Local Climate Impacts Profile
Cheshire East Council Local Climate Impacts Profile
Cheshire East Council 0 Local Climate Impacts Profile
Contents Page
LCLIP Summary report 1 Background 1 Identified costs 1 Moving towards adaptation 1 NI188 2 Recommendations 2 Methodology 4 Summary of results 5 Impacts of severe weather events (summary) 6 Services 7 Future climate projections 8 What this could mean for the future 8
Introduction 9 Methodology 9
Local weather 10 Cheshire Gap 10 Urban Heat Island Effect 10
Severe weather events in the media 11 Extreme heat 12 Extreme cold 12 Wind/tornado 12 Flooding 12 Fog 13
Weather data 13 Keele University weather station 13 Analysis of weather recorded at Keele University weather station 14 West Cheshire College weather station 15 Buxton weather station 16 Highways IceNet system 17 Environment Agency rainfall gauge 18
Vulnerabilities 19 Population 19 Retail 20 Transport 20 Settlement 20 Areas of deprivation 20 Soil 20 Geology 20
Impacts 21 Health 21 Electricity supply 21
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Water supply 21 Retail 21 Tourism 22 Biodiversity and wildlife 22 Transport 22 Food supply 22
Services 23 Customer service 23 Procurement enablement 24 Green ICT 26 Policy & planning 26 Biodiversity 27 Leisure 28 Highways 30 Transport 33 Finance 33 Green spaces 34 Car parks 37 Children & families 37 Civil protection 38 Risk & compliance 39 Facilities 40 Libraries 41 Adult Services 42 Tatton Park 43 Police Service 46
Weather related costs 47 Costs reported by services 47
Thresholds 49 Heatwave 49 Highways Decision Matrix Guide 50 Highways Treatment Matrix Guide 51 River Dee drought thresholds 52
Adaptation 53 NI188 53
UK Climate Projections (UKCP09) 54 Crewe and Congleton high emissions –precipitation 55 Crewe and Congleton medium emissions – precipitation 57 Crewe and Congleton low emissions – precipitation 59 Crewe and Congleton high emissions – temperature 61 Crewe and Congleton medium emissions – temperature 63 Crewe and Congleton low emissions – temperature 65 Macclesfield high emissions – precipitation 67 Macclesfield medium emissions – precipitation 69 Macclesfield low emissions – precipitation 71
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Macclesfield high emissions – temperature 73 Macclesfield medium emissions – temperature 75 Macclesfield low emissions – temperature 77 Nantwich high emissions – precipitation 79 Nantwich medium emissions – precipitation 81 Nantwich low emissions – precipitation 83 Nantwich high emissions – temperature 85 Nantwich medium emissions – temperature 87 Nantwich low emissions – temperature 89
Recommendations 91 Key areas 92
Acknowledgements 94
Appendices 96 Severe weather events database 97 Service questionnaire 107 Keele University weather station graphs 109 West Cheshire College weather station graphs 112 Buxton weather station graphs 114 Procurement Enablement graphs on essential mileage 116 Scoring chart for Risk 117 Risk matrix – likelihood and impact 118 Crewe swimming pool energy consumption 2008/09 119 School closures 05/01/2010-09/01/2010 120 Hurdsfield Road, Macclesfield 122 Countryside Service impacts 123 Withington rainfall gauge 124 Highways weather data 125 Land drainage problems and outline solutions 126 Post storms/severe weather site risk assessment - Tatton Park 131 Assessing hazards during a tree inspection at Tatton Park 132 Adverse weather procedures and guidelines – Tatton Park 133
Glossary 136
References 137
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LCLIP summary report
This is a summary report of the Local Climate Impacts Profile, consisting of a report over 100 pages, which will follow shortly.
Background
A Local Climate Impacts Profile (LCLIP) is a report on the vulnerability of Cheshire East Council, assessing the impacts of severe weather events on council services, to make sure that the council is prepared for any such future events.
Identified costs
Financial information has been gathered and analysed for a five year period (2005- 2010) across Highways winter maintenance, Highways drainage, building damage and land drainage for Building Control, and a total five year cost for these services alone is £8, 690, 778.
Some of these costs are likely to be greatly underestimated, and so the actual costs of severe weather events could in fact be far greater.
Moving towards adaptation
The Climate Change Adaptation Strategy is an essential part of NI188, and will enable adaptation to be integrated into all future projects for the council.
• Adapting now could help avoid unnecessary costs and damages in the future.
Adapting can help to assess the risks to the council from severe weather events, and any Business Continuity Plans can be based on any findings from a risk assessment.
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NI188
NI188 is divided into five different levels, which are:
Level 0 – Baseline. - The Authority has started the process of assessing the potential threats and opportunities across its services, and agreed the next steps.
Level 1 – Public commitment and impacts assessment. - The Authority has made a public commitment to identify and manage climate related risk, and has carried out a local risk based assessment of vulnerabilities and opportunities to current and future weather and climate. It has also communicated these potential vulnerabilities to service heads and local partners, and set out the next steps.
Level 2 – Comprehensive risk assessment. - The Authority has undertaken a comprehensive risk based assessment of current and future vulnerabilities to weather and climate, and has identified priority risks for its services.
Level 3 – Comprehensive action plan.
Level 4 – Implementation, monitoring and continuous review.
The North West Climate Change Action Plan requires that the councils in the region reach Level 2 of NI188 by 2012. Level 2 also requires that they have started incorporating the best adaptive responses into council strategies, plans, partnerships and operations.
Appropriate adaptive responses for the priority areas should have been put in place, and work should have started with the LSP to encourage identification of major weather and climate vulnerabilities and opportunities affecting the delivery of the LSP’s objectives. This LCLIP is the first step in this process.
Recommendations
Those recommendations from the LCLIP that are agreed with service heads will form the first part of Cheshire East Council’s Adaptation Strategy, and could include:
Gather information on the drainage of the network, identifying the drainage asset could be put on a computer system for people to see. This could be useful to show areas of the network that particularly struggle with heavy rain, and would help to locate any weak areas in the system.
High risk flood areas should be identified and mapped. If these hotspot areas are known about, the council can prepare for possible future flooding and be better prepared.
Weather alerts should be sent to the public by a faster method, the system could be made more interactive.
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Schools should be made aware of their responsibility to close, reinforcing the appropriate criterion, due to severe weather, which could help to prevent confusion.
Relevant staff need to be engaged in the idea of risk assessment and Business Continuity Planning.
The introduction of more laptops and other aids to mobile working should be encouraged to reduce the affect on services of severe weather events, wherever it is practical and relevant to the work.
Trees should be checked in car parks and schools, to reduce the risk of them falling over in severe weather and causing damage or injury.
The Corporate Risk Register should have a section detailing severe weather events. This would help to raise the profile of severe weather events and climate change within the council, and would also help the council to become more prepared.
The process of undertaking this LCLIP study has identified several key areas in which the council could improve its services during periods of extreme weather.
Business Continuity Plans
It is essential that services have Business Continuity Plans relevant to events of severe weather. This should enable staff to work – either from their usual location or from home, and also services such as leisure centres and libraries can remain open to the public.
Schools
Communication needs to be improved along with an understanding of how schools can be affected by severe weather; schools need to know that it is their responsibility to close a school for a day, and not the responsibility of the council.
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Emergencies
Wind has been identified as the most likely severe weather event to occur in the future, and also the one which could cause the most damage, causing the most disruption to council services.
The Civil Protection team need to prepare for a potential increase in the destruction of buildings and associated emergency measures aimed at protecting the people of Cheshire East.
Communication
Communication could also be improved; confusion in times of emergency could prove costly or fatal in some circumstances.
All of this information can then be gathered and written into a Climate Change Adaptation Strategy for the council.
Methodology
The study has been carried out in 4 phases as follows:
1. Media search – News reports (January 1998-February 2010) indicating that a severe weather event has affected human lives (included in a database) have been analysed and a total of 123 events have been found in the media during this time period.
2. Interviewed key service heads – Staff were asked about the impacts and costs upon their service to add information to the database, extra information was also collected.
3. Future projections - Projections for Cheshire East were analysed using UKCIP’s User Interface. This is a web-based portal on the UKCP09 website allowing users to look at future weather projections for a given location and create graphs showing this information. www.ukcip.gov.uk/
4. Recommendations – A list of recommendations was made considering the projections for future climate on Cheshire East.
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Summary of results
A summary table of events can be seen below.
Impacts and costs for Cheshire East Council Weather Dates Service Financial Employee Reputation event delivery time High 1998, 2000, 2002, Civil Protection ££££ wind/storm 2005, 2007, 2008, Highways Children & 2009 Families Adult Services Leisure Greenspaces Snow/cold 1998, 1999, 2000, Highways £££ 2002, 2003, 2004, Children & Families 2005, 2006, 2007, Adult Services 2008, 2009, 2010 Leisure Tourism Greenspaces Heavy 1998, 2005, 2006, Civil Protection ££ rain/flooding 2007, 2009 Highways Children & Families Adult Services Leisure Greenspaces Heatwave/sun 2003, 2006, 2007, Children & £ 2009 Families Adult Services Leisure Tourism Greenspaces Fog 2007 Highways £ Leisure
Many of the services have reported that strong winds have caused the most damage, including damage to trees, buildings and even endangering lives. Such damage can also make the public question the reputation of the council, and also takes up valuable staff time.
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Impacts of severe weather events (summary)
Here is a list of weather events found in the media search, (with the service affected in brackets). The weather event which was reported in the local media most often (79 times) were cold weather such as snow and ice. This could be because snow and ice cause problems such as commuters struggling to get to work, and vulnerable groups of people falling ill. Fog was only reported in the media once, and this was because a football match had to finish earlier than expected due to the weather conditions.
Snow/ice – 79 reports
• Injuries from slipping on ice & chest illnesses increased (Adult Services) • Warnings of grit running out (Highways) • Around 50 schools closed in January 2010 (Children & Families) • Only 4 schools were closed in January 2009 (Children & Families) • Pot holes needing repairs to roads (Highways) • Public transport problems (Adult Services)
High winds/tornado – 17 reports • Up to 100 houses in Cheshire were damaged by a tornado in January 2002 (Building Control) • Power cuts in January 2005 (Building Control) • Fallen trees (Children & Families, Greenspaces) • Injuries (Adult Services) • Road closures (Highways) • Public transport disruptions (Adult Services) • Events cancelled (Leisure) • Emergency calls increase (Adult Services & Civil Protection)
Heavy rain/flash floods – 14 reports • Macclesfield saw two inches of rain fall in five hours, raising river levels, flooding drains and collapsing culverts in June 1998 (Planning & Policy)
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• Road closures (Highways) • Public transport disruptions (Adult Services) • Events cancelled (Leisure) • Emergency calls increase (Adult Services & Civil Protection) • Raw sewage contaminating water supplies (Civil Protection)
Heatwave – 6 reports Loss of fish in July 2009 due to the extreme heat (Biodiversity) • A number of grass fires were caused by the hot weather in August 2006 (Greenspaces and Biodiversity) • Increased sales of ice cream in August 2003 (Leisure) • Forest fires (Greenspaces) • Breathing problems and sun stroke increase (Adult Services) • Increase in visitor numbers to places like Tatton Park (Leisure, Greenspaces & Biodiversity)
Fog – 1 report • Football match was ruined by thick fog in February 2007 (Leisure) Here is a graph of the services involved with the severe weather events.
Services
The following graph shows the amount of times that the different services were called upon to deal with various severe weather events according to the media reports dating from January 1998- February 2010. Pie chart showing council services needed for each event reported in the media January 1998 - February 2010
1%
7% 1% Waste Care Council services 13% Highways needed for each 42% Children & Families event reported in the Adult Services media January 1998- Leisure February 2010 23% Biodiversity Greenspaces 13%
The pie chart shows that the Highways service was needed the most (42%) during the severe weather events based on reports in the media; other services include retail and tourism.
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This could be because the media report stories such as traffic problems and accidents during periods of snow and ice more than the impacts upon the retail and tourism industries.
Future climate projections
The future climate of Cheshire East has been predicted using UKCIP’s projections for temperatures and precipitation and details are available for Crewe and Congleton, Macclesfield and Nantwich.
Change in summer temperature (◦C) using the medium emissions scenarios over various time periods
This particular graph shows the summer temperature increases using the ‘medium’ emissions scenario. The medium case scenario is the most likely scenario to occur in the future, and so has been given here as an example, although graphs from the other emission scenarios can be seen in the report.
Graphs like this one have been created for the three emissions scenarios, high, medium and low.
What this could mean for the future
Summer rainfall has been projected to decrease in the future, but winter precipitation to increase and more extreme weather events could increase, meaning that we could see more flooding events.
Average summer and winter temperatures have been projected to rise according to the projections and so more heatwaves can be expected for the future, but more severe snow events could also occur.
Using this information and the other information gathered will lead to the compilation of future recommendations.
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Introduction
Cheshire East Council governs the following towns; Macclesfield, Congleton, Crewe, Knutsford, Middlewich, Nantwich, Sandbach and Wilmslow.
Cheshire East Council was formed (on April 1st 2009) from the previous authorities of Congleton Borough Council, Crewe and Nantwich Borough Council, Macclesfield Borough Council and Cheshire County Council.
This map taken from the Cheshire East Council website, shows the areas which the council covers, it is the third largest unitary authority in the North West next to Manchester and Liverpool, and covers an area of 1, 116km².
Methodology
The study has been carried out in 4 phases as follows:
1 Media search – News reports (January 1998-February 2010) indicating that a severe weather event has affected human lives (included in a database) have been analysed and a total of 123 events have been found in the media during this time period.
2 Interviewed key service heads – Staff were asked about the impacts and costs upon their service to add information to the database, extra information was also collected.
3 Future projections - Projections for Cheshire East were analysed using UKCIP’s User Interface. This is a web-based portal on the UKCP09 website allowing users to look at future weather projections for a given location and create graphs showing this information.
4 Recommendations – A list of recommendations was made considering the projections for future climate on Cheshire East.
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Local weather
The words weather and climate have different meanings to meteorologists. Weather has been defined as what is happening outside the window at the current time. Climate is seen as the average weather recorded over a given time period, normally over 30 years.
The Cheshire Gap affects the weather experienced in Cheshire, and the Urban Heat Island Effect affects urban areas of Cheshire East Council.
Cheshire Gap
The weather in Cheshire is affected by the ‘Cheshire Gap’, so called because according to Elizabeth Pascoe of the Met Office, ‘there is a gap in the hills between the Welsh mountains and the Pennines (southern Peak District).’ It was mentioned that mountains often act as a barrier to rain-bearing clouds, but in a northwesterly wind, rain off the Irish Sea can feed through the gap and into the Midlands without the hills getting in the way.
This effect can influence the weather of the local area, and it can be seen on rainfall maps of the area as an area swinging down into the area.
Tail of rainfall showing the Cheshire Gap
Fig - Rainfall map of the UK taken on 06/01/10 showing the Cheshire Gap effect
In urban areas of the county, it is possible that the Urban Heat Island Effect has an effect on the local weather.
Urban Heat Island Effect
The main towns in Cheshire East may experience the Urban Heat Island Effect, described by The Encyclopedia Of Earth as “urban air and surface temperatures that are higher than nearby rural areas. Many cities and suburbs have air temperatures that are 2 to 10◦F (1 to 6◦C) warmer than the surrounding natural land cover.”
This occurs as buildings and streets in cities absorb the sun’s energy throughout the day, and then radiate it out during the night. One way of overcoming this would be to incorporate more green areas into the cityscape, which would help provide areas of shade.
The next part of this report looks at the severe weather events that have been reported in the media.
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Severe weather events in the media
Severe weather events that have appeared in the media can be seen in a table in the appendices of this report. Severe weather events included in the database are sourced from the following newspapers;
The Sentinel Crewe Chronicle Middlewich Guardian Macclesfield Express Knutsford Guardian Congleton Guardian Wilmslow Express The Chronicle Series
Other reports have also been found on the BBC News website and in the Cheshire Life magazine.
Number of severe weather events recorded between January 1998 - January 2010 90 80 70 60 50 40 Number of events 30 20 10 0
Fog
Strong wind Heavy rain Cold weather Combination Heat / sunshine Severe weather event type
Fig – Bar chart showing the number of severe weather events recorded in local media sources from January 1998 – January 2010.
The weather event which was reported in the local media most often (79 times) were seen during cold weather such as snow and ice. This could be because snow and ice cause problems such as commuters struggling to get to work, and vulnerable groups of people falling ill. Fog was only reported in the media once, and this was because a football match had to finish earlier than expected due to the weather conditions.
Some examples have been given below of severe weather events found in local media sources, and the severe weather event database can be seen in the appendices.
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Extreme heat
The Middlewich Guardian reported grass fires caused by extreme heat on August 23rd 2006. The story was entitled “fire was too close to forest”, and suggested that firefighters were on full alert after a blaze threatened to spread to Delamere Forest, officers were called to the scene at 4.45 pm on Friday after four bales of straw and hay caught fire at Eddisbury Lodge Farm.
Extreme heat and sunshine was also reported in the Crewe Chronicle with the headline ‘here comes the sun!’ on 8th August 2003. The hot weather lead to an increase in sales of bright pink flip-flops, tropical ice-cream and even maternity wear, Woolworths in Crewe ran out of paddling pools as more people tried to spend more time outdoors.
Heatwave thresholds recorded by the Met Office can be seen further on in this document.
Extreme cold
The Crewe Chronicle reported “alert following severe weather forecast” on January 31st 2008. Cheshire County Council’s maintenance teams and gritter fleet are on 24 hour alert to face the severe weather threat forecast for the county. The authority’s maintenance crews, snow ploughs and gritting fleet were on call throughout the weekend with extra drivers on standby 24 hours a day to clear the snow.
The Knutsford Guardian reported on 5th January 2010 that, ‘snow hits Knutsford – again.’ The snow blanketed Knutsford, and the following schools were closed; Knutsford High, St. Vincent’s Primary, Egerton Primary, Holmes Chapel Comprehensive, St. John’s Wood Community, Mobberley Primary, Manor Park and Yorston Lodge.
Wind / tornado
The BBC site reported that a “tornado rips into house” on January 26th 2002 when a tornado damaged up to 100 houses in Alsager near Crewe. Shocked eyewitnesses said that “a wall of water” carved a pathway 20 yards wide through a housing estate in the Close Lane area.
The BBC site also reported gales as “five people killed in bad weather” on January 18th 2007. One man was killed in Chester when his lorry was blown over, a farmer died repairing a fence near Birkenhead and another was struck by a tree near Crewe. Derek Barley, 61, of Manchester, was working on a site in Middlewich when he was fatally injured.
