Report to Saughall and Shotwick Park Parish Council
Cllr Simon Eardley
04 March 2022
HyNet project
I hope those colleagues who were able to attend the recent public information session at the Vernon Institute found it useful. I sought some assurances regarding the likely impact of the works associated with the project in terms of the pipeline installation on highways and other matters and made it clear I expect them to work to minimise disruption to residents when the time comes. I have no reason to believe that this won’t be the case but I will, of course, press CWaC Highways on the matter when appropriate. I was interested to see a visual of the techniques they use for construction which gave some reassurance (they indicated the tunnelling approach is most likely where they encounter a road). See image attached.
I have relayed comments to the team regarding one of their proposed routes where it crosses Hermitage Road, in the vicinity of number 139. The flooding here is a matter they will clearly wish to consider. It was extensive when I viewed it on 04/03/22 although the drain just off the pavement was operating at a reasonable capacity from what I could tell. See image attached.
Wildflowers – Long Lane – potential project
The post below was placed on the Saughall Village Facebook page on 03/03/22. As colleagues will know, the council are pursuing the implementation of a wildflower / grassland / verges strategy in earnest this year. As per previous reports, this will see the area of green within the Greenway area managed differently by the borough council. There is an option for other areas to be included in such schemes, working with third party groups, (although it might now be too late to include additions owing to the seasonal nature of this work) but the local authority would need some financial commitment from them to do so (which could include a contribution from my Member Budget). Perhaps the parish council might wish to consider whether they would like to explore this option on a joint basis with me for Long Lane (either wholly or in part).
Planning matters
- Appeal in respect of planning permission application 21/00612/FUL – Woodside House, Church Road (refused by notice dated 16 July 2021). Notification has been received that this appeal was upheld by the Planning Inspectorate.
- Land to the rear of Roslyn, Long Lane. This application is still to be resolved and remains called in by me. Some illness on the part of the planning officer has delayed matters a little but I received a full briefing recently on progress. There is some ongoing dialogue around the suitability of the proposed site of the development and an alternative proposal for this which isn’t satisfactory it would seem on ecology grounds.. I remain in regular touch with the planning officer dealing with the application and will update colleagues further when I can. Separately animal welfare concerns regarding the horses on the site have been raised with the appropriate authorities and action has been taken albeit there may be further work to do in this regard.
Highways
As Cllr Kerr has reported, we held a useful meeting with CWaC Highways on 11 February and discussions on various matters remain ongoing. I followed up with a note to Kay Parry as follows and reiterated that I wished to see firm dates and timeframes emerge as soon as possible on some of the actions noted. I also supplied again correspondence in relation to the proposals for raised islands and expressed the strong view that where the parish council are likely to fund the implementation of a scheme (with modest support from my Member budget) then there is a clear expectation that matters will be progressed at a reasonable pace if these schemes are agreeable in principle that they should happen.
- VAS signs. KP to programme assessment analysis and advise the group when this will take place.
- Fiddlers Lane assessment works. To be programmed ASAP. KP to advise of date in due course.
- Traffic calming proposals:
- SE to circulate the master document with ideas from the highways group to KP which includes locations proposed etc.
- Seahill Road – speed data collection to be programmed / road safety team to review and advise their views on the proposals.
- Long Lane – KP to consider the proposal on receipt of the master document and then advise next steps.
- Note: any works would need to be 100% funded by the parish council (possibility of a contribution from the borough councillor budget is also possible).
- Saughall Hey:
- KP to forward SE a copy of correspondence with the Member of Parliament on similar issue.
- SE to revert to the resident who raised the concern with a full response following receipt of the above.
- Resident of Hermitage Road – SE to email KP with request for possible interventions ref. street lighting, on receipt of correspondence.
- HyNet – SE to circulate to Richard the brochure / route planning consultation document as received earlier in the week.
