High Lane Residents' Association

Thursday 5^th September Minutes

Minutes of the meeting of High Lane Residents’ Association

Date: 5^th September 2024                                                                                                                           Time: 8pm

Venue: High Lane Village Hall

Present: David Burks; Caroline Smith; Darrell Williams; John Baker; Sue Forrester; Alex and Gemma (Lyme Park)

Apologies: Eryl Hughes; Cllr Shan Alexander; Barry and Angela Sequiera

1. Welcome given by David Burks

2. Minutes of the last meeting – approved

3. Police Report - no police presence at the meeting. David had received a brief crime report from the police with a graph showing the levels of crimes in the Stockport area.  There were 9 crimes reported in High Lane in August – 4% of the crimes reported overall in Stockport and Bredbury. There was a report of a helicopter hovering over High Lane recently and it was thought to be an incident at Torkington Park.  A resident had received a flyer through her letter box advertising a tree-pruning company based in Poynton.  She contacted the company and a representative came round to quote for the job of trimming a tree and a hedge.   He gave her a very low quote of £30.00 and then became very offensive, abusive and asking intrusive questions about her situation – a very unpleasant experience.  It seemed the company didn’t have a website. She hadn’t reported this incident to the police. An attendee at the meeting raised the point that if people don’t bother reporting similar incidents then the crime statistics won’t be accurate and therefore will affect the amount of police presence allocated to High Lane. Crimestoppers can be contacted to report such incidents.  David advised residents to be vigilant and be wary of buying anything from cold callers or from leaflets through the letterbox unless you know them to be genuine tradespeople.

4. Finance Report – by John

The opening balance for the HLRA account showed a balance at the beginning of August of £3168.36.

Income - a donation was received from Mrs M Gregory on 12^th August.

Expenditure – 2 expenditure items in August.  The first was the 50% split of the donation amount being paid into the War Memorial account as requested of £125.00.  The second was the payment to Stephen Price for the licences for the HLRA website to IONOS – this was for £63.00 (7 invoices of £9 each) for the licences since February which he has been paying on behalf of the HLRA.  John has now set up a direct debit from the HLRA account to be paid on the 11^th of each month.  The September payment was for £20.00 for the hire of the village hall for tonight’s meeting.  The total expenditure since the last meeting = £208.00.  The balance now stands at £3210.36.  £2750.73 was carried over from last year’s accounts to this year. As August is the year end for the HLRA account the (pre-audit) figure for income during this year is £2329.90.  The (pre-audit) expenditure has been £1850.27.  John is now making attangements to have the accounts verified and signed off.

5. Planning applications by Eryl.
   1. 4, Hartington Rd DC/092877 - retrospective application for single storey side extension and garage conversion. A follow-on report on this planning application - the first planning application did not require planning permission, camera under permitted development, being single storey and under 30% volume.
   2. 11 Hartington DC/092585 - been approved but neither the Forum nor HLRA were informed prior to the application being passed
   3. 63 Andrew Lane DC/092948 - to remove 3 Silver birches. They have overgrown the area and are showing signs of decay. After removing would replant with something more sustainable. If this is not acceptable a reduction of between 25-30%. A willow tree - remove some limbs back, back to boundary to make it sustainable and safe. TPIO 160E
   4. 39 Derwent Rd DC/092934 - two storey extension to side and single storey extension to rear.
   5. 26, Grasmere Cres DC/092775 - amend fence.

(all of the above are for the neighbours)

    vi. Dog & Partridge DC/084601

                Discharge of conditions 2,7,20,27,29,34, of ref DC/093124

Con 7 - details of boundary treatments used to enclose the site

Con 20 - biodiversity enhancements, soft landscaping, with details of native species, hedgerows, proposed location of bat and bird boxes.

Con 27 - engineering drawings following highway works. Details of reconstruction of footway, amendment to kerb line, raised boarding platform at bus stop, uncontrolled pedestrian crossing.

Con 29 - details of operating and servicing of unit, size of vehicles, where they will be loaded and how waste is to be removed.  

Con 34 - travel plan for the development which will always operate when the site is occupied.

Some research carried out on the site during the archaeology survey revealed a stone hammer and the location of the Roman Road.  Also the location of a pond and the history and ownership of the public houses.

6. Reporting Back:

•  Changes at Lyme Park Access by Alex and Gemma.

Alex and Gemma from the National Trust at Lyme Park explained the concept of the proposed new vehicular access at Lyme Park with the help of visuals.  The plans are to upgrade the admissions hut to reduce the queue tailing back to the A6 and to welcome visitors far more efficiently and effectively by installing a larger hut with a covered area with 4 windows – 2 either side of the hut – and to widen the road to allow for 2 entry lanes and 1 exit lane.  There is a choice of opening or closing windows depending on the amount of traffic waiting to gain entry.  A formalised parking area for staff will be provided.  Alex and Gemma stated that on a Bank Holiday Monday or a sunny summers day at the weekend the park can receive upwards of 2000 visitors.  At the moment a scheme of paying on exit is being trialled – a ticket is collected on entry and then presented and payment is made on exit although this idea doesn’t necessarily provide visitors with a warm welcome and the opportunity to obtain further information about the park as required. It was found that this this pay on exit scheme reduced the entry procedure by about 12 seconds.  Other options had been explored ie relocating the admissions hut further down the driveway or using number plate recognition technology but both options were found to be not feasible.  The staff at Lyme Park are trying to encourage more people to come into the area by bus/train and by bicycle by providing a minibus pick-up area and an incentive will be offered to these users of 10% off in the café. Also alternative entries for cycle users are being explored and bike events are to be held/being held.  Leaflets and newsletters were available to take away. David gave thanks to Alex and Gemma for their presentation and contact would be made again at the planning application stage. He invited them to attend October’s AGM where there would be a bigger audience.

