New homes are now springing up across the borough
I AM still a bit miffed that the Seashell Trust has been denied permission to build 325 homes on its land by Stockport council. I hope as time goes by that the council will look again at their request, perhaps when we have developed a few more of our brownfield sites.
I have had a look at Crowther Street/ Middle Hillgate, which Lowry captured in one of his famous paintings and which was highlighted in the Stockport Express last week.
As mentioned in the newspaper, the site is a challenging one to work on, not least because of it being on a number of levels.
When it is finished though, like many other places in the centre of Stockport, it will have stunning views and I’m sure all the new houses will be highly sought after.
Yesterday teatime I looked at the houses being built by Seddons on the old Saint Thomas Hospital site, to the rear of Stockport College.
If I’m not mistaken, this development has been made possible by £7.5 million of government money to purchase the land for the express purpose of providing more housing.
As with all other work that I have seen being done in Stockport in recent years, the standard of craftsmanship is very impressive.
The same can be said of all the houses which have been built near Charles Street in Heavily.
Some work remains, but I lost count of the homes which are already completed.
I did not have time this week to look at how work is progressing at the Elisabeth Mill in Reddish, but the artist’s impressions of the development which were in the Stockport Express look most exciting.
I hope the contamination issues at Midland Road in Bramhall are eventually resolved.
We need those houses to be built, especially if we are going to hold back on the development of greenfield sites.
Concerns at this site and others of increased congestion on local roads should be put to one side.
It might be difficult to imagine, but climate change marks the end of the car culture as we have known it.
I can see a lot more buses on the horizon and for Stockport, a very distinct silver lining.
Our enforced liberation from the stranglehold of cars will enable us to match Manchester’s ambitions for growth.
Manchester is building, over the next 10 years or so, for a population of 600,000. We can do that. The buildings which I am seeing being built in Stockport demonstrate to my eyes that we can do it in some style.
The 10 districts of Greater Manchester are being tipped by leading commentators, to become the country’s best counter-balance to London, a new London.
I don’t doubt it, but that would leave one little matter to be resolved.
And here is where we should be allowed our own bit of fun.
If Stockport is to become part of a rival counter-balance to the capital, we must insist on our very own royalty, our own little queen.
You will be expecting me to nominate Blondie’s Debbie Harry, but I’ve still got her lined up for the Prime Minister’s job.
No, the perfect person for the role has to be Stockport-born Claire Foy, who played a brilliant Ann Boleyn in Wolf Hall and a young Elisabeth II in the Crown.
Well I think that’s the Northern Powerhouse sorted out for this week. John Tyers, Marple
ANIMAL ABUSE LAWS NEEDED
IT is good news that the man who violently kicked a beagle outside a corner shop has been banned from keeping or having contact with animals for five years and given a 12-month community punishment order, but is our animal protection law adequate?
One can appreciate that Izzy was not too seriously injured and that the man who attacked her had addiction and mental health issues and clearly needed better care and support, but she did suffer real pain and distress and a hard kick in the head could have had worse consequences.
Pet dogs have to be tied up outside food shops and are open to all kinds of abuse.
In some areas drinking and vandalism are issues and what about the pet dog attacked by another poorly handled dog and badly injured in Bramhall three weeks ago?
For that matter, the disgusting vandal attack on rabbits and a hen near Romiley shortly before Christmas?
This government, to its credit, sees the point of proposing a ban on wild animal acts and a tougher animal welfare law with a five-year jail sentence for deliberate or wanton cruelty.
Allowing for the crisis in Anglo-Russian relations, Brexit and the NHS crisis, the sooner these bills come up in the House of Commons, the better. Miss K Watson Bramhall
TECHNOLOGY IN A SAD WORLD
EVERYWHERE I go all I see are people walking around playing with their phones, oblivious to the world and the dangers around them.
Now teachers are saying children no longer know how to turn pages of a book, they just swipe at them as they would an iPhone screen.
What a sad and boring world technology has created. Jim Mcguinn Shaw Heath
GARBAGE WAS DISGUSTING
AFTER seeing the amount of garbage littering our town in last week’s Stockport Express it shows what filthy, disgusting creatures humans are. John Willis, Shaw Heath