Flooding
Flash floods were reported on August 9th 2007 by the Middlewich Guardian, entitled “Nantwich Councillor calls for grid action after floods.” It reported that the streets of Nantwich were turned into rivers after a freak storm hit the town. Torrential rain and hail hammered down for an hour, and as a result, Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service received 50 emergency calls between 8.30 pm and 9.30 pm from people calling for assistance with flooding. Crewe was affected badly with both London Road and Millstone Lane taking the brunt of the storm in Nantwich.
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Fog
The Knutsford Guardian reported on 7th February 2007 that, ‘weather ruins another game.’ Fog apparently descended onto a football game at halftime and put an early end to Winsford United’s quarter final division-two trophy match against Ashton Town when Winsford were winning 1-0 at the time.
Weather data
Weather data has been collected from Keele University weather station, which is approximately 14 miles away from Crewe railway station, and the data taken from the Highways team can be used alongside this.
Keele University weather station
The Keele University weather station can be found on the roof of one of the University buildings, and is at an altitude of 179 m (587ft) and all of the findings were recorded at 9am every day. This data recorded at the station is verified by the Met Office, and so is reliable, and is also in an area which experiences the Cheshire Gap.
Yearly average sunshine hours and rainfall (mm) recorded at Keele University weather station 1972-2008
160.0
140.0
120.0
100.0 Sunshine hours 80.0
Rainfall (mm) Amount 60.0
40.0
20.0
0.0 1972 1976 2980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 Year
Figure 4 – Yearly average sunshine hours and rainfall (mm) recorded at Keele University weather station 1972-2008
The lowest yearly average amount of sunshine hours were recorded during 1979, when an annual average of 87.5 hours was recorded, but the highest amount was recorded in 2003, with 147.7 hours recorded. The linear trend line on the graph in the appendices shows an increase in the amount of yearly average sunshine hours recorded during the period of time.
The lowest yearly average minimum temperature was recorded in 1986 with an average of 4.5◦C, and the highest recorded was an average of 6.8◦C in 2006. The highest maximum temperature was recorded in 2006, when 13.6◦C was measured, there was a heatwave recorded in the Middlewich
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Guardian, dating from 28th July 2006 – 30th July 2006. The trend line shown on this graph suggests that there has been a sharp rise in average minimum temperature over the time period.
The lowest yearly average extreme maximum temperature was recorded in 1972 with an average of 16.3◦C, and the highest recorded was an average of 20.5◦C in 2003. The Crewe Chronicle reported on 8th August 2003 a heatwave seeing increased sales of bright pink flip-flops, tropical ice cream and even maternity wear. The trend line shown on this graph suggests that there has been a rise in yearly average extreme maximum temperature over the time period.
Analysis of weather data recorded at Keele University weather station
This section analyses the weather data recorded between 1972 and 2009 at Keele University.
Mean maximum temperature
The highest maximum temperature was recorded in 2006, when 13.6◦C was measured. There was a heatwave recorded in the Middlewich Guardian, dating from 28th July 2006 – 30th July 2006, firefighters were on full alert after a blaze threatened to spread to Delamere Forest, and the incident was included in a number of grass fires caused by the hot weather.
Extreme maximum temperature
The lowest extreme maximum temperature was recorded at Keele University weather station in 1972 when a temperature of 16.3◦C was recorded.
The highest temperature of 26.6◦C was recorded in 2009; a heatwave was reported in the Knutsford Guardian, saying that there was an increase in respiratory conditions, and that Warrington Hospital recorded a ‘significant’ increase in A&E attendances with conditions like pneumonia, and that the humidity led to an increase in breathing problems.
Extreme minimum temperature
The lowest minimum temperature recorded was -5.5 in 2009, but the highest recorded was 2.1◦C which was recorded in 2006. December 2009 saw Leighton Hospital’s A&E department see a rush of admissions with trips, slips and fractures, leading to local people being urged to think twice before using the Emergency Department.
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West Cheshire College weather station
The West Cheshire College weather station is based on the roof of its Chester campus in Handbridge, and has monitored weather conditions since 1997, at an altitude of 40m above sea level.
Total rainfall (mm) and average temperature (◦C) measured at West Cheshire College weather station 1997-2008
11.5 900 800 11 700 600 10.5 500 Temperature (◦C) 400
10 Rainfall (mm) Temp (◦C)Temp Rain (mm) 300 9.5 200 100 9 0
1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Year
The graphs can be seen in the appendices, but here is a brief overview of what they suggest.
The trend line on the temperature graph shows the yearly maximum temperature slowly increasing over the years. The UKCIP projections indicate that temperatures are likely to rise in the future, although there have been exceptions where the temperature has decreased.
The trend line on the yearly minimum temperature graph shows the yearly minimum temperature decreasing, which is surprising as the climate projections have suggested that temperatures in the future will be increasing. More weather data should be analysed to provide a clearer picture of minimum temperatures.
The rainfall graph shows yearly total rainfall slowly decreasing over the years, and this has been projected to occur in the future. There have been exceptions where more rainfall has been recorded, but a general decline in rainfall can be clearly seen using the trend line.
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Buxton weather station
This weather station was chosen as it is not far away from Macclesfield, and is thought to experience similar weather to the Macclesfield area, the station is at an altitude of 340 m (1115 ft) above sea level on Harpur Hill, Buxton.
Total Rainfall (mm), sunshine (hours) and average temperature (◦C) measured at Buxton weather station 2004-2009 1600 10
1400 9.5 1200
1000 9 Total rainfall 800
Total sunshine (hours) (hours)
8.5 (◦C)Temp 600 Total average temperature (◦C)
Rain (mm) and sun 400 8 200
0 7.5 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Year
Fig – Total rainfall (mm), sunshine (hours) and average temperature (◦C) measured at Buxton weather station 2004- 2009
The highest yearly average temperature was recorded in 2007, when an average of 9.42◦C was measured, and the highest total amount of rainfall was measured in 2008, with 1517mm measured. Some more detailed weather graphs can be seen in the appendices.
The Buxton weather station is at the highest elevation out of the three stations used in this study, which could help to explain the low yearly average temperatures, as they are lower than those recorded at West Cheshire College. The amount of rainfall recorded at the Buxton weather station is also higher than that recorded at West Cheshire College.
The Highways team uses a weather monitoring computer-based system called IceNet.
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Highways IceNet system
The system displays all sensor and forecast data through a password protected internet website. The data can be seen in graphical, tabular, cartographic and text format, and historic data stored within the Vaisala Meteorological Database is accessible through IceNet.
This information can then be used to determine which roads are closed during extreme weather events in order to prevent accidents occurring and to prevent congestion and other problems.
There was a report in The Sentinel on January 3rd 2009 entitled “motorists escape severe weather as county braced for more snow.” Apparently a small number of roads were shut because of the snowfall, including the A53 between Leek and Buxton, and the A54 Macclesfield to Buxton Road.
This chart indicates that at around 12pm, the air temperature dropped down to around -5◦ Celsius, which was recorded at the A537 Cat and Fiddle weather station.
Another severe weather event recorded in the local media occurred on January 18th 2007. A report appeared in the Middlewich Guardian, entitled “ambulance chiefs warn public to stay indoors.”
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The Vaisala IceNet system has generated this graph, and apparently at 11am that day at the A537 Cat and Fiddle weather station, a 72mph gust of wind was registered.
The system registered a wind speed of 51.9 mph at the A537 Cat and Fiddle Station on 18th January 2007. Five people were killed in the North West on that day by the strong winds, including someone struck by a tree near Crewe and Derek Barley, 61, of Manchester who was working on site in Middlewich when he was fatally injured.
The coldest air temperature recorded on the system was -4.8◦C at the A537 Cat and Fiddle Station on 7th January 2010, and this was the day that major sewer repair work was delayed in Sandbach due to the snow. The Environment Agency has several rainfall gauges around Cheshire.
Environment Agency rainfall gauge
Steve Murray of the Environment Agency has sent rainfall data which has been analysed; the data was recorded at Withington, Brode Hall, north-west of Congleton. This gauge is the most central of all the Environment Agency’s gauges in Cheshire East, and so it was thought that this would be the most appropriate one to use for this study. The data recorded up until September 2009 has also been quality checked by the Met Office.
A graph of these results can be seen in the appendices, but the highest amount of rainfall was recorded during August 2004 with 186mm, and the lowest amount of rainfall was recorded in December 2000 with 0mm.
The next part of this report discusses the different vulnerabilities of Cheshire East to severe weather events.
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Vulnerabilities
The vulnerability of an area contributes to how an area is impacted upon by a severe weather event; a more vulnerable area will suffer far more greatly than a less vulnerable area.
Population
The population of Cheshire East has grown steadily since 1984, when there was an estimated population of 328.2 thousand people; the population for 2008 was estimated at 361.5 thousand people.
Line graph showing the population estimate 1984-2008
370 360 350 Population 340 Population 330 320 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004 Year
Fig – Line graph showing the population estimate (in thousands) 1984-2008
The population has been predicted for Cheshire East for the years 2011, 2016, 2021 and 2026. The population estimate for 2011 is 364.8 thousand people, and this number then increases to 379.3 thousand people in 2026.
Cheshire East population estimates estimates (in thousands) 2006-2026
380 375 370 Population 365
Population 360 355 2006 2011 2016 2021 2026 Year
Fig – Line graph showing the population estimates (in thousands) 2006-2026 Cheshire East Council 19 Local Climate Impacts Profile
Retail
The Crewe Chronicle reported on August 8th 2003, that increased temperatures led an increase in sales of pink flip-flops, tropical ice cream and even maternity wear. Woolworths in Crewe even ran out of paddling pools to sell.
Transport
Transport was affected on February 2nd 2009, when the Chester Chronicle reported that Cheshire Police closed the A54 which crosses the Cheshire/Derbyshire boundary because of the snow, and the A537 Cat and Fiddle Road was closed but later re-opened due to the snow.
Settlement
Settlement can determine how vulnerable its inhabitants are to severe weather. For example, the Middlewich Guardian reported on August 23rd 2006 that homes and businesses flooded after the town was hard hit by deluges. Karen and Stuart Derbyshire who have lived in Booth Lane for ten years said that they were flooded for the third time in four years.
September 2nd 2009 saw another report in which it was stated that Booth Lane will be closed for up to six months as part of a major flood prevention project, and was thought to be prone to flooding due to the rise in the building developments and growing population in the area.
Areas of deprivation
The Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) is a national deprivation index, and is based on 7 factors including; income; employment; health, deprivation and disability; education, skills and training; barriers to housing and services; crime; and living environment. According to 2005 data, 6% of Cheshire East’s population lives in deprived areas. St. Barnabas is the most deprived area of Cheshire East.
If damage occurs to buildings in the deprived areas, they are less likely to be repaired due to poverty and may therefore pose much more of a risk of collapsing than buildings destroyed through extreme weather which may have been repaired.
Soil
The soil of Cheshire East is mainly a slowly permeable seasonally wet slightly acid but base-rich loamy and clayey soil with impeded drainage.
This could help to explain the amount of flash floods that have been reported across the area.
Geology
The geology of Cheshire is composed mainly of Triassic sandstones, to the north west of Cheshire, the sandstone is faulted, and the carboniferous coal measures can be seen. Millstone Grit can be found underneath these coal measures, which can be seen along the Derbyshire border on the edges of the Peak District dome.
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Impacts
Severe weather events and future climate change can have an impact upon many different aspects of human lives, including health, electricity and water supplies, retail, tourism, biodiversity and wildlife, transport and food supply.
Health
The Sentinel reported that, ‘big freeze stretches emergency services’ on 8th January 2008. Crewe’s Leighton Hospital opened a 24-bed ward to cope with extra patients as thousands of people suffered with broken bones, cuts and bruises following falls on icy pavements and chest illnesses have been made worse by sub-zero temperatures.
A story entitled ‘teacher’s tragic pneumonia death’ was reported on 4th January 2010 in the Wilmslow Express. A Wilmslow High School PE teacher went to see her GP three weeks prior, complaining of a bad cough and cold, but has died after being diagnosed with pneumonia at Wythenshawe Hospital.
The flash flood on June 17th 1998 in Macclesfield saw two inches of rain fall on the town, and local residents saw raw sewage contaminating the water. This could have posed a real threat to the health of the local residents, and the heaviest floods hit Hurdsfield, Prestbury, Sutton and Bollington.
Electricity supply
Severe storms in mid Cheshire were reported on 24th January 2007 in the Middlewich Guardian. Many residents were left without power, ScottishPower staff worked continuously after more than 110, 000 customers across north and mid Wales, Cheshire and Merseyside were affected during the 14 hour storm. Affected towns in Cheshire included; Lostock, Wincham and Norley, and disruption caused to traffic signals.
Water supply
The Crewe Chronicle reported that ‘snow postpones vital sewer work in Sandbach’ on 7th January 2010. The major sewer repair work was designed to improve water supplies around South Cheshire, and has been delayed due to the snow, and could mean continued water supply problems until the repair work is undertaken.
In January 2010, there were complaints from residents of Crewe and Nantwich to say that their water tasted ‘vile’ and smelled strongly of chlorine. Extra chlorine had to be pumped through the system as a result of salt used to grit the roads during the cold weather reaching the water table. United Utilities reported that the water was still safe to drink, but that they were adjusting the treatment process to take account of the effect, and that the taste would be far less noticeable.
Retail
The Macclesfield Express reported a ‘frosty start for traders’ on 6th January 2010, saying that potential customers to Macclesfield have been kept away due to the heavy snowfall and icy roads. Mandy Fazelynia from Macclesfield Chamber of Trade was forced on 5th January 2010 to close her restaurant Fina Bar and Grill in the Marketplace as her chefs could not get to work. Cheshire East Council 21 Local Climate Impacts Profile
However, on 8th August 2003, an increase in sales of bright pink flip-flops, tropical ice-cream and even maternity wear was seen due to the heat and bright sunshine, this is an example of a positive impact of extreme weather upon society. If summer temperatures will increase as predicted, Cheshire East could see more positive impacts like this as a result.
Tourism
Tatton Park, which is one of the UK’s most complete historic estates, was closed on 6th January 2010 due to the heavy snow. Tatton Park was Cheshire’s largest visitor attraction during the years 2004 and 2005, so the severe weather must have had an impact upon its finances.
Biodiversity and wildlife
The Knutsford Guardian reported on 9th July 2009 that over 3, 000 fish died in Knutsford’s Moor Pool. The town had recently experienced a heatwave with temperatures of almost 30◦C, and then soon after torrential rain flooded parts of Knutsford and the Environment Agency believe that the unusual weather caused the fish to die.
A report dating from 29th August 2007 in the Middlewich Guardian said that Marbury Park held a national Moth Night, and that it was suggested that extreme weather has resulted in a slight decline in moths in the region.
Transport
The Macclesfield Express on 12th December 2002 reported ‘anger as gritting shortage causes many accidents.’ Gritters did not go out onto local streets the previous night, as weather forecasts had predicted that temperatures would stay above freezing. Black ice and heavy frosts were on the roads, and emergency services were stretched to cope with reported crashes and accidents. A lorry and a car collided which killed the car driver, on the A523 road in Adlington.
Public transport can also be impacted upon, on the 8th January 2010 according to the Middlewich Guardian; all Arriva bus services were operating in mid Cheshire with a number of exceptions. A diversion via the M6 on Service 37 caused problems as the police continued to stack lorries from around the UK awaiting salt collection in Middlewich, this route did not serve Mount Pleasant Drive in Davenham, due to ice, but all roads were passable for local Northwich services.
Food supply
It was reported on 5th January 2010 in This is Cheshire, that supermarkets saw a surge in panic buying as shoppers stocked up on essential items.
The impacts upon Cheshire East Council’s services is the next part of this report.
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Services
The details of each service needed for each weather event have also been recorded in the local media, and this can be useful to look at which service area is needed the most during severe weather events.
Pie chart showing council services needed for each event reported in the media January 1998 - February 2010
1%
7% 1% Waste Care 13% Highways 42% Children & Families Adult Services Leisure 23% Biodiversity Greenspaces 13%
Fig – Pie chart showing services needed for each event reported in the media between January 1998 – February 2010
The pie chart shows that the Highways service was needed the most (42%) during the severe weather events based on reports in the media; other services include retail and tourism.
This could be because the media report stories such as traffic problems and accidents during periods of snow and ice more than the impacts upon the retail and tourism industries. Many of the services have reported that strong winds have caused the most damage, including damage to trees, buildings and even endangering lives. Such damage can also make the public question the reputation of the council, and also takes up valuable staff time to deal with.
The weather events database in the appendices of this document contains information on the services involved with the various weather events. The first service representative to be interviewed was from Customer Services in Cheshire East Council.
Customer Services
Paul Bayley, Customer Services Manager at Cheshire East Council has reported that 4th January 2010 saw the Contact Centre receive three times as many calls logged (75%) as opposed to the amount received on a regular day. They coped with this event by prioritizing and recording incoming messages. The Contact Centre website is updated twice every day, and the team provides highways and schools with call centre information, which aims to reduce face-to-face meetings.
The internet system which the public can use at home poses a challenge of trying to get customers to use it, currently only around 10% of people use it, whereas the figure should be about 40%.
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Customer Services total calls
Customer Service total calls recorded from 1st April-8th February 2010
16000
14000
12000
10000
8000 Dalton House Contact Centre total
Calls calls offered 6000
4000 Macclesfield Contact Centre total calls offered 2000
0
30/03/2009 30/04/2009 30/05/2009 30/06/2009 30/07/2009 30/08/2009 30/09/2009 30/10/2009 30/11/2009 30/12/2009 30/01/2010 28/02/2010
Date
This graph shows a rise in the number of calls to the customer services help lines during the first week of 2010 as a result of calls about the gritting.
The most complaints were received by the environmental services recycling team in Macclesfield, who received 160 complaints, 83% of all calls were complaints between April 1st 2009 and February 2010.
Procurement Enablement
Stephen Ashton of Procurement Enablement at Cheshire East Council has said that they hope to be at level 1 of the draft Procurement Strategy by April 2010, and then they can start moving towards level 2. Level 2 means that they start to build sustainability into goods and services, meaning that they need to make more people aware. The tone of the Strategy is to help achieve sustainability in all elements of the Council’s services.
One thing they should get involved with in the future is supplier engagement, managing their supply chain and educating their suppliers. This could include putting eco-labels on things and getting people to look at the whole life of products, carbon replacement could also be examined, and the amount of C02 and energy usage per staff trip can be calculated.
