As you may know, fly-posting has been a problem particularly on the now closed George & Dragon pub in Cheadle. Because it’s a privately owned building, it’s more complicated to get it removed.

I wrote to Punch Taverns, who own the pub, asking if they would remove the fly-posting or, failing that, authorise me to remove fly-posting on their behalf.

I’ve now received a reply, which is they won’t do that because they’re hopeful a sale is imminent and the new owners should clear it up.

We’ll wait and see, but having that building under new ownership and, hopefully, being put to good use, would be very positive for the village.

Going around Gatley and Cheadle this morning, I spotted a few of the green comms boxes with graffiti daubed on them in white paint.

I’ve reported ones on Peckforton Close, Clifton Drive and Springfield Road, which should (on past peformance) be cleaned pretty quickly.

If you spot any more, please report them. Just email streetscene@stockport.gov.uk with the location of the graffiti, or let Pam or myself know.

The next Cheadle Area Committee will be held at Ladybridge Park Residents Club, Edenbridge Road, Cheadle Hulme starting at 6pm on Tuesday 22nd June 2010.  You can download the (unusually short at only 61 pages) agenda here.

As always, the meeting is not only open to the public, but we really want more people to come along.  You can turn up late if you like, and you can ask questions of the police, council and councillors (though where there’s no agenda item the question fits into, it needs to be submitted in advance - you can send it by email to stephen.fox@stockport.gov.uk if you like.

Tuesday’s agenda includes

• Brief presentation from Inspector Steve Gilbertson of West Stockport Area police and his colleagues, plus the opportunity to ask questions and raise issues directly with Steve and his team.
• Update from Julie Henshall, our Area Conditions Officer, who deals with issues like graffiti, fly-tipping and littering - you can ask Julie questions.
• Update from Rod Camblin from Highways - he’s the guy who goes around checking potholes and dodgy pavements, marking them up with orange paint and getting them fixed - you can ask Rod questions too.

Then we have the planning applications.  These are quasi-judicial, which means there are rules we follow and a set way things are done to ensure the outcome is fair.

This time round councillors will be considering:

• DC044007 - application for change of use of 9 Wilmslow Road, Cheadle from retail premises to class A3 (restaurant, snack bar and cafe use).  The recommendation from the planning people is to refuse this on the grounds that we already have too many of that type of premises in the area.
• DC044066/DC044125 - conversion and alteration of existing listed farm buildings to five dwellings on Ladybridge Farm, Ladybridge Road.  The planning officers are recommending we grant that one.
• DC044147 - single storey rear extension to 17 Oaktree Cottages, Anfield Road, Cheadle Hulme.  Officers are recommending we grant that one too.

In all cases with planning applications, councillors have (by law) to go into the meeting with an open mind and listen fairly to the arguments.  Our task is not to decide whether we fancy having the development, or whether its popular.  Our task is simply - again by law - to decide whether the development is within the rules and guidelines as set down in the Council’s Unitary Development Plan.

If we refuse an application, the developer can appeal and - if successful - the Council pays lots of money for the appeal costs and the development goes ahead anyway, so it’s worth getting it right.

Pam and I always try to keep an eye on graffiti and other street issues around the ward - and it helps even more when people let us know about problems, so please do.

This morning I reported some trees that are overhanging the section of Kingsway on the new cycle route 558 (on the Gatley side, between Foxland Road and Cheadle Royal).  Some are low enough to be a real nuisance for cyclists and pedestrians, so I’ve asked for those to be cut back.

I’ve also asked for another of our regular clean-ups of graffiti on the underpasses beneath the Cheadle Royal roundabout (which, by the way, present a great route to Bruntwood Park by foot or bicycle).

I’ve reported an odd case of fly-tipping at Gatley Station. Several elderly, and heavy, bits of machinery were dumped on the path running alongside the station car park down to Gatley Road, with a further piece dumped through one of the missing fence panels on the path past Brentwood Drive (the second is onto private land, so probably not a great deal the council can do).

