Etherow Country Park

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Great inprovement .

[CTCREP]

Well the Bridge is now in place – not quite as bad as the description given before. The parapet height seems OK but the vertical railings are so close together that I suspect no child will have a clear view of the river without 1 or 2 bars being in their field of vision. Two raised pavements with curbs have been incorporated between them and the road. One pavement is reasonably wide but the other quite narrow, I doubt if you will be able to get a pushchair onto it; this means people will be struggling with pushchairs etc. and having to be careful every time they move away from either parapet. No doubt this is all because of Health & Safety, or is it because those responsible have never run about in a park in their younger days. It would be interesting to record how many sprained ankles etc will result from the present design.

[CTCREP]

With reference to the Weir Bridge in Etherow Country Park I have got a little further. A Planning Application (DC 020977) was granted last November. I have been told, but had no opportunity to check on the validity of this, that it allows for a section of road with adjacent pavement with a Knee High barrier between the two in order to keep pedestrians from straying into the road.   Apart from ruining the pleasure for all those who like to view the weir and the river, and particularly those who play Pooh Sticks, a Knee High barrier is the most dangerous device to institute – step backwards and you fall into the road. Presumably the bridge will have walls the same height as those near the Sailing Hut, which will also spoil the pleasure for those who like looking over the bridge. These “facts” may be wrong as they were given me by the Warden at the Park who may have been given the wrong impression. Unfortunately I cannot check on this with the Planning Department for a while. If there is anyone else who enjoys walking in the Park and watching the river, it would be helpful if they could check up on the situation before some of the Parks attractions are ruined.

[CTCREP]

I regret to say that trying to get replies from Stockport Parks Dept is very slow. My local Councillor merely quotes the possibility of it being a Health and Safety issue. If nobody is worried about Etherow Country Park we could see it walled in and no opportunity to view the river at all.  What I can't understand, as a cyclist, is that the Council will not make changes to benefit the safety of cyclists until at least 4 deaths have occured in the vicinity - that's true not a fantasy - meanwhile the safety of visitors to the Park is considered paramount over the attractiveness of the Park when there probably hasn't been a fatality there in the last hundred years.

Suggest you contact Bethel.....the people who are doing the building works.... or Stockport authority

[CTCREP]

In Etherow Country Park new parapets have been constructed just past the sailing club where the footpath crosses the overflow sluice. These are unnecessarily high spoiling the pleasure for those who used to enjoy watching the water go down the sluice. If the same construction is used on the main bridge then one of the major attractions,  that of looking over the bridge by the weir, will be lost. This could be some ridiculous Health and Safety measure and needs to be opposed with some vigour.