The Parish Council is aware, from residents’ feedback and the completion of the Neighbourhood Plan, that there is an issue with internet access speeds across the parishes. It not clear though which specific areas or properties have the issues as we cover a vast dispersed rural area. The copper telephony network was laid out decades ago and therefore cabinet locations are not always in the optimum position and we are connected through three telephone exchanges, Biddulph, Congleton and Smallwood.
Where speeds are low, Openreach will accept Gigabit vouchers which are worth up to £2.5k for a business and £500 for a residence. Openreach can work with you in the application as part of a Community Fibre Partnership. See https://communityfibre.openreach.co.uk/gigabit for more information about this scheme.
We therefore created a survey to determine the ‘hot-spots’ and the ‘hot-spots’ in our parishes. Please complete the survey so that we can build up a more accurate picture of locations where internet access is poor so that we can investigate options for improvements.
The survey is now closed.
Astbury village suffers from a high and increasing level of through traffic, mainly originating in Congleton’s eastern suburbs and increasingly from Biddulph, travelling to and from the M6 and Stoke-on-Trent, Newcastle and points south on the A34.
This high level of traffic, especially at the morning and evening peak hours, results in high levels of road traffic collisions, some very serious, particularly at the southern exit from the village onto the A34 and at the narrow ‘throat’ of the village green between the Egerton Arms pub to the north and the high churchyard wall to the south.
This reportOpens in a new window proposed a number of possible changes to road alignments, traffic flow, speed limits and road surfaces in the village that might improve this situation. We invited you read the report and let us have your opinions on the proposals, and any other suggestions or comments you would like to make, via a survey (now closed).
We had the following responses:
- 21 via this website (plus 12 started but not saved)
- 37 via paper forms distributed by mail
- 1 via email
Giving 59 usable responses in total. Because so many were on paper, it took some time to collate and tabulate them. However, the responses are now available in a single documentOpens in a new window for your interest. It will then be for the Parish Council to decide how best to respond.
What happens next?
The parish council will discuss the proposals and your responses at a forthcoming meeting. It is hoped that, from this and possibly other meetings the council will be able to develop a coherent set of traffic calming proposal that we can take to Cheshire East Highways for their agreement and support
Traffic Calming Measures in Astbury Village