I’ve also reported graffiti on the path between Belmont Road and South Park Road that passes under the railway line. In this case, the graffiti is - I think - on Network Rail property so it may be more troublesome to get it removed.

I’ve reported more graffiti on the green Virgin Media boxes: on Barngate Road, Clifton Drive and Silverdale Road.

Let me know if you spot any more - the Council can paint it out pretty quickly.

I’ve reported graffiti on green comms boxes at both sides of Schools Hill, near Cheadle Royal.

Hopefully it will be cleared off quickly.   I’m a firm believer that, whilst we can’t possibly watch over every location all the time, quickly and consistently clearing away graffiti is the best way to stop it.

Let me know if you spot any more graffiti around Cheadle & Gatley.

Thanks  the several people who reported the graffiti on the Scholes Field pavillion - I was pleased to hear today that it’s been cleared off.   CCTV footage is being examined to see if the culprit can be identified.

I’m a firm believer that, whilst we can’t stop graffiti going up, we can discourage it by cleaning it off as quickly as possible and taking legal action where there’s the evidence to do so.

Thanks to those who reported the graffiti on the Scholes Field pavillion to me - I’ve passed it onto the Council.

A word of thanks to our Council Area Conditions Officers too: over the last year or so I think we’ve seen a real decline in graffiti around Cheadle & Gatley, and it comes down to quick action when it appears.  Some graffiti is easier to clean off (or paint over) than other bits, but I think it’s a battle we’re winning.

Yesterday I went on a walkbout around Gatley (not the whole village - there’s only so much you can cover in 90 minutes!).  It was with our new Area Conditions Officer Julie Henshall and Richard Daniels, also from Environmental Services at Stockport Council - I’m grateful to both of them for coming out with me.

Here are some of the things we identified for action:

• Bags of rubbish dumped by station car park - Environmental Services will be tracing the owners.
• Poor state of land around electricity substation -vegetation needs tidying.  It should be United Utilities’ responsibility.
• Concrete bollard by station underpass broken, needs repair
• Poor state of path along the back of the station car park - always gets muddy.
• Litter is starting to build up around Gatley Station again, so we need Network Rail to clear up inside the railings and the Council to clear up on the verges.
• The alleyway running down from the Station car park past the end of Brentwood Drive to Gatley Road is in poor condition.  The fence leans out dangerously in places and whole fence panels are missing in others.  Vegetation grows over the top of the path in several places, blocking light from some of the streetlamps. There’s also some graffiti on the panels and the lampposts.
• Although not too bad at the moment, we identified the area where the motorway slip road comes onto the South Park Road Estate as often troubled with litter, graffiti and overgrown vegetation.
• On Kingsway southbound where the motorway slip road meets the A34 there’s obviously been an accident, probably with a car coming through a bush on the slip and hitting the fence by the A34.  The bush is broken and the metal fence is, at one point ripped out of the ground.
• Along the east side of Kingsway north of Gatley Road there’s quite a bit of litter on banks, verges and parking bays.
• We took a look at litter around Kingsway High School.  Environmental Services do go into the school to do assemblies around littering and have been known to hand out £75 penalty notices when the warnings remain ignored.
• The state of the electricity substation at the end of Foxland Road (by Springfield) is poor, with litter strewn around the front area.  The Council will chase up United Utilities to get it cleaned.
• There’s a lot of litter on Network Rail land around the railway bridge at the end of Foxland Road, plus overgrown brambles on the north side.
• More litter along the path from Foxland to Hawthorn, which I’ve asked the Council to sort out.
• The streetlight outside the entrance to Gatley Primary’s nursery school is faulty.
• Some graffiti on signs at the Gatley Green entrance to the Recreation Ground (I was very pleased to see graffiti on the skateboard ramps and old pavillion has been cleaned off).
• Detritus on the land at the back of the Tatton needs to get cleaned away.
• Brown wheelie bin someone left in front of the Tatton to be cleared away.