In respect of the Saughall Hey matter which is noted above, I wrote to the resident who raised this with me as follows on 20/02/22:
As per our exchange of emails and short visit to the Saughall Hey site to look at parking challenges, I duly took the matter up with the Parish Council Highways Group and they were sympathetic to your views on this area as indeed was (am) I. We agreed to add it to a list of highways related matters that were to be discussed with a CWaC Highways officer recently and this was done a week last Friday. The following comments were made in response to the issued being raised:
- There is a general presumption that green spaces should be protected (ideally increased) and maintained as such within residential areas and that there would need to be fairly exceptional circumstances for this to be sacrificed to hardstanding of some description to allow for additional parking. This is also in the context of the council’s current commitment to the environment and its declared ‘climate emergency.’
- Highways raised a concern that widening the road might also result in higher vehicle speeds which would be undesirable for this location.
- Parking restrictions could be considered for the area but this may not be appropriate and may result in additional challenges for residents of the road itself.
- Concerns haven’t been expressed by the emergency services or bus operator regarding inconvenience or impediment to their operations.
- Finally, there is a cost consideration and for a scheme similar to what we discussed, there is currently no budget set aside.
I appreciate that this is not the answer you will have been looking for but pleased be assured that it was fully aired and discussed. Let’s continue to keep the site under review going forward.
PROW – Route FP8
Colleagues will recall I commented on the condition of this route in my last report. The PROW officer has updated me as follows (earlier this week):
“I can confirm that a letter was sent to the landowners on the 16th February asking them to cut the hedge back and also whether the stiles at either end of the Footpath are necessary what with Footpath being enclosed from the rest of the field. To date I have not yet received a reply, but can confirm that the letter was delivered (via recorded delivery) on the 17th February.
The landowners were asked to clear the hedge within 28 days, so they’ve a couple more weeks before I reinspect the Footpath. If there has been no attempt to cut back the hedge or any attempt is considered to unsatisfactory we’ll have to consider serving formal notice upon them.”
New waste collection service - update
CWaC have now started in earnest the introduction of their new waste and recycling service (from w/c 14 February). I have previously detailed what this will entail for residents, including the position around the future collection of garden waste and the hardware that will be supplied to replace the current recycling boxes. The first tranches of hardware deployment are largely in the Winsford area. Residents can find an indication of when they will receive their new kit by putting their postcode into this website link: https://www.cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk/residents/waste-and-recycling/waste-and-recycling-collection.aspx
Pear Tree Farm development
I have emailed the main council planning officer I deal with regarding this site as follows and await their response:
- See image (attached) of the large expanse of water that is present close to the road and presumably part of the drainage provision for the site. The colour of the water troubles me – it isn’t an average ‘dirty/muddy’ style and has a rather toxic appearance. I’m also bothered that this is basically an open pit with no safety measures around it – are there intended to be. The area is dimly lit in the evenings and a clear hazard I’d say. Are the developers not under an obligation to make this safer in some way?
- Parking. Residents have raised with me on a number of occasions inappropriate parking by vehicles on the pavement in front of the occupied bungalows that are immediately on Hermitage Road. This has included cars and vans and is a hazard, particularly when one considers that each property has an ample parking provision associated with the home. Is there anything further we might do on this? Double yellow lines would be the solution but I suspect that Highways wouldn’t wish to pursue that route.
Miscellaneous
- Council Tax. A full meeting of CWaC took place on Thursday 17 February to set the budget for the forthcoming year together with the rate of council tax. The ruling administration were successful in their wish to increase council tax as follows: basic council tax by 1.99% plus an additional 1% to help fund adult social care costs, meaning a total rise of 2.99% (I voted against this course of action). During the course of the debate an amendment was proposed to allocate additional funding for pothole repairs by £200,000. On a cross party basis this was approved – it remains to be seen how this money will be allocated, most likely on a case by case basis.
- Shotwick Park Estate project. I have been updated on the latest here but there is little to report other than that the negotiations between the purchaser and the council remain ongoing.
