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THURSDAY, 28th JANUARY, 2010.

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INSIDE: OUR COMPREHENSIVE PROPERTY GUIDE FEATURING LOCAL ESTATE AGENTS

Carnival route 2010

Transport plan wins lotteryReaders' Views Pages 19-22Page 15

Page 24

What’s on... What’s gone...

Pages 16-18

Council hijacks car par

Page 48

Public grilling for councillors over parking charges

Little heroes help Haiti

By Chris Young Members of the public grilled councillors about parking charges during a heated meeting on Tuesday.

Among the 150 protestors was Congleton’s Town Mayor who said Cheshire East Council had made “an abortion” out of the public consultation rocess and the former leader of Congleton Borough Council claimed charges would never have een introduced under the old council.

The meeting, held at New Life Church on West Road, was organised by protest group No 2 Parking

Charges, which had collected 16,000 signatures of people opposed to the plans. The group put forward an alternative plan.

Charging will start at most town centre car parks on Monday, 15th February. Traffi c wardens will be on patrol from March and residents’ parking permits will soon follow.

New Life Church’s Steve Hodgkinson chaired the meeting. Former county councillor Neville Price was to have been the chairman, but he said that many Cheshire East councillors would not have turned up because of his reputation as a fi erce critic of the council.

At the meeting Ian Knowlson, Sandbach-based chairman of N2PC, acknowl

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www.congletonglass.co.uk Email: congletonglass@btconnect.com edged that car parks needed to be managed. He proposed a clock card system, used in some Cumbrian towns, as opposed to the meter-feeding plans. He said it would be a cheaper for motorists but was still a viable alternative for parking management.

Under the scheme, shoppers could buy a card costing £2 a year, or 4p a week, which would allow parking for up to two hours in the busiest car parks; other car parks would remain free and long stay.

Those who attended the meeting seemed to like the plan and also asked Congleton Town Council to take over parking management.

• —Turn to back page.

A s-teddy stream of donations rolled in at The Quinta Primary School, West Heath, Congleton, on Friday when pupils dressed as their heroes for a Heroes For Haiti fund-raising event. Pictured above, nursing the school teddy back to health are Eleanor Keene and Laura Scholes. For the full story and more photos, turn to page 25. (“Chronicle” photo. 401d/10).

Woman is accused of using husband’s drugs cash for plastic surgery

A woman has denied using money belonging to her drug dealer husband to buy £4,000 worth of cosmetic surgery.

Michelle Doreen Pedley, (35), from Barley Cross Terrace, Scholar Green, appeared at Chester Crown Court on Monday, where she pleaded not guilty to fi ve separate charges.

She is accused of two counts of fraud, one count of theft, one charge of money laundering and

Drunk and disor-door-ly

Occupants of a house on Buttermere Court, Congleton were woken by a burglar on Sunday at 4am.

The offender was lifting a rear patio door off its hinges when he woke them.

Witnesses said the man staggered away along Loachbrook Avenue, as if drunk.

another of transferring criminal property.

Her husband, Paul Pedley, (44), was sentenced to four years’ in jail last June after pleading guilty to two counts of possession of cocaine with intent to supply and one of possession of cannabis with intent to supply.

The money laundering and transferring of criminal property charges relate to the money her husband had made illegally through his drug dealing.

Mrs Pedley is accused of entering into an arrangement where his money was placed in her bank account between 18th October 2006 and 19th November 2008. She is also accused of using £4,000 of his criminally obtained money to spend on cosmetic surgery in August 2008.

The fraud charges involve allegations that she made a false representation to Argos staff.

She was also accused of stealing from her husband between the 12th and 29th January 2009. ●— Turn to back page.

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