It has been 3 months since the Tesco convenience store has opened in Cheadle. Served by a 500 plus car park facility and slotting into what was an established location, all seems to be going very well. Speak to some of the shop owners in the vicinity and you get a slightly different story. Takings have been affected, peoples shopping trends have changed. Deliveries come and go, with subsequent traffic problems being created on Chapel St. We now have people double parking in the bus lay-by on Wilmslow Road in order to ‘nip in’ and shop. To balance the observation - some people think it’s wonderful, well overdue and an asset to the village. Such is life. As of 10^th March the decision as to what can be developed at the historic site of the Tatton cinema, Gatley will be decided at an informal Public Enquiry. A 44 bed care facility plus a new convenience store and further retail units is up for review. My concern is the lack of car parking being afforded at the site and the impact such a development will have on the infrastructure of the village and traffic flow. Correct me if I am wrong but some literature distributed at the By-Election in September suggested that an imminent ‘land swap’ had been engineered at the eleventh hour to eventually give Gatley village a much needed car parking facility. Still waiting. What is required at this site is a best balanced solution. Do we want, need another care facility in Gatley? Do we pursue the land swap option and accept that this action inevitably comes with the attachment of a convenience store, plus the associated traffic problems it will generate. The informal enquiry to be held in March will decide the fate of the site. Turn up and have your say.

Cllr Mick Jones
Cheadle & Gatley