The Town Council has installed floral planters on the pavement at the
bottom of Cliff Road in an attempt to discourage parking on the pavement,
that on sunny days prevents the safe use by pedestrians and in particular
wheelchair and pushchair users.

This problem started sometime ago but the regularity of such obstructive
parking has increased, initially last summer and starting once again this
now the weather has improved.

The Town Council has very little power to act with regards to this problem
with Cheshire East Council being responsible for the enforcement of the
double yellow lines that relate to parking on the pavement as well as the
road and the Police having powers to act if they can demonstrate
obstruction. Any permanent structure on the highway, including bollards and
railings can only be installed by the highway authority which in our case
is Cheshire East Council.

The Town Council has used its powers to provide pavement planters in the
town since it was formed in 2011 and we would normally chose to place them
in locations that provide the greatest floral impact, selecting sites with
good viability and in full sun, however we are aware of alternative uses
and introduced four planters on Chancel Lane last year with the specific
purpose of discouraging parking on the Memorial Garden that was being used
as an overflow car park by users of the Carrs Park.

At the weekend the Cheshire East Council Parking Enforcement Officer was
faced with 14 cars parked on the pavement along Cliff Road and I am advised
by the officer that enforcement action was taken, however whilst this
involved to issuing of fines it did not result in the clearing of the
pavement for full pedestrian use. As part of a recent parking review
carried out by Cheshire East Council, the Town Council was supportive of
the idea of bollards being installed on the pavement to prevent access to
the pavement and therefore the need for enforcement action by either
Cheshire East Council or the Police and we hope that this permanent
solution will be pursued by Cheshire East Council.

The action of the Town Council to move the planters previously protecting
the Memorial Garden to Cliff Road we hope is a temporary solution, not
least because they are in permanent shade, and we hope that by preventing
the initial cars from parking on the wide pavement at the bottom of the
hill that it will reduce the likelihood of copycat parking further up the
road. The Memorial Garden has been secured for now with the introduction of
additional wooden posts.

With the summer only just starting and the Carrs Park appearing to be more
popular than ever to a regional audience there is no guarantee that our
temporary solution will be effective nor that the displaced vehicles won't
be parked inappropriately elsewhere. The long term  solution to this
problem will be the ongoing enforcement of parking restrictions and
installation of permanent highway barriers by Cheshire East Council and the
ongoing support of the police. Should the Town Council feel that further
direct action is required within the scope of its powers then it will
consider what this should be once the impact of the latest actions have
been accessed.