A government document on Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA) examines the overall services, including how to deal with the environment, and measures actions to achieve ‘environmental sustainability’ including our leadership role within the community.
In December 2009, the team negotiated an agreement for the provision of heating oils, aimed at getting heating oils and various other types of fuel into premises to keep heating systems functioning, and suppliers have agreed to prioritise deliveries where possible during bad weather.
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The team managed to source alternative supplies to keep the majority of schools open, and had approximately 8 schools which were experiencing delivery problems, and had issues that they may have to close. As a result of the team’s hard work, all except two had to close, the schools were only closed for one day, and these were both on a Monday.
Cheshire East Council summary spend on essential mileage for December 2009
Average Booking Type Supplier Spend Transactions Ticket Cost Administration Administration - Non vatable £618.29 195 £3.17 Administration - Vatable £206.90 12 £17.24 Administration Total £825.19 207 £3.99 Flight CONTINENTAL AIR £836.60 1 £836.60 SN BRUSSELS AIRLINES £243.90 1 £243.90 FLYBE.COM £379.92 2 £189.96 Flight Total £1,460.42 4 £365.11 FOREIGN HOTEL Hotel BOOKINGS 008 £112.08 2 £56.04 RUSKIN HOTEL £78.00 3 £26.00 UK HOTEL BOOKINGS 008 £1,643.78 11 £149.43 Hotel Total £1,833.86 16 £114.62 Rail EVOLVI RAIL TICKET £10,451.60 164 £63.73 Rail Total £10,451.60 164 £63.73 Refund Administration - Vatable -£17.25 1 -£17.25 EVOLVI RAIL TICKET -£184.10 2 -£92.05 UK HOTEL BOOKINGS 008 -£226.52 2 -£113.26 Refund Total -£427.87 5 -£85.57 HOLIDAY EXTRAS PARKING & Tours ACCOMMODATION £25.98 1 £25.98 Tours Total £25.98 1 £25.98 Grand Total £14,169.18 397 £35.69
Graphs of this information can be seen in the appendices.
According to the questionnaire, the procurement team does not have any guidelines on dealing with severe weather events, but they have adapted procurement policies to include considering environmental issues, and are encouraging service departments to do the same.
The procurement team has enough funding to cope with an increase in such weather events, but the end users possibly might need more, and the team also has enough resources.
Severe weather events generally have a medium significance on the procurement service area, but could be high for the schools that they work with.
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Green ICT
Carl Horton Leigh from Cheshire East Council has said that the council currently does not buy green electricity as it is so expensive. A Green ICT strategy is currently being written, including things such as servers being left idle overnight.
The Council also has a Print Strategy, in which they have removed desktop printers, and are replacing them with communal printers which can measure paper use, energy use and energy efficiency.
The department is keen to audit their data centre, and hope to reduce the need for travelling to conferences through the use of a Microsoft product which is a form of video conferencing, there is also the option of audio conferencing via a telephone.
There has been a move towards occasional home working, but the Carbon Trust advised against this, and so flexi time has been relaxed to allow for this.
The team receives service weather reports from Martin Grime, the Civil Protection Officer, which are then cascaded down.
Green ICT do not directly get people from a specific group in distress more frequently than others, but the authority does and the team has a responsibility to provide communications to rural and hard to reach groups.
The department is assessed as average in its reputation in tackling severe weather events for enabling and supporting flexible and mobile working, communications and ICT.
No specific type or individual event has damaged the reputation, and the department is prepared for a potential rise in extreme event intensity and frequency as an emergency centre has been established.
No financial information is kept on severe weather events, but a log is kept of lessons learned, there are not enough resources in tackling these events, or enough funding.
They are not adapting to an increase in extreme weather events and there is no future strategy, but ICT is part of corporate risk and emergency planning, weather events generally have a high significance on the ICT service area.
Policy & planning
Adrian Fisher has said that the policy and planning team gather data on carbon emissions and maintain the data in a certain format.
Potential sources of renewable energy have been examined in Cheshire East with the hope that 25- 30% is improved on development. It has been decided that non-renewable energy is cheaper, and so the team have a cash back system for using renewable energy sources. The system was very successful in the year 2009, and the team is looking to deliver again in 2010.
The team has also applied for photovoltaic panels, and has placed a bid for improving energy efficiency and cavity filling with insulation.
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Biodiversity
There has been some confusion as to who has the responsibility of land drainage; it could be Cheshire East Council or United Utilities. The confusion means that problems are not rectified as quickly as they would be without any confusion.
According to the Borough of Macclesfield Biodiversity Audit, insects form the highest percentage of biological species at 42.20%. This means that insects could be one of the groups of biodiversity to be affected by any future climate change or severe weather events
Cheshire East Council (2009) has written a list of priority habitats, including;
Hedgerows Blanket bog Arable margins Floodplain grazing marsh Eutrophic standing waters Fens Lowland beech and yew woodland Lowland calcareous grassland Lowland dry acid grassland Lowland heathland Lowland meadows Lowland raised bog Wood-pasture and parkland Mesotrophic lakes Purple moor grass and rush pastures Wet reedbeds Upland heathland Native woodland types (including wet woodland) Ancient woodland Traditional orchards Ponds Rivers Open mosaic habitats on previously developed land Inland rock habitat & scree habitat
Other biodiversity features have been identified by the Local Biodiversity Partnership, including;
Secondary woodland and mature/veteran trees Caves and disused tunnels and mines (eg. Roosts for bats) Trees and scrub used for nesting by breeding birds Previously developed land with biodiversity interest Urban green space (eg. Parks, allotments, flower-rich road verges and railway embankments) Dry stone walls Heathland Limebeds Meres Cheshire East Council 27 Local Climate Impacts Profile
Unimproved grassland Waxcap grassland
These areas should be properly protected with climate change and severe weather events in mind, as these are particularly vulnerable and the flora and fauna within the habitats could suffer if appropriate action is not taken.
Leisure
Stephen Parkinson of the Leisure team has said that rainfall and temperature records are kept by the leisure team, as golf courses and all weather pitches can be affected by adverse weather conditions.
Rainfall records are kept to defend the income of golf courses, as the number of days the course has closed due to heavy rain or ice and snow can help to explain some loss of income.
The team also spread sand on all weather pitches during ice and snow, and this can cost up to £500 - £600. This is equivalent to an evening’s income and so is affordable, but the salt can wash away if it rains.
It is important for the team to receive accurate weather forecasts for budget reasons. The team has been accredited with QUEST, a quality standard for leisure facilities, and the environmental management part includes reducing energy use. They can then show any data collected to defend the service, such as the golf courses.
As of April 2008 – January 2009, Crewe Swimming Pool had 263 lamps in the venue, and 191 of those were energy efficient, which is 73% of the total.
The following table provides information on energy usage at Crewe Pool.
Energy usage – Crewe Pool
Electricity
Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Actual 2007/08 19,637 19,847 19,883 21,321 20,833 20,461 21,658 22,506 20,583 23,833 21,045 20,817 Target 2008/09 19,146 19,351 19,386 20,788 20,312 19,949 21,117 21,943 20,068 23,237 20,519 20,297 246,113 Actual 2008/09 19,442 18,986 17,992 18,495 19,097 18,703 20,763 20,775 20,015 21,361
Gas
Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Actual 2007/08 3,382 3,138 2,111 2,261 2,047 2,593 4,093 5,671 5,730 6,192 5,494 6,055 Target 2008/09 3,297 3,060 2,058 2,204 1,996 2,528 3,991 5,529 5,587 6,037 5,357 5,904 47,548 Actual 2008/09 5,103 2,991 2,329 1,738 1,812 2,398 4,237 4,763 4,656 6,228
Water
Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Actual 2007/08 374 447 419 379 449 347 372 420 227 436 460 436 Target 2008/09 365 436 409 370 438 338 363 410 221 425 449 425 4,647 Actual 2008/09 470 537 421 450 448 472 796 402 360 500
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Some graphs showing Crewe swimming pool energy consumption for the year 2008/09 can be seen in the appendices.
Holmes Chapel Leisure Centre
The staff of Holmes Chapel Leisure Centre receive weather warnings from the communication team via email, and the previous month’s climate statistics are recorded.
The department’s reputation has been given an average rating, with golf course and facility closures, gritting of high risk areas, staff communication links and good emergency maintenance response.
The department records any golf course or leisure facility closures, and comparisons are made with the previous year’s income to determine potential loss, and monthly reports detail this information.
Macclesfield Leisure Centre
Staff at Macclesfield Leisure Centre monitor weather updates, but assess their reputation as good in tackling severe weather events, and believe that their department is prepared for a potential rise in extreme event intensity and frequency. They are also adapting to an increase in extreme weather events.
Nantwich Pool
Staff at Nantwich Pool monitor weather warnings, and do not believe that their department is prepared for a potential rise in extreme event intensity and frequency, but peaks and troughs have always been evident in weather patterns.
They do not have any financial information on weather events in damages, but do in lost income, and the pool must open when dealing with extreme weather events. They think that they do have enough funding and resources to cope with extreme weather events, and believe that these events have a low impact on their service area.
The effect of hot dry summers and potential risk of skin cancer for outdoor pool swimmers is important to this service area.
Shavington Leisure Centre
The staff at Shavington Leisure Centre monitor weather forecasts in the winter months to make decisions of when they might have to close the astro turf pitch due to frost or snow. Attendance levels might decrease because of poor weather, and the department’s reputation would be rated as good in tackling extreme weather events.
2.5 weeks of outdoor football/hockey were cancelled during the bad weather of January 2010 leading to a £1190 loss of income.
One week of outdoor football was cancelled due to the bad weather of December 2009 with a £1200 loss of income.
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Highways
The Highways team has developed a Winter Maintenance Plan, detailing the management of ice and snow, and follows the principles of the Local Authority Associations’ publication Delivering best value in highway maintenance. Cheshire East Council spread salt on 1, 200 miles of the Cheshire network on every night that frost and ice is forecast. A map of winter gritting routes can be seen in the appendices.
This is carried out by a combined fleet of 37 gritters strategically located across Cheshire. These gritters spread around 15, 000 tonnes of salt onto the highway network in an average winter, salting is normally completed before freezing occurs and normally before 7am.
Rocksalt is used on the roads, and about 40% of the network is treated. The gritting fleet spreads salt at rates of between 8gm/square metre and 40gm/square metre dependent on road conditions. When ice is forecasted, 8 or 10gm/square metre is normally spread and 40gm/square metre when the team is trying to clear a build up of snow and/or ice.
The salt should be spread accurately, as it comes from a non-renewable source and can be environmentally unfriendly and damage vegetation and road surfaces in high concentrations.
Roads which are salted are dealt with in the following order; Priority 1 routes = All ‘A’ class carriageways and routes to A&E hospitals. To maximize efficiency, other carriageways also receive this treatment and are required to be driven as part of the route linking to the ‘A’ Class network. Priority 2 routes = All other major commuter roads ‘B’ Class. Other carriageways = It is not considered practical as resources and costs for pre-treating all highways ad other carriageways are not pre-treated. They should only be post-treated to remove ice or snow only after all the Priority 1and 2 routes are treated and open to traffic and when snow or ice is likely to persist for a continuous period of 24 hours or more.
Moaz Khan of the Highways department has said that the team is not looking to install Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDs), as they are too expensive, but they are something to consider in the future.
The team is also looking at new technology in street lights in a bid to reduce electricity consumption.
Gary Mallin, the Highways and Traffic Asset Manager has said that they do not have much information on drainage of the network, and that this is a nationwide problem. Identifying the drainage asset can then be put on a computer system for people to see.
Potholes formed during prolonged periods of cold weather can affect public perceptions of the council service.
The team also want to identify high risk flood areas, but there is not enough money to deal with them properly.
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Strategic Highways
Weather updates and storm warnings are updated from the Met Office regularly.
No specific group of people become distressed as a result of extreme weather events.
The department is assessed as being average in tackling extreme weather events. Winter snow and ice damage the reputation of the highways team, and the team is not seen to be prepared for a potential rise in the intensity and frequency of these events.
No financial information is kept for Strategic Highways, and there are no guidelines on dealing with severe weather events.
The Strategic Highways team is not adapting to climate change, and there is no future strategy, and they do not have enough funding or resources to cope with an increase in severe weather events, and the recent snow event was highly significant on the service area.
Details of claims against the council are kept, and a spike in claims during the heavy snow of January 2010 was recognized.
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Claims
Claims against the authority have been analysed over the year 2009-2010, from 1st April 2009 – 26th February 2010, showing a spike in claims over the cold winter, and it is reasonable to assume that all property claims are for vehicle damage citing potholes as a cause, and all injury claims are due to trips and falls on the snow and ice.
Week 47 on both graphs saw the maximum amount of claims being made, and this week started on Monday 18th January 2010. Looking at the results, since the extreme cold starting in January 2010, there has been a marked increase in the number of claims due to vehicle damage where the claimant has cited potholes as a cause. No flooding or tree falling claims are known about for the dates covered by these graphs.
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Land drainage
The highways team have a series of maps detailing flood events in the Macclesfield area; these include Hurdsfield Road - Macclesfield, River Dean - Bollington, Welsh Row - Nether Alderley and Paddock Chase / Towers Road - Poynton.
A map of Garden Street in Hurdsfield can be seen in the appendices, which was flooded during the flash floods of June 1998. Garden Street was the worse hit as householders found themselves paddling in three foot of raw sewage which had seeped in from flooded drains.
Transport
Mark Hallett of the transport team has said that they are the provider of car pools; there are 120 across the authority. Vehicles of different sizes are available for different uses, and also provide fuel cards, and deal with insurance claims, the team currently operate 432 vehicles in Cheshire East.
Essential mileage is addressed by the team in a bid to reduce C02 emissions; another thing that they should address is changing the fleet of vehicles, especially the fleet of gritters. The oldest gritter dates from around 1998, and the total expenditure for both Cheshire East and Cheshire West is around £312, 963.
Normally gritters are replaced between every five and seven years, one gritter usually costs about £67, 000, and costs around £6, 000 in maintenance, a 6 wheeled gritter can carry around 9 cubic tonnes of salt around Macclesfield. There was a peak in the cost of gritters in the year 2009, there was a plan for vehicle replacement but constantly needs to be updated.
There are problems experienced by the transport team which could be rectified, one of which is journey efficiency. Drivers should pick people up who live in close proximity to one another, rather than having different vehicles picking up people who could easily share a journey.
Finance
Paul Goodwin has said that the finance team consider how appropriate home working is in the event of severe weather, and if it is relevant to the nature of the work. On a normal day, benefit assessors work from home (and receive £2 or £3 allowance a day for heat and lighting), and senior staff in accountancy can work from home, but on a day with severe weather, people can email work to their home email account.
Emergency contact numbers should always be given, and keeping contact is essential!
There is a plan to buy some more laptops to enable more senior managers to work from home during periods of severe weather. People travelling in to work are an issue, and a public transport price is now reimbursed, rather than petrol prices. A season ticket rate is applied as a whole journey rate and as a result costs have plummeted, travel consultants have advised the team on this, and HR should be introducing this to other services.
Essential business mileage is based on where meetings are held, and members of staff are encouraged to use pool cars, which should reduce costs, but there has to be a practical solution – a review is ongoing.
This table of information has been supplied by Paul Goodwin of the Finance team. Cheshire East Council 33 Local Climate Impacts Profile
CHESHIRE EAST COUNCIL LOCAL CLIMATE IMPACT PROFILE
2006- 2007- 2005-06 07 08 2008-09 2009-10 £ £ £ £ £ Winter maintenance 952,868 682,691 950,884 1,208,016 1,872,048 1
Drainage (Highways) 239,481 626,902 628,604 579,325 636,817 2
Buildings damage 24,495 38,867 12,840 8,069 83,381 3
Land drainage (Building Control) 53,244 27,282 26,271 13,692 25,000 4
1. Based on 44.64% of former CCC budget being devolved to CEC: figures for 2099-10 are the latest forecast 2. Based on actual costs for CEC (CCC figures were reported by district): 2010-11 latest
forecast figures. Cannot separate weather related costs from this 3. Policy excess costs incurred by CEC (CCC figures were reported by district): 2009-10 figures are the latest to date. 4. Estimate from Ian Bunn
The information in this table has been further discussed in the report, as part of the section on weather associated costs.
Green Spaces
The Green Spaces team has said that strong wind has the most effect on trees, along with wet weather, but fire resulting from extreme heat is not a very great threat to trees in Cheshire East.
The service is more fortunate than others such as highways, as there are no large structures to be dealt with quickly if an emergency arises.
An Evergreen Canary Oak in Queens Park is unique and particularly vulnerable during strong winds or a severe storm, as it loses its leaves just before the new flush.
Diseases might increase with climate change; one particular case is Blue Tongue which has already seen an increase of cases with the milder climate. Millions of pounds have been spent on vaccines as a result.
Another problem is communication; a data terminal is being created to increase efficiency.
A paper entitled the carbon cost of the countryside service was sent by Matthew Axford of Astbury Mere, which highlights the carbon costs relating to the delivery of countryside management services by Cheshire County Council (excluding Tatton Park.)
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Countryside Service carbon calculation
The annual carbon impact of the Service is calculated by measuring a combination of the internal workings of the Countryside Service alongside the effect accrued by people accessing those Countryside services. These are balanced against the ability of the Service’s to sequester carbon via its woodland assets, these figures are then translated into financial terms for ease of onward analysis and is presented as the Social Cost of Carbon*.
Four areas of carbon emissions are considered: Countryside Service Buildings, Countryside Service vehicle use, Visitor travel to access countryside sites and Visitor travel to access the Public Rights Of Way network.
Debit
The buildings managed by the Service vary from shared multi storey office buildings to small portacabins. Whilst there is a degree of embedded carbon in the building fabrics, the majority of CO2 output is generated through the use of fossil fuels for heating & electrical equipment. Countryside Service buildings carbon output / yr = 77 t/CO2
The vehicle fleet (and lease cars) utilised by the Service range from small saloons to Landrovers. Again the greatest CO2 impact from these is from the use of fossil fuels. Whilst it is possible to analyse individual vehicle emissions consideration is given here to the fleet as a whole. Countryside Service vehicles carbon output / yr = 121 t/CO2
Visitor travel to countryside sites varies between locations. However the two main modes of access are on foot or by private vehicle. Vehicle type is unknown but is presumed to be typical of the local population. Occupancy rates vary from single occupancy through to family groups, especially at weekends / holidays. Visitor travel to countryside sites = total no. visitors 2,032,500 of which 1,399,500 arrived by car. With an average occupancy of 2 people / car this equates to 699,750 journeys and a round trip of 8.8 miles, a total of 17,897,700 miles. Carbon output / yr = 2,685 t/CO2
Visitor travel to access the PROW network is similar to that from countryside sites, the only difference considered is a lower overall occupancy rate, given that family groups are more likely to utilise countryside sites. Visitor travel to access the PROW network = total no. visits 14,000,000 of which 7,000,000 arrived at their destination by car. With an average occupancy of 1.5 people per car this equates to 4,666,667 journeys and a round trip of 10 miles, a total of 46,666.667 miles. Carbon output / yr = 14,000 t/CO2
Credit
As well as having a negative effect on carbon emissions Service management also has a mitigating effect on CO2 due to the sequestration of carbon by the woodland reserves at countryside sites. It is estimated that of the c.1000ha of land which the Service manages approximately 70% could be considered as woodland.