Thanks to our new Area Conditions Officer Julie Henshall, who’s told me that the graffiti covering the walls on the underpass of the Cheadle Royal roundabout has all been cleared off.

The is the roundabout over the A34 by Cheadle Royal.  Because it’s both isolated and a common route for school kids, it’s always going to be an attractive target for graffiti, but we can discourage it by making sure it never lasts long.

On Monday night I spotted the streetlamp I’d reported a few weeks back - on the path between Belmont Road and South Park Road - still wasn’t working.  Turns out it was marked as fixed by the Council, so now they’ll take another look.

This morning I was out delivering more leaflets, including invitations to our public meeting next Tuesday evening to discuss traffic problems at the junction of Schools Hill and Wilmslow Road in Cheadle.

I delivered to Lynton Road, and parts of Gatley Road, Wilmslow Road, Schools Hill, Park Lodge Close, Valley Road and Valley Close.

On the way I spotted a few issues that I’ve reported to the Council

• Litter at the top of Schools Hill, on the side road that approached South View Gardens.
• Litter around the Wilmslow Road entrance to Brookfield Park.
• Graffiti on the Virgin Media box outside 224 Kingsway.
• Paving stone sticking up outside 232 Kingsway
• Branches across footpath, outside Turnfield House, by Turnfield Road.
• Graffiti on underpass beneath Cheadle Royal roundabout (the one over the A34).

I also delivered a letter to residents of Depleach Road - Pam and I are hoping we can find a good solution to their parking issues.

A few issues Pam King and I have reported:

• two of the lighted bollards on Broadway, near the junction with Wilmslow Road, need repairing.
• there’s graffiti on the green telecoms box on Mornington Road, near Broadway, which I’ve asked to be cleared off.
• I’ve reported a couple of potholes in the tarmac section right at the bottom of Cherington Road.
• Pam’s reported graffiti on the NTL box on Daylesford Crescent at the junction with Daylesford road and the North West Water Board gate next to 49 Daylesford Road.

During a busy morning around Cheadle and Gatley today, I checked out more blocked grids on Gatley Road (now reported), popped into the Gatley Green Co-op and the Foxland Road Spar to check on a couple of issues, went down to Yew Tree Close  to take a look for a forthcoming planning application (DC/042877) and spotted some graffiti on the path from Gatley Golf Club to Troutbeck Road (also now reported).

Here are the details of the grids reported today:

1. Two grids on the south side of Gatley Road, immediately to each side of the railway bridge by Gatley Station.  Both blocked, causing regular large puddles at the junction of Oakwood Avenue and Gatley Road.

2. Ten grids on the north side of Gatley Road between the railway bridge and the Synagogue in Gatley.

3. Grids on the north side of Gatley Road in Cheadle, between Kingsway and Wensley pretty much every grid is blocked.

4. Outside 73 Gatley Road there’s a grid in the centre of the pavement in a dip.  It looks clear, but local residents tell me it’s blocked further down and, because it’s in a dip, causes deep puddles around the entrances to the properties after heavy rain.

5. Outside 79 Gatley Road, grid blocked with grass growing out of it.

Yesterday was the latest Neigbourhood Policing Team (NPT) meeting, where councillors, Council officers and police get together to go through the issues.  We’re in Stockport West, covering (roughly) Cheadle, Gatley, Cheadle Hulme, Heald Green, Bramhall, Davenport and Cale Green.

Among the issues I raised are:

• South Park Road Estate - both the need for improved enforcement of the “No Entry except for Access” rule and the issue of parking along Coniston Road and nearby roads.
• I asked the police to look into reports of Marrick Avenue and Richmond Hill Road being used by some motorists to dodge past a bit of the queue on the Cheadle side of the traffic lights.
• I also asked for an eye to be kept on graffiti on the underpasses beneath the Cheadle Royal roundabout - and for the Council to give it a paint-over.