 yrs, yes 50 yrs, the council should just get the thing closed down to heavy traffic and then impose a 20 limit , use bollards aswell to hem the traffic in and put rumble strips in, get the highways to pull their finger out , but i dont know if the chief executive of the council is capable, she is useless, smoke and mirrors, i do have her personal email address if anyone requires it.

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