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The value of this woodland in absorbing carbon is affected by a number of factors including in particular, age, species and stocking density, and it is considered that overall countryside sites have a relatively young tree stock of predominantly native broadleaved species. Area of woodland 700ha x average t/CO2 sequestrated / ha = 2.5t/ha/yr. Carbon sequestrated / yr = 1750 t/CO2
To more easily understand the value of these figures, it is usual to consider carbon in terms of its social cost. Basing the social cost of carbon on the widely publicised figure of £70/tonne enables the carbon cost of service provision to be calculated:
Debit: 16883 t/CO2 x £70/t = £1,181,810 Credit: 1750 t/CO2 x £70/t = £ 122,500
Annual service carbon deficit: £1,059,310
The staff at Astbury Mere do not regularly monitor weather updates and storm warnings, but would assess the department’s reputation in tackling extreme weather events as average.
There is the potential for damage to the council’s reputation if resources are not available and paths and/or green spaces need to be closed on Health & Safety grounds.
Path erosion caused by the river Bollin and Bollinhurst Brook (paths being eroded away and a bridge structure being undermined) has cost: An additional 6 days work required to rectify Cost around £3, 000
This was locally significant and service resources were redirected from other priorities to deal with the event.
No overall financial costs are kept, but some individual incidents caused by extreme weather events (such as necessary bridge replacements) have cost around £50, 000 to rectify.
Service provision is closely correlated to climate/weather conditions; future increases in dealing with extreme weather conditions will affect service ability to manage Health & Safety and customer expectations. If resources are not identified to manage these effects there will inevitably be a reduction in service quality and reputation.
A table detailing the full list of impacts on the Countryside Service can be seen in the appendices.
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Car parks
Paul Burns, Parking Manager has said that the team has contributed to a General Business Risk Strategy, and flooding might be a part of it.
Shallow rooting trees should not be planted in parks and Tree Preservation Orders mean that car parks have to be built around the tree as they cannot be removed.
Maintenance of car park surfaces could be affected by severe weather events, and also things being blown onto the car park, such as trees or walls.
The table below shows some of the impacts resulting from climate change on the car parks of Cheshire East, and also shows some ways in which the council responds.
Effects/issues arising out of Response climate change Flooding of car parks Regular gully emptying, inspections, budget provision. Longer term – gully remodelling Increased freezing of surfaces in Ensure salting contract performs, budget provision winter Government requirement to reduce Investigate reduced/no parking charge for low emission emissions vehicles Increased wear/tear on car park Enhanced maintenance programme: budget provision for more surfaces due to above frequent resurfacing work or replace with improved weather resistant surface materials Reduce emissions Relocate enforcement teams’ bases to reduce journey lengths by car Discourage unnecessary journeys Application of charges at right levels Discourage car use in town centres Control maximum stay, plus higher price, look for out of town land for longer stay parking
Children & families
During periods of heavy snow, the team liaise with the Highways team regarding conditions outside of schools in Cheshire East, such as icy pavements, as these can lead to school closures.
Staff having problems travelling into work can also lead to school closures, and the team hold the postcodes of all employed teachers in Cheshire East, and this can help to see members of staff travelling to particularly severely hit areas.
Flooding can also lead to school closures, one such problem arises from underground water systems, and a school in Disley had to shut for this reason.
There is a statutory duty that schools are open for 190 days of the year, and should make up any lost time; an example is during local elections when some schools are used as polling stations.
Some schools can suffer during extreme heat due to their design, they can overheat without window blinds, and this should be taken into account when designing schools.
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Every school has to undertake a tree audit around the entire school grounds, there should not be a dead tree branch at all in school grounds. This is for health and safety reasons, if a branch or part of a tree fell on top of a pupil or member of staff, a serious injury or death could result.
Strong winds are especially important to special needs schools, as the pupils there are particularly vulnerable.
School closures have lead to an increase in anti-social behaviour.
The speed at which the team send out weather alerts can be a problem, the public expect to receive weather information in real time, but this is often not possible, and the information is usually sent out five or six hours later which is often too late, the system could be made more interactive.
There is some confusion as to whose responsibility it is to close schools; it is the school’s responsibility, and not the council’s. The decision should be made locally, as weather conditions can change dramatically over short distances.
The table below shows some information on school closures over the cold period of 5th January 2010 – 9th January 2010.
School closures
Date Special Primary High Special Primary High Special Primary High total total total closed closed closed opened opened opened 05/01/10 4 124 21 4 75 11 49 0 10 06/01/10 4 124 21 2 59 16 2 65 5 07/01/10 4 124 21 2 17 11 2 10 107 08/01/10 4 124 21 0 8 3 4 116 18 09/01/10 4 124 21 0 2 1 4 123 20
Graphs have also been created of the results, which can be seen in the appendices. According to the results, the 5th January 2010 saw the most school closures, with 90 schools closed, and only 3 schools were closed on the 9th January 2010. Schools were closed on 11th January 2010 due to frozen pipes that affected the boiler and the toilets.
Some work in the future will also be undertaken looking at the location of teachers and pupils, and if there is any correlation with the top 10 worst hit schools during severe weather events.
Civil Protection
Martin Grime has information on flooding events, including information on Wildboarclough.
The team is working on some multi-agency flood plans, and has them for Congleton and Macclesfield; it is unknown whether there should be one for Nantwich, the plans will hopefully be completed in the next few months.
The team also has a hot weather template, and there are 13-14 groups in the Cheshire Local Resilience Forum.
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During the cold weather, a lack of 4X4 vehicles was noted, and it has been suggested that more be bought, the local Primary Care Trust has asked the council for grit for use on pavements to prevent slips and falls.
Wildboarclough floods
Wildboarclough is close to Macclesfield, and has documented four serious and damaging floods at intervals of forty to fifty years in 1989, 1930, 1872 and 1816. Grant applications were made for property-level flood protection and resilience following the May 24th 1989 flood. Edinboro Cottages and Dingers Hollow Farm were particularly badly affected by the flooding; here is a summary of money that the council applied for:
£20, 000 for cost of survey and flood mitigation measures and £2, 800 management/administration costs for 1-4 Edinboro Cottages.
£5, 000 for cost of survey and flood mitigation, £700 management/administration costs for Dingers Hollow Farm.
£28, 500 applied for in grants for flood defence in Wildboarclough
This has been classed as a 1 in 500 year event, but if another event of this scale were to occur, at least £28, 500 would have to be applied for in grant. The residents of the most vulnerable homes (in terms of flooding) in Wildboarclough formed a Flood Action Group.
The Flood Action Group
The purpose of the Group is to work with the Council and Environment Agency, to put in place practical measures to improve the safety and flood resilience.
This will include the residents gathering evidence to support a grant application for technical advice and flood protection works.
They also appointed a Flood Warden, to:
Provide a contact point for the Council and Environment Agency, and residents. Distribute information to residents. Coordinate the Flood Action Group. Report on flood issues to the Parish Meeting. Monitor Met Office weather warnings.
Risk and compliance
Sandra Smith has said that the team plan for critical activities which are divided into category 1 and category 2. Category 1 activities are the most critical, such as Exercise Domino which was part of the planning for the Swine Flu pandemic.
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The team should run an exercise on flooding as a result of the Cumbria floods in 2009, and people also need to be engaged in the idea of risk assessment, and business continuity planning. The council has a responsibility to provide rest centres, and may need to provide transport; they work alongside volunteers to provide a service.
There are four different types of risk;
Strategic risks – Concerned with where the organisation wants to go and how it plans to get there.
Programme risks – Associated with transforming strategy into solutions via a series of projects.
Project risks – Relate to delivery of a product or service, usually with the constraints of time, cost and quality.
Operational risks – Concerned with day to day operations including people, processes, information security, health and safety, business continuity, etc.
Priority should be given to the areas of highest risk, such as something that is very likely to happen and will have a major impact on achieving outcomes if it does. The risk register should therefore by used to prioritise resources.
It is essential that the service identifies the extent to which the authority’s strategic risks impact upon it and what the service can do to mitigate the risks.
The scoring chart for risk assessment and risk criteria likelihood can be seen in the appendices of this report. As the service is not on the front-line, it would hardly be impacted by severe weather events.
Facilities
Robert Bacon reported that severe weather events can lead to reactive maintenance, and this can lead to varying costs.
Gales in Macclesfield three or four years ago lead to roof damage on Macclesfield Town Hall. Leaks resulted from 20 slates missing from the roof, but the impacts could have been much worse. Fortunately the gales occurred during the week and staff on site reported the leaks which were mended quickly.
Neighbouring buildings can create secondary impacts, as the council’s property and staff are paramount.
Impacts are not always necessarily bad, snow and ice can kill off mosses and lichens growing on buildings, heatwaves can also destroy any growth on buildings; but heatwaves can have a bad impact on leisure centres, and can result in air problems.
Dense fog does not really have an impact on the facilities team.
Global warming could lead to maintenance problems, as mould and lichens can eat into brickwork and cement on buildings, damage costs could run into the tens of thousands of pounds.
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The facilities team can always work through an emergency, as they have installed a master phone network, which can operate from any building, and so staff could work from home or any other building.
Libraries
Lynda Cotterill of the library service has said that the council has 3 mobile libraries, and one at Styal Prison, there are about 13 altogether.
The main problem is regarding temperatures, they cannot be adjusted as the radiators have no thermostat controls, and the age of the boilers mean that they can be temperamental. Macclesfield Library spent around £25, 000 two to three years ago replacing the downstairs light fittings.
It would be much more energy efficient to install lamps in all library buildings every two years, but the council cannot afford to do this and so just replace individual lights as needed. The library cannot meet its utilities bill, which is a source of concern.
Most libraries remain open during heavy snow, but there is a contingency plan, whereby staff can get to their nearest library to work. All libraries remained open for part of the day during the recent heavy snow, apart from Bollington Library, heavy snowfall and power failures are the events that usually close libraries.
The mobile libraries, which are leased off the transport coordination team, usually go out everyday Monday – Friday and two Saturdays a month, but if it is unsafe to drive, they will not go out on the roads.
One formal complaint at Macclesfield Library was registered, when a lady turned up at the library to find it closed during the snow.
Janitors are employed to change lights and other facilities at the two large libraries in Crewe and Macclesfield, and the other smaller libraries employ local electricians to do the work.
The library team issued out an email to all employees detailing a contingency plan during the recent cold snap. They were told that there is a contractual obligation on employees to make every reasonable effort to get into work irrespective of the weather conditions.
If they could not get to their base library but live near another Cheshire East library, then it was fine for them to work there. They were also told that if they managed to get to work, but were late due to the adverse weather conditions that no leave would be deducted and that if they were unable to get to work at either their base library or another, they would have to take leave for that day. All were told to inform their line manager if they could not get to work.
The team does not monitor weather updates, but are usually alerted via email by their communications department if there are severe weather warnings, and would assess their department’s reputation as good in tackling extreme weather events.
Heavy snow has damaged their service’s reputation, only one complaint was received but many customers were unable to get to the libraries themselves, and details of early closures were posted on their website to alert customers.
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The department is prepared for a potential rise in extreme event intensity and frequency, as they have a contingency plan in place allowing staff to work from their closest library to home, and customers can access many library services remotely, such as item renewals, the online catalogue, reservations, account details and a virtual reference library.
No financial information is kept, although salt will have been used on pedestrian approaches to libraries, and casual staff have been brought in where permanent staff have been unable to get into work, but permanent staff would have to take a day as leave. There are also problems with some of the buildings which may well be attributed to colder conditions, such as problems with boilers and cracks to buildings.
Minimal staff time has been taken to grit as necessary, but the team do not have enough funding to cope with an increase in such events regarding building issues concerned with the weather, such as maintenance and repairs. There may also be staffing issues if members of staff cannot travel into work.
Adult services
Sandra Shorter has said that the Adult Services department manages people in their own homes, at day sessions, community support centres and day services for young people.
This service accounts for one third of the Local Authority’s operation, and employs around 1, 500 members of staff. Twenty properties are directly managed by the council, and eighty day care centres, and the team are looking at reducing the building stock by 50%.
There is some work being carried out on being economic with fuel, and the team is guided on boilers by the asset managers, and lights in their buildings have got light sensors. The team have some lease cars, and as a result of the recent snow of February 2010, they have exchanged some cars for 4X4 vehicles.
Staff travel is under constant review, looking at people’s routes; they use real time monitoring and plot staff rounds so that they know where people are travelling to. Community transport is expensive to encourage people to use public transport; it is a particular issue in rural areas.
Weather updates from the Met Office are monitored on an ongoing basis, they are sent to Martin Grime of the Civil Protection team who then forwards all the information onto Adult Services.
Vulnerable people of any age group get distressed as a result of extreme weather events, but the most vulnerable group is elderly people living in their own homes.
The department has a good reputation in tackling extreme weather events, the service team sharpened up as a result of the swine flu pandemic, and good feedback has been given to the team.
There hasn’t been a specific type of event that has damaged the reputation, the team has a good relationship with local people, and there is a network of people that they can call on in times of a crisis.
Communication could be a problem if there was a rise in extreme event intensity and frequency as it is not always reliable. The IT system could also be improved, and the team want a hard copy suite of manuals with contact details available for anyone to access in an emergency. Phones should automatically divert to enable mobile working, as communication is a major issue. Cheshire East Council 42 Local Climate Impacts Profile
The team had no significant increase in cost to the service area, and in fact seemed to spend less during extreme weather events as people stayed at home, and staff worked remotely from home. Staff members who made it into work during the heavy snowfall of January and February 2010 worked very long days as there were not many members of staff who made it in.
Arrangements for severe weather events are made immediately, and any messages to vulnerable people are sent out in reasonable times, usually within 12 hours.
Guidelines are available for the team to follow during a crisis situation, and these would be adopted for any severe weather event, but there is no specific weather strategy. The team communicate with the department of health, and have de-briefs after events to learn from them, and they also communicate via an Adult Services newsletter called RADAR.
There are enough resources to tackle severe weather events for the short term, but possibly not for the longer term. If an event is localised then people can be brought in from other areas to help, but if the event is nationwide then the team might struggle. If schools shut due to snow, parents stay at home to look after their children, and as a result the workforce is impacted upon.
The recent snow had a significant impact on Adult Services, as a high proportion of staff could not get to work, and staff who did make it went to extraordinary lengths such as staying overnight to make sure work was completed. Staff members are acknowledged who go to these lengths during difficult periods.
Tatton Park
Staff at Tatton Park have various measures used to protect against severe weather events, the main one being strong winds. During a particularly bad storm on January 18th 2002 the park closed for the day.
At other times there can be partial closures, such as shutting the car parks to prevent damage from falling trees, and there is a special focus on tree risk management with a special Tree Inspection Scheme.
Tree Inspection Scheme
The Tree Inspection Scheme is based on a risk assessment of trees in or near public places or adjacent to buildings, paths and working areas, and has three stages:
Assessment of risk Assessment of hazard Prescription for remedial action
The 50 acre gardens are classed as a high risk zone reflecting their intensive use with a regular presence of both staff and visitors, and inspections are carried out by trained garden staff annually. The frequency and method of inspection will reflect the status of the Risk Zones, and a table of assessing hazards during a tree inspection can be seen in the appendices.
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Information regarding tree inspection should be stored on a computer and kept for a minimum of 10 years. Tree inspections are made following adverse weather conditions, and these will concentrate on High Risk Zones and are rapid, but careful checks to detect physical damage to trees follow storms.
They will be carried out by experienced estate staff but not necessarily by trained tree inspectors. The information will be recorded on a post storm/severe weather form which can be seen in the appendices, monitored and listed trees are inspected individually.
The children’s play area is checked every year; as during periods of frost, play equipment can become hazardous and the bark spread on the floor can become dangerous as it freezes as hard as concrete with the potential to cause serious injuries.
During the recent big freeze of January and February 2010, Cheshire East Council did not have any plans to close any playgrounds, but because of the bark used at Tatton Park, it had to be closed for about 3 weeks. Bark has a life of around 3 years, as frost and cold weather do not have such an impact on fresh bark, and so maybe when cold weather is forecast, the bark in the play area should be replaced.
The mansion at Tatton Park sometimes experiences roof tile losses and other structural damage, and an in house team carry out maintenance inspections.
The recent cold snap has also led to road damage, and Tatton Park experienced difficulties trying to get a grit supply. They keep a constant stock on site of 2.5 - 3 tonnes of grit, but are looking at investing in spreading equipment, and possibly a snowplough to ease the problem. The Knutsford entrance to the estate is around two miles long, and so enough grit is needed to allow people to drive along it, the team have good contacts and managed to deal with the snow well.
There are 2 meres at the estate, both of which form a SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest), and salt draining into it could damage the site, creating a dilemma for the team. The mere should be able to stand a 1 in 1000 year flood event, and there is a sluice system used weekly to control it.
Severe weather events can have an impact on various events held throughout the year such as weddings, to overcome the issue during strong winds, the team try to arrange different access points with fewer trees, this would make the route safer as trees cannot fall over and create a hazard. If events are cancelled, this could mean a large decrease in profit, and so this should be avoided wherever possible. A table used to record severe weather events by the team can be seen in the appendices, as well as a document on adverse weather procedures and guidelines.
Falling trees and storms can lead to power failure, and the team have considered having an on site generator to power up parts of the estate to avoid having to close the whole estate. Everything is currently oil fired, but there is potential for the use of renewable energy sources such as wind, water from the water-wheel, solar and biomass.
Companies like United Utilities tell staff at Tatton Park that they are going to turn off the electricity supply only a week before doing so, there needs to be better contact with these companies.
Dead trees are kept around the park as insect habitats, which are a part of National Trust Policy, but some of these trees could be used to create woodchip to be used as a source of fuel. One of the knock on effects of severe weather events at Tatton Park is the resource of man-power, staffing levels are important, as the deer and two flocks of wild sheep need to be fed.
