Janine Kelly - Yoga teacher in Marple

Author Topic: Is the footpath behind Magpie Cottages/Dale Road to Chadkirk Bridge open?  (Read 8823 times)

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Condate

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Thanks for the explanation.

I'm not sure ensuring people know how local democracy works is a good idea from the council's point of view. People might be surprised that it doesn't work in the way they expect it to. That's not a criticism of our councillors by the way. They work within the system as it is.

 

Malcolm Allan

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Thanks Admin and you’re right in all you say.  Two interesting topics here.  It clearly won’t be as obvious to all watching the Committee meeting exactly what we were saying. You can’t see the paper written of course but that has now gone forward as a resolution and makes it clear we are unhappy about the lack of information we receive and which inevitably drives comments from residents who are equally frustrated as they are left in the same position of ignorance. We also make the point we can help if we’re involved, as can residents who tend to have lots of good ideas on issues. On the comment CTREP makes, about us accepting it is too expensive, he has indeed misheard the proceedings. On this stretch of river we have no details so we cannot accept or reject the plans as we haven’t seen them or been involved. That’s one of the main points we made.

What we did say was informed by some knowledge though. Nature has a way of carrying on, come what may and despite what we do. On this stretch of the river, we have had a series of floods over the years which have been eroding both banks. The path was closed off when it became too dangerous on one side. The river looks very placid and gentle normally but in flood, nature takes over and has incredible force which too many people are either ignorant or blasé about. If you were washed into the river or fell in during flood, you genuinely risk death. If you know your geography, it’s apparent the river has followed all sorts of routes across that valley and will continue to do so long after all of us today are dead and gone. From personal experience a long while ago, where I was personally involved in a project to divert a river, it is indeed hugely expensive to delay nature, let alone stop it and you can’t just shore up the stretch affected, you have to look at the whole area and understand what is determining the flows.

On the other posts about unelected bodies, town/parish councils and a “local” council it’s common to find residents don’t really know how our democratic system works. There's not much publicity about it and its not easy to find. The constitution for all this is available to read on the council website but at 400 odd pages is a big challenge! I’ve read it as I felt I ought to understand it. It’s helped me use the details of the system for all our benefit and is partly behind me using an Area Committee resolution for this. If any resident would like to know more about any aspect of how local government works I’d be happy to talk them through their area of interest.

admin

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Yes, the Marple Area Committee isn't a local council but an unelected body....

That's a bit off the topic of this thread but Marple's Councillors are elected by local residents to represent them for a four year term and one councillor position from each ward is normally up for re-election each year, so to say that they are an unelected body is completely wrong. If you want to debate that or the merits of each system then I can move it to a new topic.
Mark Whittaker
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Stephen

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Yes, the Marple Area Committee isn't a local council but an unelected body who I suspect most of the Marple residents don't even know exist. What we need is a proper elected local Parish / Town Council (though I suspect that Stockport MBC would oppose this idea.) A town that I used to live in, Blackrod in the Bolton area have a local Town Council properly constituted and elected and this has been in existence since 1974 when Blackrod became part of Bolton Metropolitan Borough. It is very active in looking after the interests of the residents of  Blackrod, and is a good example of what a local Town council should be like.
 

admin

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My thanks to Admin as well for providing the Link.

So now we know. This Local Council appears to blandly accept SMBC’s statement that the path alongside the river is too expensive to repair.  This path which could make an attractive mainly off-road route for many walkers and cyclists is to be allowed to be destroyed due to less than 1/4 mile of flood damage.

Meanwhile,  from what I have been told, this Local Council must have approved of SMBC’s decision to use a Flood Repair Grant to considerably upgrade something like 2 miles worth of little used sections of bridleway and footpaths in the Mellor Strines area, none of which were likely to be damaged by the river.

What do you mean by "This Local Council"? Do you mean Marple Area Committee or something else?

Assuming that you mean Marple Area Committee, I have watched it twice and I don't see anyone blandly accepting that it is too expensive to repair. They acknowledge that it will be expensive, a challenge, and that the EA will need to be involved etc, but they are saying that they are not well informed about what is going on and trying to change that by demanding the report and to be informed. Accepting that it is too expensive to repair would mean accepting that it won't be repaired and that is not said at all.

As to the second item "from what you have been told this Local Council must have approved..." and if you mean Marple Area Committee again, then why don't you use the system properly and ask a public question to the Committee to confirm or otherwise what you have been told or to find out more? It's a very simple process.

Perhaps @Malcolm Allan or @Steve Gribbon could contribute what they know to this thread please?
Mark Whittaker
The Marple Website

amazon

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My thanks to Admin as well for providing the Link.

So now we know. This Local Council appears to blandly accept SMBC’s statement that the path alongside the river is too expensive to repair.  This path which could make an attractive mainly off-road route for many walkers and cyclists is to be allowed to be destroyed due to less than 1/4 mile of flood damage.

Meanwhile,  from what I have been told, this Local Council must have approved of SMBC’s decision to use a Flood Repair Grant to considerably upgrade something like 2 miles worth of little used sections of bridleway and footpaths in the Mellor Strines area, none of which were likely to be damaged by the river.
You do learn things by watching councill meetings .Some times

CTCREP

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My thanks to Admin as well for providing the Link.

So now we know. This Local Council appears to blandly accept SMBC’s statement that the path alongside the river is too expensive to repair.  This path which could make an attractive mainly off-road route for many walkers and cyclists is to be allowed to be destroyed due to less than 1/4 mile of flood damage.

Meanwhile,  from what I have been told, this Local Council must have approved of SMBC’s decision to use a Flood Repair Grant to considerably upgrade something like 2 miles worth of little used sections of bridleway and footpaths in the Mellor Strines area, none of which were likely to be damaged by the river.

nbt

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Thanks for the link. Note that Agenda item lasts about 13 minutes...
NBT: Notoriously Bad Typist

admin

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Mark Whittaker
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CTCREP

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Hello Amazon.  Can you tell us how to do that..  The relevant url would be helpful,  but I don't really want to watch the whole thing, so perhaps you could give us a précis of what was said, and preferably by whom it was said.

Thanks.

amazon

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No.  Can you tell us of anything relevant.

Thanks
Watch the webcast

CTCREP

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No.  Can you tell us of anything relevant.

Thanks

amazon

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I have been told the original route was through the farm but was unofficially diverted to run alongside the river many years ago.

When Sustrans won a lottery grant to extend the MIddlewood Way through to Stockport one of the suggestions was to upgrade the path alongside the river, however SMBC decided to construct the devious and considerably more expensive route alongside the rear of Marple Hall School.

Having recognised that the path has fallen into disrepair let us hope our Councillors will press to have it reopened.
Did you watch the meeting last night .

CTCREP

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I have been told the original route was through the farm but was unofficially diverted to run alongside the river many years ago.

When Sustrans won a lottery grant to extend the MIddlewood Way through to Stockport one of the suggestions was to upgrade the path alongside the river, however SMBC decided to construct the devious and considerably more expensive route alongside the rear of Marple Hall School.

Having recognised that the path has fallen into disrepair let us hope our Councillors will press to have it reopened.

seany72uk

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OK thank you  :D