Road closure - Station Road / Hollins Lane from 23 Sept

[My login is Henrietta]

Took me 1/2 an hour to get from Hibbert Lane near the college to Marple Bridge this morning and that was well after rush hour time. It would have been longer if I hadn't taken a sneaky short cut down St Martins Road!

[simonesaffron]

Re the comments re rookie councillors. That they may be but perhaps they may just be that bit keener & energised than those in post since the year dot. Plus given the current situation, less likely to sit on past successes as things seem a bit more uncertain at present.

They may be all those things. However being a Councillor can be a fairly bewildering experience in you first year, especially if you have no experience to lean on. As I said everybody has to be a rookie at something, sometime and one in the crew is probably a good thing, but when you have a boat full of them and they are pulling in two different directions, then that's another.

[corium]

Re the comments re rookie councillors. That they may be but perhaps they may just be that bit keener & energised than those in post since the year dot. Plus given the current situation, less likely to sit on past successes as things seem a bit more uncertain at present.

[wheels]

No its not Councils don't grant permission to dig up the roads they are advised that the utilities are going to do it. 

[Rudolph Hucker]

On an allied point what is important is that there is better control and management of the various utilities and a requirement that they do a better job of making up a road once they have done their work. Currently there is nothing to stop say United Utilities digging up Station Rd next month and just patching it. You and I then pick up the bill via the Council when their shoddy repair causes holes to develop.

And our Councillor also get the stick for this.

Maybe the Councillor should get the stick for third party shoddy repairs...

A) Considerably prior to the Council performing the "proper" repair to our appalling roads they should consult all relevant third parties (gas, electricity, water, telecoms and whoever else) giving them a deadline to carry out any works required.
B) Subsequently when granting permission to dig up the road they should contractually stipulate the standard of repair required at the end of the agreed works, charge the third party for the cost of a Council engineer to oversee and sign off said repair, and also charge the third party for any overrun caused by having to achieve that standard.

If they fail in the latter (the former being a courtesy) then they deserve all they get!!! In other words (to re-quote yourself wheels); better control and management of the various utilities....

The ball is in the Councillors court.

RH.

[wheels]

On an allied point what is important is that there is better control and management of the various utilities and a requirement that they do a better job of making up a road once they have done their work. Currently there is nothing to stop say United Utilities digging up Station Rd next month and just patching it. You and I then pick up the bill via the Council when their shoddy repair causes holes to develop.

And our Councillor also get the stick for this.

[wheels]

Simone thanks for the response to Phil which is correct. In fact since Stockport came up with the scheme for road repairs other councils have followed suit.

In relation to control of Stockport I don't think there is any doubt despite predictions on here for many years that the Lib Dem will still be the largest party after Mays local elections. But in a balanced Council it would depend by how much they are the largest and if the opposition were able or willing to work together to provide an administration. Something that looks extremely unlikely. 2016 is without a doubt the most difficult year for the Lib Dems as after that we have gone through a full cycle and there are no further seats to be lost so 2018 should see them making gains again.

As a guide 2012 saw the Leader hold her seat by 24 votes things have improved for them so much locally since then that no one now would expect Manor to be lost next year.

As for your comment about rookie councillors one only had to watch the last full Council to see how right you are. I recommend people watch the Web cast to see house our elected reps perform.

1

[simonesaffron]

Hello Phil,

Interesting observations that you make, I can only agree with all of them.

There will be others that are better informed than I am about the roads, but nevertheless this is my understanding of the situation.

The Council announced last year that it was embarking on a £100M ten year plan to bring all the roads in Stockport up to an 'acceptable' standard. They were going to borrow the money and pay for the loan through the savings made by not having to repeatedly patch repair neglected roads that had fallen  to an unacceptable standard. Sounds to me like a bit of forward thinking on the part of SMBC and I personally applaud it.

It does though bring to mind an interesting situation regarding our precarious politics both in Stockport and in Marple.   

Stockport is one of the few councils still being run by The Lib Dems and we are all aware of their standing at the moment. This years election was very unusual election with General, UKIP, SNP, Lib Dem wipe out and so on. Many political commentator believe that 2016 is the year that the electorate will really have its say on the Lib Dems locally. If the Lib Dems were turned out of Stockport as they have been in Manchester, who knows what would happen to the £100M road programme then.

Now we turn to Marple. I don't know how resources for this road programme are shared out, I guess that its up to Ward Councillors to fight for it.  This year we lost Councillors Bispham & Dowling,  replaced by two rookie Councillors and also Cllrs Candler and Alexander are retiring next year and in turn will be replaced by rookie Councillors. So in the space of a year we will have gone in Marple from having 50/60 years collective experience on the council to very little.

No disrespect to rookie Councillors, everyone is a rookie something at some time but nevertheless a bit of a concern when Marple has to fight for itself.         

[Rudolph Hucker]

As the LA has a programme of doing every road in the authority over the next 9 yrs we are going to be seeing a lot more of this.

Hey Wheels, can you elaborate - are the LA planning on properly repairing every road over the next 9 years, or just patching the patches? I'm hoping the former as our roads are already in a shocking state (and another 9 winters doesn't bode well). I'll happily, willingly, whateverelseingly lose a few minutes per journey while this is managed in our area!!!!! Anyone who complains, as a few have here, presumably are longing for the return of dirt ruts ala 1815....

RH.

[wheels]

It is an odd situation, people complain about the condition of the roads, then when the Council/Contractors try to fix them they complain about that, asking for people that are doing it to be fired and accusing them of bad planning. They can't mend every road in Stockport in the school hols, after all it is only a six week window.

I don't have any problem with road works, I'm just pleased that they're repairing them. When you're stuck in traffic in a road repair situation it is usually for no more than a few extra minutes, just exercise a little patience, it will do wonders for your blood pressure.     

Well I can only agree with all that Simone also the moaners should bear in mind that people who work on repairing our roads tend to be at the younger end of the work force and thus themselves often have children and holiday themselves during the school holidays. As the LA has a programme of doing every road in the authority over the next 9 yrs we are going to be seeing a lot more of this.

[simonesaffron]

It is an odd situation, people complain about the condition of the roads, then when the Council/Contractors try to fix them they complain about that, asking for people that are doing it to be fired and accusing them of bad planning. They can't mend every road in Stockport in the school hols, after all it is only a six week window.

I don't have any problem with road works, I'm just pleased that they're repairing them. When you're stuck in traffic in a road repair situation it is usually for no more than a few extra minutes, just exercise a little patience, it will do wonders for your blood pressure.       

[amazon]

I live on Station Road,despite supposed to finish at 3.30pm every day they are still working on Station Road now,luckily I am home but I think there are going to be some VERY unhappy people stuck in and trying to get around Marple.

Working late to finish the work early .to stop people complaining /

[BidingTime]

Station Road only just opened to traffic.

[BidingTime]

I live on Station Road,despite supposed to finish at 3.30pm every day they are still working on Station Road now,luckily I am home but I think there are going to be some VERY unhappy people stuck in and trying to get around Marple.

[Howard]

I walked down Station Road today and it looks as if they now have two lanes of traffic so the traffic turning right into Chruch lane isn't held up. Either they realised what a problem they were causing or someone had a word.