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The Rare Breeds Farm was closed for two weeks during the recent cold weather, as it is unsafe due to the cobbled floor, and the pipe work there freezes up, meaning that people petting the animals cannot wash their hands. They are considering the introduction of alcoholic hand gels to overcome the problem.
Heatwaves have led to one or two minor grass fires, but fires in bins have been much more common. During these periods, a ban is imposed on barbecuing, and there is an incident book detailing these events. Wind can also bring down fences in the park, meaning that the deer can escape, which can be difficult to replace as they move very quickly.
Planning maintenance generally costs around £200, 000. Spent £1500 on salt and grit. Around £200 in plumbing costs for burst repairs.
The staff at Tatton Park monitor weather updates and storm warnings as weather is very important, elderly people tend not to visit in extreme weather conditions.
The reputation of the department in tackling extreme weather events has been assessed as good, gale force conditions can be dangerous and cause part or total closure of Tatton as they can also disrupt electricity supplies causing additional health and safety problems. The department is prepared for a potential rise in both extreme event intensity and frequency, but need help from Highways to grit drives and car parks in icy conditions.
Around £1500 has been spent on salt and grit, and some income has been lost through the farm staying closed for a couple of weekends, but this would be offset by more people going to the park to enjoy the snowy conditions, especially when schools were shut for a few days. Approximately £200 was spent in plumbing costs for burst repairs.
Twenty or more people worked on gritting for path clearance, and a problem was encountered with a lack of grit which took about a week.
The team is adapting to climate change, but there is no future strategy at present, and they just about have enough funding to cope with an increase in such weather events, but the loss of business is the real issue.
Assistance from the Highways team would make a huge difference to keeping Tatton open and safe, with an inclusion in the gritting programme needed.
Windy weather creating unsafe conditions is the most common form of interruption to business, and this could cause a loss of admissions and loss of an event with resultant damage to finance and reputation, on-site back-up generators would be good but are prohibitively expensive.
Weather events are very significant for Tatton, there are more than 50 major trees lost or damaged and clear up work is undertaken throughout the year.
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Police
Andy Eadon, Contingency Planner of Cheshire Constabulary Eastern Area has said that the team receive updated weather warnings from the Met Office, but do not list all events that they are called out to.
They have a Snow Plan updated at least every year, giving advice on how to cope when a little snow falls, and also when deep snow is lying on the ground and the Peak District Mountain Rescue team get involved.
All weather events are dealt with in the same way, and so the Snow Plan is really a template for various weather events.
During the strong winds recorded on January 18th 2007, the police service took a commanding role, and got other emergency services involved, such as the ambulance service and fire service.
The next section details some costs to the council related to severe weather events.
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Weather related costs
Severe weather events have an impact on the various service areas of the council, and costs can be incurred as a result of the incident, this part of the report tries to determine the overall costs of these events on Cheshire East Council.
Costs reported by services
The following costs were reported by Cheshire East Council service representatives through the interviews:
£2/3 per day allowance - Heat and lighting for finance staff working from home regularly, such as benefit workers
£312, 000 - Total expenditure for Cheshire East & Cheshire West gritting fleet maintenance.
£500 - £600 - To salt an all weather sports pitch during cold weather.
£28, 500 - Applied for in grants for flood defence in Wildboarclough following the floods of 24th May 1989.
£1, 059, 310 - Annual countryside service carbon deficit for Cheshire County Council.
£200, 000 - Planning maintenance at Tatton Park.
£1500 - Spent on salt and grit at Tatton Park.
£200 - Plumbing costs for burst repairs at Tatton Park.
£14, 169.18 - Procurement travel costs for December 2009.
£2,609,571 – Actual car mileage costs for 2008/09.
£1190 - Loss of income - 2.5 weeks of out outdoor football/hockey were cancelled during the bad weather of January 2010 at Shavington Leisure Centre.
£1200 - Loss of income - one week of outdoor football was cancelled due to the bad weather of December 2009 at Shavington Leisure Centre.
£25, 000 - Spent on downstairs light fittings at Macclesfield Library.
Around £3, 000 - Path erosion caused by the river Bollin and Bollinhurst Brook (paths being eroded away and a bridge structure being undermined) at Astbury Mere.
Around £50, 000 - To rectify necessary bridge replacements at Astbury Mere.
The table below shows the 5-year costs across various service areas annotated with certain information and assumptions.
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2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 £ £ £ £ £
Winter maintenance 952,868 682,691 950,884 1,208,016 1,872,048 1
Drainage (Highways) 239,481 626,902 628,604 579,325 636,817 2
Buildings damage 24,495 38,867 12,840 8,069 83,381 3
Land drainage (Building Control) 53,244 27,282 26,271 13,692 25,000 4
Based on 44.64% of former CCC budget being devolved to CEC: figures for 2099-10 are the latest 1 forecast Based on actual costs for CEC (CCC figures were reported by district): 2010-11 latest forecast 2 figures. Cannot separate weather related costs from this Policy excess costs incurred by CEC (CCC figures were reported by district): 2009-10 figures are 3 the latest to date. 4 Estimate from Ian Bunn
Five year totals (2005-2010) for services:
Winter maintenance = £5,666,508
Drainage (Highways) = £2,711,129
Buildings damage = £167,652
Land drainage (Building Control) = £145,489
Five year total = £8,690,778
Financial information has been gathered and analysed for a five year period across Highways winter maintenance, Highways drainage, building damage and land drainage for Building Control, and a five year total cost is £8, 690, 778.
Some of this information could be greatly underestimated, and so the actual costs of severe weather events could in fact be far greater. There may be additional costs in People e.g. overtime for Home Carers and building work borne by schools' devolved budgets but these will not be material (plus it is difficult to obtain this information from individual schools). Similarly, in Performance & Capacity, the call centre will be busier but a monetary value cannot be put against the work involved in dealing with the additional phone calls.
The next section discusses thresholds set to help tackle severe weather events.
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Thresholds
Setting thresholds is an essential part of the success of a service in tackling extreme weather events, and these may help in future planning.
Heatwave
This table was taken from the Cheshire, Halton and Warrington Local Resilience Forum Multi- Agency Heatwave Plan (2009).
Region Day Night (◦C) (◦C)
London 32 18
South East 31 16
South West 30 15
Eastern 30 15
West Midlands 30 15
East Midlands 30 15
North West 30 15
Yorkshire and Humber 29 15
North East 28 15
It shows the threshold day and night temperatures as defined by the Met Office by region.
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Highways Decision Matrix Guide Predicted Road Conditions Road Surface Precipitation Wet Wet Patches Dry Temperature etc. May fall below No rain Salt before Salt before frost No action o 1 C No hoar frost frost (see note A) likely, monitor No fog weather (see note A) No rain No hoar frost Expected to fall No fog below 1oC Expected hoar Salt before frost frost (see note B) Expected fog Expected rain Salt after rain stops BEFORE (see note C) freezing Expected rain Salt before frost, as required during rain and after DURING rain stops (see note D) freezing Possible rain Salt before frost Monitor Possible hoar weather frost conditions Possible fog Expected snow Salt before snow fall The decision to undertake precautionary treatments should, if appropriate, be adjusted to take account of residual salt or surface moisture. All decisions require continuous monitoring and review
A Particular attention should be given to the possibility of water running across carriageways and other running surfaces e.g. off adjacent fields after heavy rains, washing off salt previously deposited. Such locations should be closely monitored and may require treating in the evening and morning and possible on other occasions.
B When a weather warning contains reference to expected hoarfrost, considerable deposits of frost are likely to occur. Hoarfrost usually occurs in the early morning and is difficult to cater for because of the probability that any salt deposited on a dry road too soon before its onset, may be dispersed before it can become effective. Close monitoring is required under this forecast condition which should ideally be treated just as the hoarfrost is forming. Such action is usually not practicable and salt may have to be deposited on a dry road prior to and as close as possible to the expected time of the condition. Hoarfrost may be forecast at other times in which case the timing of salting operations should be adjusted accordingly.
C If, under these conditions, rain has not ceased by early morning, crews should be called out and action initiated as rain ceases, or starting at 0300 hours or four hours before the onset of freezing. The aim is for treatments to be completed by 0700 hours (i.e. before the morning rush hour).
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D Under these circumstances rain will freeze on contact with running surfaces and full pre- treatment should be provided even on dry roads. This is a most serious condition and should be monitored closely and continuously throughout the danger period.
E Weather warnings are often qualified by altitudes in which case differing action may be required from each depot.
Highways Treatment Matrix Guide
Weather Conditions Air Temp Treatment Road Surface Conditions Road Surface Temperature (RST) Salting (g/m2) Ploughing
Frost or forecast frost Safecote 8/10 No RST at or above -2oC Thawrox 12.5/15 Frost or forecast frost Safecote 15 No RST below - 2oC and above - 5oC Thawrox 20 Frost or forecast frost Safecote 15 No RST at or below - 5oC and above -10oC and Thawrox 20 dry or damp road conditions Frost or forecast frost Safecote 30 No RST at or below - 5oC and above -10oC and Thawrox 40 wet road conditions (existing or anticipated) Light snow forecast (<10mm) Safecote 15 No Thawrox 20 Medium/heavy snow forecast Safecote 30 No Thawrox 40 Ice formed (minor accumulations) above - Safecote 30 No 5oC Thawrox 40 Ice formed at or Safecote 30 No below - Thawrox 40 5oC Snow covering exceeding 30mm Safecote 30 Yes Thawrox 40 (successive) Hard packed snow/ice above Safecote 30 No - 8oC Thawrox 40 (successive) Hard packed snow/ice at or Salt successive No below - 8oC Rate of spread for precautionary treatments may be adjusted to take account of residual salt or surface moisture.
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River Dee drought thresholds
This graph was taken from the United Utilities Final Statutory Drought Plan, and is a drought trigger curve for the River Dee, which passes through Cheshire.
If water levels reach a level below the red threshold line, this is when United Utilities begin to carry out drought management actions, such as enforcing a hosepipe ban. Reservoirs in other areas of Cheshire would have other drought trigger curves.
The next section of the report discusses climate change adaptation within Cheshire East.
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Adaptation
Adaptation is preparing for the potential impacts of future severe weather events and climate change.
This LCLIP study is part of the council’s adaptation strategy, part of NI188. The NI188 rationale according to the Local and Regional Partnership Board (LRPB) is “to ensure local authorities are sufficiently prepared to manage risks to service delivery, the public, local communities, local infrastructure, businesses and the natural environment from a changing climate, and to make the most of new opportunities.”
NI188
NI188 is divided into five different levels, which are:
Level 0 – Baseline. - The Authority has started the process of assessing the potential threats and opportunities across its services, and agreed the next steps.
Level 1 – Public commitment and impacts assessment. - The Authority has made a public commitment to identify and manage climate related risk, and has carried out a local risk based assessment of vulnerabilities and opportunities to current and future weather and climate. It has also communicated these potential vulnerabilities to service heads and local partners, and set out the next steps.
Level 2 – Comprehensive risk assessment. - The Authority has undertaken a comprehensive risk based assessment of current and future vulnerabilities to weather and climate, and has identified priority risks for its services.
Level 3 – Comprehensive action plan.
Level 4 – Implementation, monitoring and continuous review.
The North West Climate Change Action Plan requires that the councils in the region reach Level 2 of NI188 by 2012.
The North West Climate Change Action Plan requires that the councils in the region reach Level 2 of NI188 by 2012. Level 2 also requires that they have started incorporating the best adaptive responses in council strategies, plans, partnerships and operations .
Appropriate adaptive responses in some priority areas should have been put in place, and started working with its LSP encouraging identification of major weather and climate vulnerabilities and opportunities affecting the delivery of the LSP’s objectives.
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UK Climate Projections (UKCP09)
Future predictions about the climate can be made by looking at the UK Climate Impacts Programme (UKCIP). The UKCIP website suggests that, “the scenarios are based on four different IPCC SRES emissions scenarios: Low emissions Medium – low emissions Medium – high emissions High emissions.”
Each scenario predicts changes in future climate for the UK in three various time periods, the first one is for 2010-2039 (called the 2020s), the second is for 2041-2070 (known as the 2050s) and the final one is for 2070-2099 (known as the 2080s).
UKCP09 gives projections for each of the three different emissions scenarios; low, medium and high to show how the different levels of emissions can affect future climate change, as well as social and economic change over the 21st century.
The IPCC have given qualitative terms to these projections which are; Virtually certain >99% Very likely > 90% Likely > 66% About as likely as not 33% to 66% Unlikely < 33% Very unlikely < 10% Extremely unlikely < 1%
The probabilistic projections consider any uncertainties arising from the representation of climate processes and the effects of natural internal variability of the climate system for each emissions scenario.
The medium case scenario is the most likely scenario to occur in the future, and so has been given here as an example, although graphs from the other emission scenarios can be seen in the report.
The following section includes information on graphs created using the UK Climate Projections User Interface which can be seen in the appendices, showing changes in annual mean temperature and change in precipitation for the various time periods to compare the predicted near future climate with that predicted to happen at the turn of the next century in Cheshire East.
Predictions have been made for the future climate of Cheshire East divided up by towns in the district using the UKCP09 User Interface for both precipitation and temperature. This report (using low, medium and high emissions scenarios) shows the projected changes in precipitation and temperature resulting from future climate change for the time periods: 2010 – 2039; 2030 – 2059; 2050 – 2079; 2070 – 2099.
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Crewe and Congleton High emissions scenario – precipitation
It is likely that there will be a 3.64% increase in annual precipitation using the high emissions scenarios in the 2080s, but unlikely to be a decrease of 2.5%, meaning that annual precipitation is generally going to increase with a high emissions scenario.
It is very likely that there will be a 3.72% increase in summer precipitation using the high emissions scenarios in the 2080s, but unlikely to be a decrease of 31.1%, meaning that summers are projected to become much drier in the future with a high emissions scenario.
It is very likely that there will be an increase in winter precipitation of 54.09% using the high emissions scenarios in the 2080s, but unlikely that there will be a 6.5% increase.
Table 4 High emissions – Precipitation shows the projected changes resulting from future climate change for the time periods: 2010 – 2039; 2030 – 2059; 2050 – 2079; 2070 – 2099. Variable Emissions Time Change in Change in Change in Change in Change in scenario period precipitation precipitation precipitation precipitation precipitation (%) with 90% (%) with 67% (%) with 50% (%) with 33% (%) with 10% probability probability probability probability probability Change in annual precipitation High 2010-2039 5.08 1.8 0.08 -1.5 -4.6 High 2030-2059 6.42 2.48 0.56 -1.3 -5.0 High 2050-2079 7.57 2.48 0.08 -2.3 -6.8 High 2070-2099 10.16 3.64 0.56 -2.5 -8
Change in summer precipitation High 2010-2039 13.09 2.26 -2.7 -8.2 -17.6 High 2030-2059 6.94 -4.17 -9.7 -15.59 -26.4 High 2050-2079 7.53 -9.4 -17.9 -25.5 -39.6 High 2070-2099 3.72 -14.1 -22.9 -31.1 -46.9
Change in winter precipitation High 2010-2039 15.92 9.73 6.51 4.09 -1.2 High 2030-2059 25.32 16.18 12.15 8.39 2.21 High 2050-2079 39.8 25.05 19.14 13.7 5.43 High 2070-2099 54.09 33.39 25.3 17.8 6.51
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Figure 5 – Change in annual precipitation (%) using the high Figure 6 – Change in summer precipitation (%) using the high emissions scenarios over various time periods emissions scenarios over various time periods
Figure 7 – Change in winter precipitation (%) using the high emissions scenarios over various time periods
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Crewe and Congleton Medium emissions scenario – precipitation
It is very likely that there will be a 6.61% increase in annual precipitation using the medium emissions scenarios in the 2080s, but very unlikely to be a decrease of 6.14%.
It is very likely that there will be a 5.04% increase in summer precipitation using the medium emissions scenarios in the 2080s, but unlikely to be a decrease of 25.44%.
It is very unlikely that there will be a greater then 3.65% increase in winter precipitation using the medium emissions scenario in the 2080s.
Table 5 Medium emissions – Precipitation shows the projected changes resulting from future climate change for the time periods: 2010 – 2039; 2030 – 2059; 2050 – 2079; 2070 – 2099.
Variable Emissions Time Change in Change in Change in Change in Change in scenario period precipitation precipitation precipitation precipitation precipitation (%) with 90% (%) with 67% (%) with 50% (%) with 33% (%) with 10% probability probability probability probability probability Change in annual precipitation Medium 2010-2039 5.00 1.91 0.30 -1.17 -4.13 Medium 2030-2059 4.46 1.24 -0.37 -1.91 -4.87 Medium 2050-2079 6.55 2.45 0.37 -1.51 -5.20 Medium 2070-2099 6.61 1.98 -0.30 -2.38 -6.14
Change in summer precipitation Medium 2010-2039 10.08 -0.72 -5.28 -10.56 -19.92 Medium 2030-2059 8.16 -4.08 -10.08 -16.08 -27.36 Medium 2050-2079 6.0 -9.12 -16.8 -23.28 -36.48 Medium 2070-2099 5.04 -10.56 -18.00 -25.44 -39.12
Change in winter precipitation Medium 2010-2039 15.57 8.73 5.64 2.77 -2.52
Medium 2030-2059 23.74 15.13 11.38 7.85 1.66 Medium 2050-2079 34.12 21.53 16.01 11.82 4.09 Medium 2070-2099 41.19 25.07 18.66 13.14 3.65
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Figure 8 – Change in annual precipitation (%) using the medium Figure 9 – Change in summer precipitation (%) using the emissions scenarios over various time periods medium emissions scenarios over various time periods
Figure 10 – Change in winter precipitation (%) using the medium emissions scenarios over various time periods
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Crewe and Congleton Low emissions scenario – precipitation
It is very likely that there will be a 6.82% increase in annual precipitation using the low emissions scenarios in the 2080s, but unlikely to be a decrease of 1.51%.
It is likely that there will be a 4.61% decrease in summer precipitation using the low emissions scenarios in the 2080s.
It is very unlikely that there will be a greater than 3.85% increase in winter precipitation using the low emissions scenarios in the 2080s.
Table 6 Low emissions – Precipitation shows the projected changes resulting from future climate change for the time periods: 2010 – 2039; 2030 – 2059; 2050 – 2079; 2070 – 2099.
