Building roads is difficult. It's expensive, many will disagree with the environmental implications, and it takes a long time. However it has the power to transform places, especially where the economy is throttled by transport issues.
Personally, I love the idea of building a motorway through Congleton so that I could get to the M6 and therefore business meetings across the country quicker. Obviously that's never going to happen, but it's nice to dream.
A more sensible scheme is the SEMMS relief road (Poynton bypass). This concept has made some progress, but there's rumours that the Poynton section may not get built and with a cost in excess of £300m it's always going to be a slow process. If it does get built it will provide some excellent links for us when travelling north.
More recently a number of people have been talking about a more modest scheme in Macclesfield. This would be a road to link Congleton Road with London Road (essentially across Danes Moss-ish area). The idea of this is that it would relieve pressure on the Flowerpot Junction, Park Lane, etc and would form a direct and quicker route into and through town.
Sounds good in practice, but this could only be feasible if work was done on Mill Lane and I don't think it would be generally popular with residents down that end of town who would see an increase in traffic.
Other problems include the Moss being a SSSI (so I'm told, you wouldn't believe it looking at the state of some of it). The road could be routed over the landfill site once it is closed, and my friendly geo-technical engineer tells me that whilst this brings complications of it's own, it's not impossible.
The final barrier to cross would be the railway line. So for such a small road the costs are going to be high. Would it bring sufficient benefits?
Welcome to my blog.
I was elected as Councillor for Macclesfield West in May 2008. I live in the centre of the ward with my Wife and Westie, and when I'm not a Councillor I'm a Scout Leader and I run a small consultancy business.
I'm equally at home cycling around the town as I am walking the dog up Shutlingsloe – Macclesfield is one of the few places that can provide this town and country balance.
This blog is intended to give the residents of Macclesfield West an insight into the work that I am doing on their behalf. This could be better services and facilities for children and young people, or perhaps trying to achieve a better plan for the Macclesfield Town Centre redevelopment. At all times I'm keen on reducing costs and keeping council tax as low as possible.
The blog is intended to be little lighthearted at times, perhaps irreverent but never irrelevant. You're encouraged to comment on each post and have your say - it's a great way to debate the issues of the day.
How can I contact the Council?
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7 comments:
What is a SSS1?
Site of Special Scientific Interest:
http://www.natureonthemap.org.uk/map.aspx?map=sssi&feature=1003266,sssi,HYPERLINK,LABEL
Whatever your views on roadbuilding and my view backed by all the evidence is that
it adds to carbon dioxide emissions, air polltionand generates more traffic- the fact is that there will never be enough money to build all the roads ill informed politicians want. Have your read about the state of the DFYs finacences.Road schemes always go massively over budget.
Cllr Beckfor from the Campaign for Better Transport blog.
As one of your local consituents I would welcome the opprtunity to discuss national transport policy with you sometime!!
It's official: bypasses generate traffic
25 June: A recent Government report has found that bypasses tend to have way more traffic on them than expected - and cost a lot more too.
After a road is built, the Highways Agency carries out a 'post-opening project evaluation' to check whether its predictions about a road were correct. The agency has just looked at a bunch of these evaluations and found - you guessed it - its predictions were way off:
In 60% of cases, there was more traffic on the bypass and the old route than had been predicted
In 40% of cases, there were over 25% more vehicles on the old (bypassed) route than expected
This shouldn't come as a surprise - we've known for years that road building generates traffic - but what's really damning is just how poor the Highways Agency is at working out what the impacts of road building will be.
So why are bypasses still being considered around Shrewsbury, Manchester, Westbury and elsewhere
"As one of your local consituents I would welcome the opprtunity to discuss national transport policy with you sometime!!"
All you need to do is call or email.
Don't worry I will do when I get back from holiday!!
I have listed my own views on Macclesfield and traffic below:
*Strengths
Macclesfield is close to Manchester, (by road and rail).
The town is also close to the Peak District.
The Silk Road. The is a good road.
*Weaknesses
The cost of parking within the town centre, it could be argued, deters some people from shopping in the town centre.
Poor road infrastructure. This relates to people travelling from the Flower Pot (Congleton Road) side of the town, across to the Buxton Road or the Tytherington/Hurdsfield side of the town. There is too much congestion on Park Lane, Oxford Road and Cumberland Street. I believe that congestion within the town also deters people from shopping in Macclesfield.
The Silk Road - This only benefits people living on the Tytherington/Hurdsfield/Buxton Road side of Macclesfield.
The section of Cumberland Street, built in the 1980s, between the Regency Mill and the West Park is regularly congested during rush hour.
There would obviously be some people who would object to the scheme, but overall I believe the majority of Macclesfield residents would, once it was built, be in favour.
*Opportunities
The town centre redevelopment scheme is a good opportunity for the town.
A London Road/Congleton Road link road would help reduce congestion, in the town centre. It would be a positive addition to the Silk Road. Work would also be needed to widen Cross Street (I believe this was the plan when the Silk Road was built), down London Road and then along Winterton Way and over to Congleton Road.
The link road would make life easier for Macclesfield residents, when utilities companies are carrying repairs to major roads in the town. People would have a new alternative route, if their normal route was affected by roadworks.
Emergency service vehicles would find it easier to travel through the town (with the link road), when responding to 999 calls, or transporting patients to Macclesfield Hospital, Stepping Hill or Leighton.
When Macc Town are playing at home, football fans would be able to use the new link road, instead of Moss Lane when they are travelling from the Congleton Road side of town.
*Threats
Any town centre redevelopment would, at some point involve large plant and machinery being parked up on Churchill Way, blocking a main route through the town. This would increase congestion. If the link road was built traffic would have an alternative route, and so reduce the level of congestion in the town centre during any redevelopment.
Current plans to build on the cricket ground on Victoria Road and the Blue Zone, will only increase the amount of traffic trying to drive through the town, along Congleton Road, Oxford Road and Cumberland Street. Again people travelling through Macclesfield would have an alternative route.
If nothing is done about the congestion in the town centre I believe some people will decide that the only option is to move.
I would be interested to know what percentage of people who move out of Macclesfield would say that the traffic/journey time was a major reason for leaving the town.
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