In accordance the Council Procedural Rules, a total period of 30 minutes is allocated for members of the public to speak at Council meetings. Individual members of the public may speak for up to 2 minutes, but the Chair will have discretion to vary this requirement where they consider it appropriate.
Members of the public wishing to speak are required to provide notice of this at least three clear working days’ in advance of the meeting and should include the question with that notice. Questions should be submitted to: katie.small@cheshireeast.gov.uk or brian.reed@cheshireeast.gov.uk.
Minutes:
Sandbach Town Councillor Nicola Cook stated that in August she had reported via the Fix My Street app that a busy junction near Sandbach railway station had a worn stop line markings at the traffic lights. She had received confirmation that work would be undertaken urgently but this work had not been completed. Councillor C Browne, Chair of Highways and Transport Committee, responded that he had been informed that temporary warning signs were now in place and that work to the refurbishment of the stop line and lining works at the junction were planned to take place between 19 and 21 December. The exact date would be subject to permits and temporary traffic management lights approval. A temporary white line would be put in place this week at the stop line whilst the permanent works were being programmed.
Congleton Town Councillor Robert Douglas stated that since he spoke on the use of glyphosate weedkiller at the February 2022 Council meeting, three reports had been published which highlighted the damage caused by the weedkiller and asked that the Council accept it was now time to ban the weedkiller. Councillor M Warren, Chair of Environment and Communities Committee, responded that the Council had minimised its use of glyphosate, but it still offered benefits in cost and man hours that made it difficult to fully replace with alternative methods. ANSA and Cheshire East Highways had reverted to strimming as the preferred option in hard to mow locations. The 2022/23 highways weed treatment programme included the use of glyphosate and would see only one treatment across the whole network. Other options for weed treatment continued to be explored and would be reviewed ahead of the 2023/24 programme. ANSA had taken steps to reduce the use of glyphosate, recently trialling alternative herbicides, mulches, and mechanical alternatives as they came to market. The Council would continue to seek to minimise glyphosate usage wherever possible and would welcome feedback from Congleton Town Council on their experience and lessons learned with alternative methods.
With the Mayor’s agreement due to exceptional circumstances, the Head of Democratic Services and Governance read out a question on behalf of Sue Helliwell and stated that Site LPS 21 Twyfords was in the local plan and planning permission had been granted for houses; also that a section 106 agreement there was provision for the public right of way to be upgraded to the train station. Ms Helliwell asked for confirmation as to when work would commence on the public right of way. In response Councillor M Warren, Chair of Environment and Communities Committee, stated that the section 106 agreement for the redevelopment of the former Twyfords site in Alsager included a financial contribution of £93,050 towards the cost of improving the public right of way and informal path linking the site to Alsager train station. The monies had not yet been received by the Council, so the works were not currently scheduled. The developer had been contacted to check whether the payment trigger for the footpath contribution had been reached and, if so, to request payment.
Mr S Redgard stated that he would be making a formal complaint to the Local Government Ombudsman about the performance of the Council on three specific failures - two relating to the failures of the highways department in relation to the implementation of the winter service risk assessment process and the updating/management of the street lighting assessment register, and thirdly on the failure of the Council to respond to questions he asked at the last Council meeting.