Variable Emissions Time period Change in Change in Change in Change in Change in scenario precipitation precipitation precipitation precipitation precipitation (%) with 90% (%) with 67% (%) with 50% (%) with 33% (%) with 10% probability probability probability probability probability Change in annual precipitation Low 2010-2039 5.81 2.58 0.90 -0.77 -3.86 Low 2030-2059 5.94 2.05 0.16 -1.71 -5.27 Low 2050-2079 5.61 1.44 -0.57 -2.52 -6.28 Low 2070-2099 6.82 2.58 0.43 -1.51 -5.47
Change in summer precipitation Low 2010-2039 9.36 -0.10 -4.84 -9.58 -18.38 Low 2030-2059 10.27 -1.68 -7.77 -13.19 -24.02 Low 2050-2079 10.27 -4.61 -11.83 -18.60 -31.46 Low 2070-2099 9.14 -4.61 -11.61 -18.38 -31.24
Change in winter precipitation Low 2010-2039 15.60 9.21 6.27 2.81 -2.36 Low 2030-2059 21.30 12.66 9.03 5.58 -0.63 Low 2050-2079 27.70 17.33 13.35 9.55 2.81 Low 2070-2099 32.19 20.27 15.43 11.11 3.85
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Figure 11 – Change in annual precipitation (%) using the best Figure 12 – Change in summer precipitation (%) using the best case scenarios over various time periods case scenarios over various time periods
Figure 13 – Change in winter precipitation (%) using the best case scenarios over various time periods
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Crewe and Congleton High emissions scenario – temperature It is very likely that there will be a 6.07◦C increase in annual temperature using the high emissions scenarios in the 2080s, but very unlikely that there will be an increase in 2.71◦C.
It is very likely that there will be a 7.01◦C increase in summer temperature using the high emissions scenarios in the 2080s, but very unlikely to be a 2.48% increase.
It is very likely that there will be an increase in winter temperature of 5.20◦C using the high emissions in the 2080s, but very unlikely that there will be an increase in winter temperature of 2.14◦C in winter temperature using the high emissions scenarios in the 2080s. Table 7 High emissions – shows the projected changes in temperature resulting from future climate change for the time periods: 2010 – 2039; 2030 – 2059; 2050 – 2079; 2070 – 2099. Variable Emissions Time Change in Change in Change in Change in Change in scenario period temperature temperature temperature temperature temperature (◦C) (◦C) with 90% (◦C) with 67% (◦C) with 50% (◦C) with 33% with 10% probability probability probability probability probability Change in High 2010-2039 2.04 1.16 1.37 1.13 0.7 annual temperature High 2030-2059 3.18 2.51 2.18 1.81 1.30 High 2050-2079 4.63 3.59 3.12 2.68 2.01 High 2070-2099 6.07 4.76 4.09 3.62 2.71
Change in High 2010-2039 2.32 1.67 1.36 1.06 0.52 summer temperature High 2030-2059 3.63 2.59 2.21 1.71 0.98 High 2050-2079 5.32 3.94 3.25 2.63 1.59 High 2070-2099 7.01 5.28 4.44 3.67 2.48
Change in winter High 2010-2039 2.11 1.54 1.3 1.0 0.50 temperature High 2030-2059 3.02 2.28 1.97 1.64 1.07 High 2050-2079 4.13 3.18 2.75 2.34 1.64 High 2070-2099 5.20 4.02 3.45 2.95 2.14
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Figure 15 – Change in summer temperature (◦C) using the worst case scenarios over various time periods
Figure 14 – Change in annual temperature (◦C) using the worst case Figure 16 – Change in winter temperature (◦C) using the scenarios over various time periods worst case scenarios over various time periods
Figure 16 – Change in summer temperature (◦C) using the worst case scenarios over various time periods
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Crewe and Congleton Medium emissions scenario – temperature It is very likely that there will be a 4.89◦C increase in annual temperature using the medium emissions scenarios in the 2080s, but unlikely to be an increase of 2.87◦C.
It is very likely that there will be a 5.70◦C increase in summer temperature using the medium emissions scenarios in the 2080s, but unlikely to be an increase of 2.88◦C.
It is very likely that there will be a 4.40◦C increase in winter temperature using the medium emissions scenarios in the 2080s, but unlikely to be an increase of 2.47◦C. Table 8 Medium emissions – shows the projected changes in temperature resulting from future climate change for the time periods: 2010 – 2039; 2030 – 2059; 2050 – 2079; 2070 – 2099. Variable Emissions Time Change in Change in Change in Change in Change in scenario period temperature temperature temperature temperature temperature (◦C) (◦C) with 90% (◦C) with 67% (◦C) with 50% (◦C) with 33% with 10% probability probability probability probability probability Change in Medium 2010-2039 2.07 1.61 1.38 1.15 0.74 annual temperature Medium 2030-2059 3.02 2.33 1.95 1.66 1.17 Medium 2050-2079 4.03 3.10 2.70 2.33 1.66 Medium 2070-2099 4.89 3.80 3.33 2.87 2.07
Change in Medium 2010-2039 2.48 1.74 1.44 1.10 0.50 summer temperature Medium 2030-2059 3.55 2.51 2.08 1.61 0.87 Medium 2050-2079 4.60 3.32 2.78 2.21 1.37 Medium 2070-2099 5.70 4.19 3.52 2.88 1.91
Change in winter Medium 2010-2039 2.04 1.55 1.32 1.09 0.63 temperature Medium 2030-2059 2.85 2.15 1.84 1.52 0.94 Medium 2050-2079 3.65 2.82 2.41 2.04 1.41 Medium 2070-2099 4.40 3.36 2.87 2.47 1.66
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Figure 17 – Change in annual temperature (◦C) using the medium emissions scenarios over various time periods Figure 18 – Change in summer temperature (◦C) using the medium emissions scenarios over various time periods
Figure 19 – Change in annual temperature (◦C) using the medium emissions scenarios over various time periods Figure 19 – Change in winter temperature (◦C) using the medium emissions scenarios over various time periods
Figure 19 – Change in summer temperature (◦C) using the medium emissions scenarios over various time periods
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Crewe and Congleton Low emissions scenario – temperature It is very unlikely that there will be a greater than 1.58◦C increase in annual temperature using the low emissions scenario for the 2080s.
It is likely that there will be a 4.43◦C increase in summer temperature using the low emissions scenarios in the 2080s, but very unlikely to be an increase of 1.23◦C
It is likely that there will be a 3.76◦C increase in winter temperature using the low emissions scenarios in the 2080s, but very unlikely to be an increase of 1.44◦C
Table 9 Low emissions – shows the projected changes in temperature resulting from future climate change for the time periods: 2010 – 2039; 2030 – 2059; 2050 – 2079; 2070 – 2099.
Variable Emissions Time Change in Change in Change in Change in Change in scenario period temperature temperature temperature temperature temperature (◦C) with 90% (◦C) with 67% (◦C) with 50% (◦C) with 33% (◦C) with 10% probability probability probability probability probability Change in Low 2010-2039 2.04 1.60 1.39 1.17 0.79 annual temperature Low 2030-2059 2.80 2.18 1.89 1.63 1.15 Low 2050-2079 3.48 2.68 2.32 1.96 1.36 Low 2070-2099 3.93 3.07 2.66 2.28 1.58
Change in Low 2010-2039 2.41 1.78 1.49 1.17 0.63 summer temperature Low 2030-2059 3.39 2.44 2.01 1.58 0.89 Low 2050-2079 4.00 2.90 2.41 1.92 1.12 Low 2070-2099 4.43 3.19 2.64 2.13 1.23
Change in winter Low 2010-2039 2.01 1.48 1.22 1.00 0.50 temperature Low 2030-2059 2.71 2.01 1.70 1.41 0.86 Low 2050-2079 3.26 2.44 2.06 1.72 1.08 Low 2070-2099 3.76 2.90 2.52 2.13 1.44
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Figure 20 – Change in annual temperature (◦C) using the best case scenarios over various time periods
Figure 22 – Change in annual temperature (◦C) Figure 22 – Change in winter temperature (◦C) using the best case scenarios over various time using the best case scenarios over various time periods periods
Figure 21 – Change in summer temperature (◦C) using the best case scenarios over various time periods
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Macclesfield High emissions scenario – precipitation It is likely that there will be a 1.296% increase in annual precipitation using the high emissions scenarios in the 2080s, but unlikely to be a decrease of 1.912%, meaning that annual precipitation is generally going to increase with a high emissions scenario.
It is very likely that there will be a 3.435% increase in summer precipitation using the high emissions scenarios in the 2080s, but unlikely to be a decrease of 31.701%, meaning that summers are projected to become much drier in the future with a high emissions scenario.
It is very likely that there will be an increase in winter precipitation of 42.640% using the high emissions scenarios in the 2080s, but unlikely that there will be a 14.344% increase.
Table 4 High emissions – Precipitation shows the projected changes resulting from future climate change for the time periods: 2010 – 2039; 2030 – 2059; 2050 – 2079; 2070 – 2099. Variable Emissions Time Change in Change in Change in Change in Change in scenario period precipitation precipitation precipitation precipitation precipitation (%) with 90% (%) with 67% (%) with 50% (%) with 33% (%) with 10% probability probability probability probability probability Change in annual precipitation High 2010-2039 4.208 1.472 0.104 -1.264 -3.856 High 2030-2059 5.000 1.904 0.392 -1.192 -4.072 High 2050-2079 5.792 1.904 0.032 -1.768 -5.296 High 2070-2099 7.592 1.296 0.320 -1.912 -6.232
Change in summer precipitation High 2010-2039 11.048 1.971 -3.299 -8.277 -18.232
High 2030-2059 7.534 -4.178 -10.034 -15.597 -27.016
High 2050-2079 7.242 -9.741 -17.646 -25.552 -39.899
High 2070-2099 3.435 -14.426 -23.210 -31.701 -47.512
Change in winter precipitation High 2010-2039 13.264 8.080 5.272 2.896 -1.640 High 2030-2059 20.824 13.264 9.808 6.568 1.384 High 2050-2079 31.624 20.176 15.424 11.104 3.976 High 2070-2099 42.640 26.656 20.176 14.344 5.056
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Figure – Change in annual precipitation (%) using the high Figure – Change in summer precipitation (%) using the high emissions scenarios over various time periods emissions scenarios over various time periods
Figure – Change in winter precipitation (%) using the high emissions scenarios over various time periods
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Macclesfield Medium emissions scenario – precipitation It is very likely that there will be a 5.098% increase in annual precipitation using the medium emissions scenarios in the 2080s, but very unlikely to be a decrease of 5.098%.
It is very likely that there will be a 4.962% increase in summer precipitation using the medium emissions scenarios in the 2080s, but unlikely to be a decrease of 25.883%.
It is very unlikely that there will be a greater then 2.645% increase in winter precipitation using the medium emissions scenario in the 2080s.
Table 5 Medium emissions – Precipitation shows the projected changes resulting from future climate change for the time periods: 2010 – 2039; 2030 – 2059; 2050 – 2079; 2070 – 2099.
Variable Emissions Time Change in Change in Change in Change in Change in scenario period precipitation precipitation precipitation precipitation precipitation (%) with 90% (%) with 67% (%) with 50% (%) with 33% (%) with 10% probability probability probability probability probability Change in annual precipitation Medium 2010-2039 4.118 1.526 0.202 -1.066 -3.542 Medium 2030-2059 3.773 1.066 -0.259 -1.526 -4.061 Medium 2050-2079 5.098 1.814 0.259 -1.296 -4.234 Medium 2070-2099 5.098 1.584 -0.144 -1.814 -5.098
Change in summer precipitation Medium 2010-2039 8.144 -0.669 -5.565 -10.706 -20.498 Medium 2030-2059 4.717 -4.096 -9.971 -16.336 -27.597 Medium 2050-2079 6.430 -9.482 -16.581 -23.680 -36.654 Medium 2070-2099 4.962 -10.706 -18.294 -25.883 -39.837
Change in winter precipitation Medium 2010-2039 13.186 7.483 4.718 1.954 -2.885 Medium 2030-2059 19.752 12.322 9.211 6.101 0.917 Medium 2050-2079 27.182 16.987 13.013 9.384 2.990 Medium 2070-2099 33.230 20.270 15.086 10.421 2.645
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Figure – Change in annual precipitation (%) using the medium Figure – Change in summer precipitation (%) using the medium emissions scenarios over various time periods emissions scenarios over various time periods
Figure – Change in winter precipitation (%) using the medium emissions scenarios over various time periods
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Macclesfield Low emissions scenario – precipitation It is very likely that there will be a 5.270% decrease in annual precipitation using the low emissions scenarios in the 2080s, but unlikely to be a decrease of 1.238%.
It is likely that there will be a 4.845% decrease in summer precipitation using the low emissions scenarios in the 2080s.
It is very unlikely that there will be a greater than 2.586% increase in winter precipitation using the low emissions scenarios in the 2080s.
Table 6 Low emissions – Precipitation shows the projected changes resulting from future climate change for the time periods: 2010 – 2039; 2030 – 2059; 2050 – 2079; 2070 – 2099.
Variable Emissions Time period Change in Change in Change in Change in Change in scenario precipitation precipitation precipitation precipitation precipitation (%) with 90% (%) with 67% (%) with 50% (%) with 33% (%) with 10% probability probability probability probability probability Change in annual precipitation Low 2010-2039 4.694 1.987 0.662 -0.720 -3.312 Low 2030-2059 4.694 1.642 0.144 -1.411 -4.291 Low 2050-2079 4.406 1.181 -0.432 -1.987 -4.982 Low 2070-2099 5.270 1.987 0.374 -1.238 -4.349
Change in summer precipitation Low 2010-2039 2.374 -0.333 -4.845 -9.808 -18.833 Low 2030-2059 9.819 -1.686 -7.778 -13.643 -24.472 Low 2050-2079 9.819 -4.619 -12.064 -19.283 -32.142 Low 2070-2099 9.594 -4.845 -11.838 -18.606 -31.691
Change in winter precipitation Low 2010-2039 8.904 7.608 4.872 2.280 -2.328 Low 2030-2059 13.800 10.632 7.320 4.296 -0.888 Low 2050-2079 20.712 14.376 10.776 7.464 1.848 Low 2070-2099 25.176 16.536 12.360 8.760 2.586
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Figure – Change in annual precipitation (%) using the low Figure – Change in summer precipitation (%) using the low emissions scenarios over various time periods emissions scenarios over various time periods
Figure – Change in winter precipitation (%) using the low emissions scenarios over various time periods Cheshire East Council 72 Local Climate Impacts Profile
Macclesfield High emissions scenario – temperature It is very likely that there will be a 5.978◦C increase in annual temperature using the high emissions scenarios in the 2080s, but very unlikely that there will be an increase in 2.651◦C.
It is very likely that there will be a 6.859◦C increase in summer temperature using the high emissions scenarios in the 2080s, but very unlikely to be a 2.405◦C increase.
It is very likely that there will be an increase in winter temperature of 5.238◦C using the high emissions in the 2080s, but very unlikely that there will be an increase in winter temperature of 2.181◦C in winter temperature using the high emissions scenarios in the 2080s. Table 7 High emissions – shows the projected changes in temperature resulting from future climate change for the time periods: 2010 – 2039; 2030 – 2059; 2050 – 2079; 2070 – 2099. Variable Emissions Time Change in Change in Change in Change in Change in scenario period temperature temperature temperature temperature temperature (◦C) (◦C) with 90% (◦C) with 67% (◦C) with 50% (◦C) with 33% with 10% probability probability probability probability probability Change in High 2010-2039 2.013 1.542 1.374 1.139 0.770 annual temperature High 2030-2059 3.088 2.416 2.114 1.811 1.274 High 2050-2079 4.533 3.558 3.088 2.685 1.946 High 2070-2099 5.978 4.734 4.130 3.592 2.651
Change in High 2010-2039 2.290 1.637 1.330 1.022 0.446 summer temperature High 2030-2059 3.480 2.520 2.098 1.675 0.946 High 2050-2079 5.170 3.787 3.211 2.558 1.560 High 2070-2099 6.859 5.131 4.363 3.595 2.405
Change in winter High 2010-2039 2.114 1.542 1.274 1.005 0.501 temperature High 2030-2059 3.021 2.282 1.979 1.610 1.038 High 2050-2079 4.062 3.155 2.718 2.315 1.610 High 2070-2099 5.238 4.029 3.491 2.987 2.181
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Figure – Change in annual temperature (◦C) using the high Figure – Change in summer temperature (◦C) using the high emissions scenarios over various time periods emissions scenarios over various time periods
Figure – Change in winter temperature (◦C) using the high emissions scenarios over various time periods
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Macclesfield Medium emissions scenario – temperature It is very likely that there will be a 4.952◦C increase in annual temperature using the medium emissions scenarios in the 2080s, but unlikely to be an increase of 2.850◦C.
It is very likely that there will be a 5.574◦C increase in summer temperature using the medium emissions scenarios in the 2080s, but unlikely to be an increase of 2.853◦C.
It is very likely that there will be a 4.405◦C increase in winter temperature using the medium emissions scenarios in the 2080s, but unlikely to be an increase of 2.475◦C. Table 8 Medium emissions – shows the projected changes in temperature resulting from future climate change for the time periods: 2010 – 2039; 2030 – 2059; 2050 – 2079; 2070 – 2099. Variable Emissions Time Change in Change in Change in Change in Change in scenario period temperature temperature temperature temperature temperature (◦C) (◦C) with 90% (◦C) with 67% (◦C) with 50% (◦C) with 33% with 10% probability probability probability probability probability Change in annual Medium 2010-2039 2.072 1.554 1.352 1.122 0.718 temperature Medium 2030-2059 2.936 2.274 1.986 1.698 1.179 Medium 2050-2079 3.944 3.080 2.648 2.302 1.640 Medium 2070-2099 4.952 3.800 3.310 2.850 2.101
Change in summer Medium 2010-2039 2.416 1.744 1.408 1.072 0.467 temperature Medium 2030-2059 3.458 2.450 2.013 1.576 0.803 Medium 2050-2079 4.466 3.222 2.685 2.181 1.307 Medium 2070-2099 5.574 4.130 3.458 2.853 1.845
Change in winter Medium 2010-2039 2.101 1.554 1.323 1.064 0.632 temperature Medium 2030-2059 2.821 2.130 1.813 1.496 0.949 Medium 2050-2079 3.742 2.821 2.418 2.043 1.381 Medium 2070-2099 4.405 3.368 2.907 2.475 1.669
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Figure – Change in annual temperature (◦C) using the medium Figure – Change in summer temperature (◦C) using the medium emissions scenarios over various time periods emissions scenarios over various time periods
Figure – Change in winter temperature (◦C) using the medium emissions scenarios over various time periods
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Macclesfield Low emissions scenario – temperature It is very unlikely that there will be a greater than 1.584◦C increase in annual temperature using the low emissions scenario for the 2080s.