• Adult Gym at High Lane Park

David explained the concept of a fully inclusive adult gym to be installed in the park and continued to say that 50% of funds have been acquired (£6000.00) so far. A grant has been applied for from Manchester Airport. David has obtained an official quote for the equipment from a company called Wicksteed.  Stockport Council have agreed to maintain the equipment which will have instructions with it and will also be robust but not vandal-proof and be free of charge to users.

• Recruiting new members

David was keen to mention that the HLRA desperately need new people to join the association and that the position of Chair for the HLRA will become vacant at next month’s AGM and asked if anyone at the meeting who was keen to join the committee, to register their interest with him.

• Middlewood Road

Residents had reported at the previous meeting, incidents of heavy goods vehicles using Middlewood Road to dispose of aggregate material from motorways.  This was taking place during the night and was causing much distress to residents due to the constant noise and the intrusive headlights on the lorries. Shan Alexander was in the process of investigating this but unfortunately wasn’t in attendance at the meeting to give her full report. As far as David understands this activity has been stopped but is unable to verify this.

• High Lane Post Office

The closure of the Post Office in 19^th September was discussed.  Everybody agreed it is a valuable asset to the village and a complementary service to the pharmacy but apparently it is no longer economically viable.  Peter Cattee (the tenant of the building which is owned by Dr Mathewson) has posted the reason for closure on Facebook – he has been subsidising the Post Office to a tune of £5000 per annum. David had print-outs of Peter’s explanation available for people to read.  It  stated that in 2014 the Post Office was told that it isn’t suitable for the new model of the Network Transformation programme (Horizon) that is being introduced to all post offices. David has approached Sainsbury’s to see whether they could accommodate the post office facilities within the new store and they are considering this but the question is “would it be worthwhile monetary-wise and would there be the space/have all the spaces been allocated?” A petition from the residents of High Lane opposing the closure of the Post Office with 1000 signatures has been handed into Parliament by Lisa Smart.  A resident stated that people need to use the Post Office more and we need to insist the government fund loss-making businesses plus the pharmacy need more government help. Other ideas discussed were the possibility of a mobile post office or a twice-weekly pop-up Post Office in the Village Hall.  One resident suggested forming a High Lane Post Office members club where residents could plug the financial gap by paying £10 per year to keep the business going. David would contact Peter Cattee about this idea.

7. O.B.

• Footpath A6 Orford Close. A resident told the meeting that the footpath from Orford Close to the A6 is usually cleared of overgrowth every year but this year it hasn’t been undertaken. David would contact the relevant councillors.
• It was reported that a small section of hedge along the A6 which Stockport Council have responsibility for, have now been pruned back allowing easier and safer passage for pedestrians on the pavement. The council said that they would contact the people who had responsibilities for the other section of the hedges.
• Middlewood Road historic footpath. David and Aron Thornley have been investigating a footpath that runs in front of the 3 cottages on Middlewood Road. The residents of the cottages need to prove that the footpath has been used in the last 20 years for Stockport Council to declare it an official adopted path and he asked if any members at the meeting had used it.
• Parking at Sainsbury's. It was pointed out that if the new store is to charge for parking, people may park across the road in the Pharmacy car park. In many cases, stores employ a reduced parking time for people shopping in their store. It was thought that our free car parks were being abused by motorists and the question of installing cameras was raised.  David explained that this would be a costly exercise not so much for the actual cameras themselves but for the installation of the infrastructure required and equipment which would require the necessary infrastructure and also personnel to monitor them.
• Disposal of dog waste at Lyme Park. A question was raised about the problem of dog waste in Lyme Park and to whether Lyme Park used cameras to monitor any incidents of people leaving dog wastebags around the parkland. Cameras are only installed in specific locations for security reasons but Lyme do have a fantastic group of volunteers who patrol the area and clean up any dog waste on a daily basis. Another question was asked if there have been any incidents of dogs harassing livestock and deer in the park. The answer was that yes, there have been issues and still are of dogs being off lead and chasing the deer and the livestock.  To counter this Lyme have adapted their on and off-lead measures and have provided some more secure areas for dogs to go for an off-lead run where there are no livestock eg Knightslow Wood.  Electric fencing has been installed to provide wider stretches of path where dogs can run freely without encountering livestock.

The HLRA AGM will be on Thursday 3rd October 2024 at 8pm at the Village Hall