S I T TI BI

COMITUM

SANCTA COMORS

Registered at the Post Office as a Newspaper Est. 1893

INCORPORATED WITH THE CONGLETON AND MACCLESFIELD MERCURY

THURSDAY, 25th MARCH, 2010.

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INSIDE: OUR COMPREHENSIVE PROPERTY GUIDE FEATURING LOCAL ESTATE AGENTS

Music festival gets go-ahead

Page 27

Market's death predicted Readers' Views

Pages 21-24

Page 30

What’s on... What’s gone...

Pages 18-19

Alan i a lifesaver

Page 6

Charities protest as thieves swipe bags from street

By Lyndsey Telford The theft of charity bags in Congleton has cost one organisation around two days’ takings while another said the scam was robbing people in need of “a better quality of life”.

Bags from bogus organisations can be left out for nwitting householders to fill, or the thieves can simply swipe the bulging ags meant for legitimate charities.

Audrey Barnett, assistant manager of the Home Farm Trust, based on Bridge Street, said: “It’s not just our collection bags that they are taking, it’s other local charities’ too.

“A lady who comes into the shop regularly said she saw an unmarked van driving away with the collection bags in tow. It was our bags that were taken but not by our usual sack-dropper.”

She added that the charity suspects the collections, which residents mistakenly believe go to registered charities, were actually being taken to Eastern Europe: “A chap came into

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North West the shop recently — a lorry driver — and told us that he had heard a full load of charity collection bags had been driven over to Poland.”

Mrs Barnett said Home Farm Trust’s sack-dropper posted 700 bags around Mossley this month, only to retrieve 10 of them full of donations.

“We usually get back at least 10% of what we send out so we were expecting around 70 bags. That was a big drop and has ended up costing us around two days’ takings,” she explained. • —Turn to back page.

Parking slip lets cheeky drivers into ‘golden gap’

They may not realise it, but cheeky on-street parkers in Congleton are in the middle of a golden gap during which neither the police nor Cheshire East Council is responsible for enforcing the regulations.

Civil parking enforcement powers were transferred from Cheshire Police to the unitary authority on 1st March. However, due to an administrative error, the authority is unable to assume the role until the start of April, meaning at present there is no official policing of on-street parking.

It came to light when a disabled Congleton woman contacted the

Clocks should be put forward by an hour at 1am on Sunday as British Summer Time starts.

Summer time runs until Sunday, 31st October.

“Chronicle” after she was unable to cross a pavement off Market Square in her wheelchair last Wednesday because two work vans were parked on it.

Yvonne Argent, of Ullswater Road, phoned the police that day only to be told that it was no longer their responsibility to enforce onstreet parking regulations and to contact Cheshire East.

A spokesman in the car parks and parking department told Ms Argent, (59), that due to “a legal slip”, there would be a gap of around six weeks during which time neither the police nor Cheshire East would be responsible for on-street parking.

Ms Argent, who uses a wheelchair because she has spinal problems, told the “Chronicle”: “I couldn’t believe it. They told me I would have to sort it out myself and take the two van drivers on alone – that I would have to fight my own corner.

“We’re treated like rubbish and we’re definitely not getting value for money from this council.”

She added: “I was told there had been some sort of blip in the legal process. Some procedure had not been followed correctly or something hadn’t been done legally so I was advised it was up to me to tackle the problem myself.

• —Turn to back page.

Taking a bite out of the Big Apple. The Trinity Operatic Society performed the classic New York musical “Thoroughly Modern Millie” this week. The play follows the adventures of a small town girl who moves to the city to find a husband. Chris Little stars as Jimmy Smith and Laura Mathews plays the title role, Millie Dillmount. For more pictures and a review see page 29. (“Chronicle” photo. 1219d/10).

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