It is likely that there will be a 3.138◦C increase in summer temperature using the low emissions scenarios in the 2080s, but very unlikely to be an increase of 1.208◦C
It is likely that there will be a 2.928◦C increase in winter temperature using the low emissions scenarios in the 2080s, but very unlikely to be an increase of 1.440◦C
Table 9 Low emissions – shows the projected changes in temperature resulting from future climate change for the time periods: 2010 – 2039; 2030 – 2059; 2050 – 2079; 2070 – 2099. Variable Emissions Time Change in Change in Change in Change in Change in scenario period temperature temperature temperature temperature temperature (◦C) with 90% (◦C) with 67% (◦C) with 50% (◦C) with 33% (◦C) with 10% probability probability probability probability probability Change in annual Low 2010-2039 2.040 1.584 1.368 1.152 0.792 temperature Low 2030-2059 2.760 2.160 1.872 1.584 1.104 Low 2050-2079 3.384 2.616 2.280 1.944 1.344 Low 2070-2099 3.888 3.024 2.640 2.256 1.584
Change in summer Low 2010-2039 2.389 1.726 1.438 1.150 0.632 temperature Low 2030-2059 3.282 2.389 1.957 1.582 0.862 Low 2050-2079 3.886 2.850 2.360 1.870 1.064 Low 2070-2099 4.347 3.138 2.590 2.072 1.208
Change in winter Low 2010-2039 2.040 1.512 1.248 0.984 0.528 temperature Low 2030-2059 2.664 2.016 1.704 1.368 0.840 Low 2050-2079 3.240 2.400 2.040 1.704 1.056 Low 2070-2099 3.792 2.928 2.520 2.136 1.440
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Figure – Change in annual temperature (◦C) using the low Figure – Change in summer temperature (◦C) using the low emissions scenarios over various time periods emissions scenarios over various time periods
Figure – Change in winter temperature (◦C) using the low emissions scenarios over various time periods
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Nantwich High emissions scenario - precipitation
It is likely that there will be a 4.27% increase in annual precipitation using the high emissions scenarios in the 2080s, but unlikely to be a decrease of 2.28%, meaning that annual precipitation is generally going to increase with a high emissions scenario.
It is very likely that there will be a 3.81% increase in summer precipitation using the high emissions scenarios in the 2080s.
It is very likely that there will be an increase in winter precipitation of 47.36% using the high emissions scenarios in the 2080s, but unlikely that there will be a 5.36% increase.
Table 4 High emissions – Precipitation shows the projected changes resulting from future climate change for the time periods: 2010 – 2039; 2030 – 2059; 2050 – 2079; 2070 – 2099. Variable Emissions Time Change in Change in Change in Change in Change in scenario period precipitation precipitation precipitation precipitation precipitation (%) with 90% (%) with 67% (%) with 50% (%) with 33% (%) with 10% probability probability probability probability probability Change in annual precipitation High 2010-2039 7.19 2.65 0.54 -1.67 -5.70 High 2030-2059 7.80 2.96 0.54 -1.67 -6.11 High 2050-2079 8.30 2.76 0.13 -2.48 -7.32 High 2070-2099 11.22 4.27 0.84 -2.28 -8.22
Change in summer precipitation High 2010-2039 13.49 2.00 -3.13 -8.57 -18.55 High 2030-2059 8.05 -4.04 -10.09 -16.44 -27.63 High 2050-2079 8.05 -9.78 -17.95 -25.81 -40.33 High 2070-2099 3.81 -14.62 -23.69 -32.46 -48.19
Change in winter precipitation High 2010-2039 14.72 8.96 5.84 3.20 -1.84 High 2030-2059 23.60 14.48 10.88 7.04 -1.52 High 2050-2079 35.36 22.40 17.12 12.32 4.40 High 2070-2099 47.36 29.36 22.16 15.92 5.36
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Figure 5 – Change in annual precipitation (%) using the high Figure 5 – Change in summer precipitation (%) using the high emissions scenarios over various time periods emissions scenarios over various time periods
Figure 5 – Change in winter precipitation (%) using the high emissions scenarios over various time periods
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Nantwich Medium emissions scenario – precipitation
It is very likely that there will be a 8.02% increase in annual precipitation using the medium emissions scenarios in the 2080s, but very unlikely to be a decrease of 5.80%.
It is very likely that there will be a 5.34% increase in summer precipitation using the medium emissions scenarios in the 2080s.
It is very unlikely that there will be a greater then 3.01% increase in winter precipitation using the medium emissions scenario in the 2080s.
Table 5 Medium emissions – Precipitation shows the projected changes resulting from future climate change for the time periods: 2010 – 2039; 2030 – 2059; 2050 – 2079; 2070 – 2099.
Variable Emissions Time Change in Change in Change in Change in Change in scenario period precipitation precipitation precipitation precipitation precipitation (%) with 90% (%) with 67% (%) with 50% (%) with 33% (%) with 10% probability probability probability probability probability Change in annual precipitation Medium 2010-2039 6.65 2.40 0.32 -1.76 -5.65 Medium 2030-2059 6.51 2.33 0.32 -1.69 -5.58 Medium 2050-2079 7.73 3.05 0.82 -1.40 -5.65 Medium 2070-2099 8.02 3.05 0.75 -1.62 -5.80
Change in summer precipitation Medium 2010-2039 10.58 -0.39 -5.89 -11.13 -20.86 Medium 2030-2059 9.08 -4.14 -10.38 -16.62 -28.10 Medium 2050-2079 6.34 -9.38 -16.87 -24.11 -37.33 Medium 2070-2099 5.34 -10.63 -18.61 -26.10 -40.33
Change in winter precipitation Medium 2010-2039 14.43 8.13 4.98 2.03 -3.27 Medium 2030-2059 21.91 13.84 10.30 6.75 0.85 Medium 2050-2079 30.37 18.96 14.23 10.30 3.21 Medium 2070-2099 36.67 22.30 16.59 11.48 3.01
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Figure 5 – Change in annual precipitation (%) using the medium Figure 5 – Change in summer precipitation (%) using the medium emissions scenarios over various time periods emissions scenarios over various time periods
Figure 5 – Change in winter precipitation (%) using the medium emissions scenarios over various time periods
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Nantwich Low emissions scenario – precipitation
It is very likely that there will be a 8.16% increase in annual precipitation using the low emissions scenarios in the 2080s, but unlikely to be a decrease of 0.24%.
It is likely that there will be a 4.79% decrease in summer precipitation using the low emissions scenarios in the 2080s.
It is very unlikely that there will be a greater than 2.63% increase in winter precipitation using the low emissions scenarios in the 2080s.
Table 6 Low emissions – Precipitation shows the projected changes resulting from future climate change for the time periods: 2010 – 2039; 2030 – 2059; 2050 – 2079; 2070 – 2099.
Variable Emissions Time period Change in Change in Change in Change in Change in scenario precipitation precipitation precipitation precipitation precipitation (%) with 90% (%) with 67% (%) with 50% (%) with 33% (%) with 10% probability probability probability probability probability Change in annual precipitation Low 2010-2039 7.29 3.26 1.39 -0.55 -4.08 Low 2030-2059 7.36 3.33 1.46 -0.40 -4.00 Low 2050-2079 6.72 2.68 0.81 -1.12 -4.72 Low 2070-2099 8.16 4.12 2.18 0.24 -3.43
Change in summer precipitation Low 2010-2039 10.25 -0.09 -5.26 -10.20 -19.14 Low 2030-2059 10.96 -1.73 -8.09 -14.20 -25.02 Low 2050-2079 10.96 -5.03 -12.32 -19.61 -32.55 Low 2070-2099 10.02 -4.79 -11.85 -19.14 -32.08
Change in winter precipitation Low 2010-2039 14.45 8.31 5.24 2.63 -2.59 Low 2030-2059 19.52 11.69 8.00 4.78 -1.05 Low 2050-2079 25.05 15.84 11.84 8.31 2.01 Low 2070-2099 29.05 17.99 13.69 9.54 2.63
Cheshire East Council 83 Local Climate Impacts Profile
Figure 5 – Change in annual precipitation (%) using the low Figure 5 – Change in summer precipitation (%) using the low emissions scenarios over various time periods emissions scenarios over various time periods
Figure 5 – Change in winter precipitation (%) using the medium emissions scenarios over various time periods
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Nantwich High emissions scenario – temperature It is very likely that there will be a 6.05 ◦C increase in annual temperature using the high emissions scenarios in the 2080s, but very unlikely that there will be an increase in 2.75 ◦C.
It is very likely that there will be a 7.15 ◦C increase in summer temperature using the high emissions scenarios in the 2080s, but very unlikely to be a 2.44◦C increase.
It is very likely that there will be an increase in winter temperature of 5.13◦C using the high emissions in the 2080s, but very unlikely that there will be an increase in winter temperature of 2.11 ◦C in winter temperature using the high emissions scenarios in the 2080s. Table 7 High emissions – shows the projected changes in temperature resulting from future climate change for the time periods: 2010 – 2039; 2030 – 2059; 2050 – 2079; 2070 – 2099. Variable Emissions Time Change in Change in Change in Change in Change in scenario period temperature temperature temperature temperature temperature (◦C) (◦C) with 90% (◦C) with 67% (◦C) with 50% (◦C) with 33% with 10% probability probability probability probability probability Change in High 2010-2039 2.05 1.56 1.36 1.09 0.75 annual temperature High 2030-2059 3.17 2.48 2.17 1.86 1.29 High 2050-2079 4.67 3.63 3.17 2.71 1.98 High 2070-2099 6.05 4.74 4.17 3.67 2.75
Change in High 2010-2039 2.35 1.70 1.36 1.05 0.49 summer temperature High 2030-2059 3.73 2.70 2.18 1.75 1.01 High 2050-2079 5.42 3.99 3.34 2.70 1.66 High 2070-2099 7.15 5.33 4.51 3.73 2.44
Change in winter High 2010-2039 2.08 1.54 1.24 1.00 0.50 temperature High 2030-2059 3.02 2.31 1.97 1.64 1.07 High 2050-2079 4.09 3.12 2.71 2.34 1.64 High 2070-2099 5.13 3.99 3.42 2.95 2.11
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Figure 5 – Change in annual temperature (◦C) using the high Figure 5 – Change in summer temperature (◦C) using the high emissions scenarios over various time periods emissions scenarios over various time periods
Figure 5 – Change in winter temperature (◦C) using the high emissions scenarios over various time periods
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Nantwich Medium emissions scenario – temperature It is very likely that there will be a 4.95◦C increase in annual temperature using the medium emissions scenarios in the 2080s, but unlikely to be an increase of 2.87◦C.
It is very likely that there will be a 5.81◦C increase in summer temperature using the medium emissions scenarios in the 2080s, but unlikely to be an increase of 2.95◦C.
It is very likely that there will be a 4.34◦C increase in winter temperature using the medium emissions scenarios in the 2080s, but unlikely to be an increase of 2.41◦C. Table 8 Medium emissions – shows the projected changes in temperature resulting from future climate change for the time periods: 2010 – 2039; 2030 – 2059; 2050 – 2079; 2070 – 2099. Variable Emissions Time Change in Change in Change in Change in Change in scenario period temperature temperature temperature temperature temperature (◦C) (◦C) with 90% (◦C) with 67% (◦C) with 50% (◦C) with 33% with 10% probability probability probability probability probability Change in Medium 2010-2039 2.07 1.61 1.38 1.12 0.69 annual temperature Medium 2030-2059 3.05 2.33 2.01 1.72 1.17 Medium 2050-2079 4.05 3.10 2.67 2.33 1.66 Medium 2070-2099 4.95 3.82 3.36 2.87 2.10
Change in Medium 2010-2039 2.48 1.77 1.44 1.07 0.46 summer temperature Medium 2030-2059 3.62 2.58 2.11 1.64 0.87 Medium 2050-2079 4.70 3.35 2.75 2.31 1.34 Medium 2070-2099 5.81 4.26 3.55 2.95 1.91
Change in winter Medium 2010-2039 2.04 1.58 1.29 1.03 0.60 temperature Medium 2030-2059 2.79 2.10 1.75 1.46 0.94 Medium 2050-2079 3.65 2.76 2.33 1.98 1.38 Medium 2070-2099 4.34 3.31 2.87 2.41 1.64
Cheshire East Council 87 Local Climate Impacts Profile
Figure 5 – Change in annual temperature (◦C) using the medium Figure 5 – Change in summer temperature (◦C) using the medium emissions scenarios over various time periods emissions scenarios over various time periods
Figure 5 – Change in winter temperature (◦C) using the medium emissions scenarios over various time periods
Cheshire East Council 88 Local Climate Impacts Profile
Nantwich Low emissions scenario – temperature It is very unlikely that there will be a greater than 1.58◦C increase in annual temperature using the low emissions scenario for the 2080s.
It is very likely that there will be a 4.52◦C increase in summer temperature using the low emissions scenarios in the 2080s, but very unlikely to be an increase of 1.23◦C
It is very likely that there will be a 3.74◦C increase in winter temperature using the low emissions scenarios in the 2080s, but very unlikely to be an increase of 1.41◦C
Table 9 Low emissions – shows the projected changes in temperature resulting from future climate change for the time periods: 2010 – 2039; 2030 – 2059; 2050 – 2079; 2070 – 2099.
Variable Emissions Time Change in Change in Change in Change in Change in scenario period temperature temperature temperature temperature temperature (◦C) with 90% (◦C) with 67% (◦C) with 50% (◦C) with 33% (◦C) with 10% probability probability probability probability probability Change in Low 2010-2039 2.08 1.60 1.36 1.17 0.79 annual temperature Low 2030-2059 2.85 2.20 1.92 1.60 1.12 Low 2050-2079 3.48 2.71 2.35 1.98 1.36 Low 2070-2099 3.96 3.09 2.66 2.30 1.58
Change in Low 2010-2039 2.44 1.81 1.49 1.17 0.66 summer temperature Low 2030-2059 3.42 2.47 2.24 1.78 1.00 Low 2050-2079 4.08 2.93 2.47 1.95 1.09 Low 2070-2099 4.52 3.22 2.67 2.13 1.23
Change in winter Low 2010-2039 1.99 1.46 1.20 0.96 0.50 temperature Low 2030-2059 2.64 1.99 1.70 1.36 0.84 Low 2050-2079 3.21 2.42 2.04 1.68 1.03 Low 2070-2099 3.74 2.88 2.44 2.08 1.41
Cheshire East Council 89 Local Climate Impacts Profile
Figure 5 – Change in annual temperature (◦C) using the low Figure 5 – Change in summer temperature (◦C) using the low emissions scenarios over various time periods emissions scenarios over various time periods
Figure 5 – Change in winter temperature (◦C) using the low emissions scenarios over various time periods Cheshire East Council 90 Local Climate Impacts Profile
Recommendations
Customer Services have an internet system which the public can use at home, but the challenge is trying to get customers to use it, currently only around 10% of people use it, whereas the figure should be about 40%.
The Procurement team should get involved in supplier engagement and managing their supply chain and educating their suppliers.
The Green ICT team is hoping to buy green electricity in the future as it is currently very expensive.
The transport team has a problem with journey efficiency. Drivers should pick people up living in close proximity to one another rather than having different vehicles picking up people who could easily share a journey.
Communication in the transport team could be improved; a data terminal is being created to increase efficiency.
More laptops could be bought to encourage working from home during severe weather events, wherever it is practical and relevant to the work.
Emergency contact numbers for staff should be kept.
The fleet of vehicles, especially the gritters could be changed, but this would prove to be very expensive.
The leisure team should receive accurate weather forecasts for budget reasons.
The highways team do not have much information on the drainage of the network, identifying the drainage asset could be put on a computer system for people to see.
High risk flood areas should be identified and mapped.
Trees should be checked in car parks, to reduce the risk of them falling over in severe weather.
Weather alerts should be sent out to the public in a faster way, the system could be made more interactive.
Schools should be made aware that it is their responsibility to close due to severe weather, it is not the council’s, and this is creating confusion.
More 4X4 vehicles could be bought for use in the cold weather by the Adult Service team.
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An exercise on flooding could be run as a result of the Cumbria floods in 2009.
People also need to be engaged in the idea of risk assessment, and business continuity planning.
Somebody could be employed to monitor Met Office weather forecasts and warn of extreme weather, such as likely heatwaves and cold weather.
Undertake detailed assessments of visitor patterns, energy use and land management patterns to obtain a more accurate picture of the Countryside Service carbon footprint.
Work with other providers of public green space (eg. British Waterways, National Trust etc) to develop a sub regional carbon reduction plan.
Develop the potential of countryside sites as carbon sinks, suppliers of renewable energy and, as front line service providers, of public environmental education services.
Invest in facilities that reduce the need for people to travel and promote alternative transport options that reduce overall carbon costs.
Tatton Park staff could stock pile more salt and introduce an alcoholic hand rub by the Rare Breeds Farm so visitors can still wash their hands even when the pipe work is frozen. They could also lay fresh bark down on the play area, and this would help to keep the play open during the frosty cold weather.
Include extreme weather events on the Corporate Risk Register.
Look at the location of teacher’s and pupil’s homes for the top 10 schools which close during severe weather events
The process of undertaking this LCLIP study has identified several key areas in which the council could improve its services during periods of extreme weather.
Key areas
Business Continuity Plans
It is essential that services have Business Continuity Plans relevant to events of severe weather. This should enable staff to work – either from their usual location or from home, and also services such as leisure centres and libraries can remain open to the public.
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Schools
Communication needs to be improved along with an understanding of how schools can be affected by severe weather; schools need to know that it is their responsibility to close a school for a day, and not the responsibility of the council.
Emergencies
Wind has been identified as the most likely severe weather event to occur in the future, and also the one which could cause the most damage, causing the most disruption to council services.
The Civil Protection team need to prepare for a potential increase in the destruction of buildings and associated emergency measures aimed at protecting the people of Cheshire East.
Communication
Communication could also be improved; confusion in times of emergency could prove costly or fatal in some circumstances.
All of this information can then be gathered and written into a Climate Change Adaptation Strategy for the council.
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Acknowledgements
Wayne Ashdown - Area Maintenance Engineer, Cheshire East Council.
Stephen Ashton – Procurement Enablement, Cheshire East Council
Matthew Axford - Countryside Ranger, Cheshire East Council.
Robert Bacon - Facilities Manager, Cheshire East Council.
Bill Bales – Children & Families, Cheshire East Council.
Paul Bayley – Customer Services, Cheshire East Council
Adrian Bell – Tatton Park, Cheshire East Council.
Paul Biddulph - Adult Services, Cheshire East Council.
Tim Birtles - Tatton Park, Cheshire East Council.
Trevor Bithell – Biodiversity, Cheshire East Council.
Paul Burns - Parking Manager, Cheshire East Council.
Samantha Clements – Procurement Enablement, Cheshire East Council.
Lynda Cotterill - Libraries, Cheshire East Council.
Simon Davis – Highways, Cheshire East Council.
Andy Eadon - Contingency Planner, Cheshire Constabulary Eastern Area.
Adrian Fisher – Planning and Policy, Cheshire East Council.
Jez Goodman - Economic Development, Cheshire East Council.
Paul Goodwin – Finance, Cheshire East Council.
Martin Grime - Joint Cheshire Emergency Planning Team, Cheshire East Council.
Mark Hallett – Transport, Cheshire East Council.
Peter Hartwell - Safer and Stronger Communities, Cheshire East Council.
Carl Horton Leigh - Green ICT, Cheshire East Council.
Rick Howell – Children & Families, Cheshire East Council.
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Tamara Hunt – Cheshire West LCLIP.
Moaz Khan – Highways, Cheshire East Council.
Jenny Lees – Transport, Cheshire East Council.
Phil Lucas - Tatton Park, Cheshire East Council.
Gary Mallin - Highways and Traffic Asset Manager, Cheshire East Council.
Steve Murray – Environment Agency. Hydrology.
Stephen Parkinson – Leisure, Cheshire East Council.
Elizabeth Pascoe – Met Office. Weather Desk Advisor.
Chris Shields – Highways, Cheshire East Council.
Sandra Shorter - Adult Services, Cheshire East Council.
Sandra Smith - Risk and Compliance, Cheshire East Council.
Ian Wilshaw - Keele University weather station.
Steve Wilson – Highways, Cheshire East Council.
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Appendices
Severe weather events database
Cheshire East Council 96 Local Climate Impacts Profile
Source Headline Date of the Keele West Date of the Weather Weather Impact Consequence detail Location Responsible Significance Cost Reputation Staff time / Disruption to service story weather Cheshire weather type detail unit resources or operations data College event data dd/mm/yy Knutsford Call for rail 22/02/2010 Cold Major disruption Middlewich chiefs are asking for action to Middlewich Council - Major disruption in Guardian access and weather in Middlewich prevent massive disruption in the town during Highways Middlewich bypass in periods of ice and snow. Clr Mike Parsons Middlewich branded the impact of the cold weather crisis on after cold the town as a ‘ridiculous situation’ and is writing weather crisis a report in a bid to stop it happening again. The report will be sent to Cheshire East Council, the Vision Transport Group and other transport authorities. It will request urgent Government funds to provide new rail access to Winsford Salt Mine and British Salt and complete the Middlewich Eastern Bypass to speed up distribution. Town leaders also want to see other stockpiles of salt delivered to ‘winter stock’ centres around the country. Middlewich Pothole 18/02/2010 Snow Since January A recent request to report potholes in Cheshire East Council - Since January there has Guardian campaign ‘a there has been a Middlewich following the adverse weather has Highways been a 100% increase success’ says 100% increase proven a success, according to Cheshire East in pothole reports Cheshire East in pothole Council. The authority has now received Council reports for the thousands of reports of potholes across the area. same period last Road repairs were particularly needed at Town year, with a Bridge in Middlewich due to excess HGV traffic large amount of as vehicles queued up for salt at the British Salt calls still being factory. recorded daily
Wilmslow Snow blast 03/02/2010 Snow Police reported Alderley Edge and Wilmslow awoke up to a Alderley Police Police reported no Express makes a no fatalities, white landscape as a fresh snow storm swept in at Edge and fatalities, accidents or comeback accidents or the weekend. A Wilmslow Police Team Sergeant Wilmslow serious trips or falls serious trips or Andy Gardner said: “I am not aware of any falls fatalities, accidents or serious trips or falls caused by this weekend’s snowfall.”
Crewe Nantwich 13/01/2010 Month Cold United Utilities United Utilities flooded with complaints about Crewe and United United Utilities flooded Chronicle residents and Max T = weather flooded with vile tasting water after the supply to Nantwich Nantwich Utilities with complaints businesses 3.2 complaints homes and businesses was tainted by chlorine. complain Month about vile Helen Wilson of United Utilities said: “over the about vile Min T = tasting water cold snap we believe that salt has washed off tasting water -1.1 roads into the canal and this has resulted in the treatment process boosting the level of chlorine that our customers can taste.
The Sentinel If the roads 12/01/2010 Month Snow Refuse Families face having to store up to four weeks of Council - Families face having to were gritted Max T = collection waste after bin collections were plunged into Highways store up to four weeks bins wouldn't 3.2 delayed chaos because of severe weather conditions. of waste after bin be piling up' Month Refuse collections were disrupted across North collections were Min T = Staffordshire and South Cheshire after council plunged into chaos -1.1 leaders decided it would be too dangerous for bin because of severe lorries to try and navigate slippy roads, and for weather conditions. staff to venture out in icy conditions. Some collections in Cheshire were severely delayed last week. Cheshire East Council has now reverted back to its scheduled timetable, instead of sending trucks out daily to try to pick up missed collections, and urged residents to wait for their regular collection day. Extra manpower will be drafted in to help clear the backlog. Middlewich Exams in 11/01/2010 Month Snow Schools stay Schools in Winsford and Middlewich battling the Middlewich Schools Schools in Winsford Guardian Middlewich Max T = open for exams snow say that they plan to stay open for this and Winsford and Middlewich and Winsford 3.2 week's exams. Pupils taking GCSEs, A-Levels battling the snow say set to Month and AS-levels are currently set to continue as that they plan to stay continue as Min T = normal at Winsford Sixth Form, Verdin High open normal -1.1 School, Woodford Lodge High School and Middlewich High School. Crewe Water bosses 08/01/2010 Month Snow United Utilities North West water bosses are getting ready for the North West United United Utilities expects Chronicle say beware of Max T = expect a rise in big thaw! United Utilities expects a spike in the Utilities a spike in the number of the Big 3.2 number of leaks number of leaks and bursts to hit the water leaks and bursts to hit Thaw! Month and burst pipes network when temperatures rise. the water network when Min T = temperatures rise. -1.1
Knutsford Big Freeze: 08/01/2010 Month Snow Power cut hit Parts of Knutsford were in darkness last night, Scottish Parts of Knutsford were Guardian Power cut hits Max T = homes and after a power cut hit homes and businesses. Power in darkness last night, parts of town 3.2 businesses Scottish Power told the Guardian that more than after a power cut hit Month 1, 000 homes in the Hallside Park and Corwood homes and businesses. Min T = areas of the town were hit at 7.30 pm after a fault Scottish Power told the -1.1 with a cable caused a loss of electricity. As a Guardian that more result of the fault, the Legh Arms had to cancel than 1, 000 homes in their quiz, while some residents were left without the Hallside Park and heating. Most homes had their power restored by Corwood areas of the 9pm but at least 200 had to wait until 11pm. town were hit at 7.30 pm Knutsford Tatton Park 08/01/2010 Month Snow and Visitors fell Icy conditions left a popular Knutsford attraction Tatton Park Tatton Park Guardian hits back over Max T = ice over on Tatton facing the wrath of some visitors over Christmas. claims roads 3.2 Park footpaths Tatton Park was a victim of the freezing were not Month conditions over Christmas but has hit back over gritted Min T = accusations that footpaths and roads were not -1.1 adequately gritted.
Middlewich Motorists 08/01/2010 Month Snow HGVs blocking Drivers have been advised to avoid travelling to Middlewich; Guardian urged to Max T = roads to Middlewich and Booth Lane in particular, as the Booth Lane avoid Booth 3.2 Middlewich and number of HGVs in town 'increases by the hour.' Lane as Month Booth Lane lorries stock Min T = up on salt in -1.1 Middlewich Middlewich Cledford 08/01/2010 Month Snow Cledford School Cledford School in Middlewich is closed today Cledford Cledford Cledford School in Guardian School in Max T = closed due to the severe weather. School in School Middlewich closed Middlewich 3.2 Middlewich closed today Month due to severe Min T = weather -1.1 Middlewich Travel 08/01/2010 Month Snow Public transport All Arriva bus services are operating mid Middlewich Arriva buses All Arriva bus services Guardian update: Max T = disrupted Cheshire with a number of exceptions. From the are operating mid Arriva bus 3.2 Winsford depot, the diversion via the M6 on Cheshire with a number services Month Service 37 is now indefinite as the police of exceptions. running with Min T = continue to stack lorries from around the UK some -1.1 awaiting salt collection in Middlewich. This exceptions route is not serving Mount Pleasant Drive, in Davenham, due to ice. All roads are passable for local Northwich services. The Sentinel Posties afraid 08/01/2010 Month Snow Post deliveries Postal workers refused to go out on their rounds Congleton Postal service Deliveries in the of icy rounds Max T = delayed - affect in the early morning for fear of slipping on icy Congleton area were 3.2 businesses? pavements. Deliveries in the Congleton area were disrupted Month disrupted yesterday after postmen and women Min T = only embarked on their routes at 11am. -1.1 Temperatures in the town plunged to below - 10◦C yesterday as the region suffered another day of wintry weather. The Sentinel Plunging 08/01/2010 Month Snow Grit reserves Grit reserves could run out in two days as a South Council - Council Grit reserves could run temperatures Max T = could run out council searches for new suppliers. In South Cheshire; Highways, reputation out in two days put pressure 3.2 Cheshire, all roads being gritted have been Stapeley Highways could be at on gritters Month mapped on the council's website, all priority Agency risk Min T = routes were gritted twice on Wednesday night -1.1 and all vehicles were reloaded yesterday morning. Grit bins in residential areas are being refilled weekly, and salt reserves are being carefully managed. Health officials are asking people to look after their vulnerable neighbours and relatives. House alarms were going off overnight in a housing estate in Stapeley, near Nantwich, because low temperatures triggered the sensors.
Cheshire East Council 97 Local Climate Impacts Profile
Crewe Middlewich 08/01/2010 Month 08/01/2010 Snow Cledford Almost all schools in South Cheshire have re- Cledford Cledford Almost all schools in Chronicle school is only Max T = Primary School opened following the icy blast that saw several of Primary School South Cheshire have re- snow closure 3.2 shut them shut their doors over the past two days. The School, opened casualty Month sole casualty today (Friday) is Cledford Primary Middlewich Min T = School in Middlewich, which was also shut -1.1 yesterday. Crewe Snow 07/01/2010 Month Snow Continued water Major sewer repair work has been delayed due to Sandbach Council - Major sewer repair Chronicle postpones Max T = supply problems the severe weather conditions. The work to lay a Highways work has been delayed vital sewer 3.2 until sewer new water pipe was due to start in Old Mill Road work in Month repair carried on Saturday, but Cheshire East Council's Sandbach Min T = out Highways Department has postponed the scheme -1.1 until Monday January 18th. The work is part of a major scheme to improve water supplies across South Cheshire. Crewe Leisure 06/01/2010 Month 06/01/2010 Snow Health of South All leisure centres across South Cheshire are now South Leisure All leisure centres Chronicle centres re- Max T = Cheshire people open following a number of closures due to the Cheshire centres across South Cheshire open across 3.2 could improve severe weather conditions yesterday (Tuesday). are now open South Month Cheshire Min T = -1.1 Middlewich College 06/01/2010 Month 06/01/2010 Snow Potential loss of South Cheshire College has been forced to South South South Cheshire College Guardian postpones Max T = people enrolling postpone its part-time course enrolment session Cheshire Cheshire has been forced to part-time 3.2 at the college - because of the adverse weather conditions hitting College College postpone its part-time enrolment due Month potential loss of the area this week. The college had to close its course enrolment to snow Min T = money doors to students on Wednesday 6th January, -1.1 which was also the day planned for carrying out part-time course enrolments. Middlewich Middlewich 06/01/2010 Month Snow People may Middlewich was caught up in the cold weather Cledford Middlewich was caught Guardian factory Max T = struggle getting crisis today as salt trucks from all over the county Lane, up in the cold weather responds to 3.2 to work, gridlocked the town. Dozens of lorries are Middlewich crisis today as salt national snow Month potential currently stocking up on salt at British Salt in trucks from all over the crisis Min T = financial Cledford Lane to battle the snow elsewhere in the county gridlocked the -1.1 struggle UK. The tailbacks were reported to police at 9.30 town. am today when 10 trucks were seen queuing in Lewin Street. Knutsford Town grinds 06/01/2010 Month 04/01/10 - Snow Potential loss of A fresh blanket of snow is set to test the resolve Knutsford Council - The snow caused fresh Guardian to a halt under Max T = 05/01/10 tourism to the of the town after it was left reeling due to icy Highways, misery for commuters. white blanket 3.2 area, commuters conditions. The snow caused fresh misery for Highways Tatton Park shut, as Month struggling to get commuters but joy for children as it covered the Agency, well as numerous Min T = into work. town and the surrounding area on Monday night / Tatton Park schools. -1.1 Children Tuesday morning. The adverse conditions also missing out on caused Tatton Park to shut aswell as closing education numerous schools on Tuesday and today, Wednesday. Knutsford Enough grit 06/01/2010 Month Snow Restores faith in Cheshire East Council has allayed fears of a grit Knutsford Council - Allaying Cheshire East Council Guardian to go around Max T = the council shortage by saying they have enough for the Highways fears have enough grit 3.2 freezing weather. Month Min T = -1.1 Crewe Salt lorry 06/01/2010 Month 06/01/2010 Snow People may Middlewich ground to a halt today (Wednesday) Middlewich Middlewich gridlocked Chronicle gridlock in Max T = struggle getting in Britain's desperate bid to keep its roads clear. as hundreds of lorries Middlewich 3.2 to work, The town centre is gridlocked as hundreds of queue along Booth as snow hits Month potential lorries queue along Booth Lane to enter the Lane to enter the Min T = financial British Salt site in Cledford Lane. British Salt site in -1.1 struggle Cledford Lane.
Macclesfield Locals not 06/01/2010 Month Snow Roads and A councillor claims residents should show more Macclesfield Residents and Express doing enough Max T = pavements community spirit in dealing with the recent bad shopkeepers to help in cold 3.2 became weather. Councillor Roger west blasted residents in snap: Month hazardous - risk and shopkeepers for not doing their bit to clear Macclesfield councillor Min T = of accident and the roads and pavements outside their homes and -1.1 injury premises and letting them become 'death traps.' Macclesfield Frosty start 06/01/2010 Month Snow Potential Traders have faced a frosty start to 2010. January Macclesfield Shops on Macclesfield shop Express for traders Max T = customers have often creates a retail rush as shoppers respond to high street in customer numbers have 3.2 been kept away massive discount sales on the High Street, but the Macclesfield been down 50% Month due to the heavy extreme weather has changed all that. Potential Min T = snowfall and icy customers have been kept away due to the heavy -1.1 roads snowfall and icy roads. Mandy Fazelynia from Macclesfield Chamber of Trade was yesterday forced to close her own restaurant - Fina Bar and Grill in the Marketplace as her chefs could not get to work. Nick Bianchi, operations director at Arighi Bianchi, said they had been open as planned since launching their winter sale on Boxing Day, but that customer numbers had been down 50% in the last couple of days.
Macclesfield Plenty of grit 06/01/2010 Month Snow Restores faith in Cheshire East Council says it has plenty of grit if Cheshire East Council - Allaying Cheshire East Council Express left says Max T = the council the treacherous weather continues. The council Highways fears has enough grit council 3.2 has used more than 500 tonnes of salt on Month Cheshire East roads already since the turn of the Min T = year. -1.1 Middlewich Severe 06/01/2010 Month 05/01/2010 Snow Potential grit Council bosses are urging Middlewich residents Middlewich Council - Guardian weather Max T = shortage to only travel today if absolutely necessary. The Highways, update 3.2 announcement by Cheshire East Council follows British Salt Month heavy snowfall on Tuesday which has caused Min T = chaos on the roads. British Salt in Chedford -1.1 Lane, Middlewich, has also received orders for an extra 8, 000 tonnes of its road salt from local authorities since the New Year. Congleton Transport 06/01/2010 Month Snow Snowfall People may Arctic temperatures have paralysed swathes of Cheshire east Guardian chaos as snow Max T = levels in struggle getting Britain once again as snowfall levels in some moves south 3.2 some parts of to work, parts of the county peaked at 1.5ft (47cm). Month the county potential Min T = peaked at financial -1.1 1.5ft (47cm). struggle. Elderly and people with health problems may struggle with conditions The Sentinel Snow hit 06/01/2010 Month 06/01/2010 Snow Children's Schools were closed, operations postponed and Cheshire East Council - Schools were closed, commuters as Max T = education may bin collections cancelled as snow fell across the Highways, operations postponed police issue 3.2 suffer, numbers region again. The early morning conditions Schools and bin collections warnings Month of rats might across North Staffordshire and South Cheshire cancelled about roads' Min T = increase - Weil's turned yesterday's morning rush-hour into a slog safety -1.1 disease?? for those commuters who chose to brave the conditions. Cheshire East Council advised residents to avoid making unnecessary journeys, after abandoned vehicles hampered gritting team's efforts. More than 60 schools in North Staffordshire and South Cheshire were closed yesterday, as pupils and teachers struggled through the snow. With untreated minor roads becoming increasngly treacherous, refuse collections were cancelled on estates throughout the region. The wintry conditions also caused leisure centres and libraries to close in South Cheshire. The Sentinel Schools 06/01/2010 Month 06/01/2010 Snow Children's Around 50 schools have closed their doors today Cheshire East Schools Around 50 schools have closed on Max T = education may amid the ongoing winter conditions. It means closed their doors today January 6 3.2 suffer hundreds of children have been granted another 2010 Month day to enjoy the snowy weather. Schools closed Min T = in Cheshire include; Excalibur Primary in -1.1 Alsager, The Quinton Primary School in Congleton, Astbury St. Mary's CE Primary School in Congleton, Brine Leos High School in Nantwich, Castle Primary School in Mow Cop, Marlbank School & Sixth Form Centre in Nantwich and Woodcocks' Well CE Primary School in Mow Cop. This is Warning as 05/01/2010 Month Snow and Food supply Supermarkets saw a surge in panic buying as Nationwide Supermarkets Supermarkets saw a Cheshire snow chaos Max T = ice could dwindle shoppers stocked up on essential items. surge in panic buying heads south 3.2 Month Min T = -1.1 Crewe East of 05/01/2010 Month Snow and Hazardous Cheshire East advise travelling to the east of the Cheshire East Council - The A54 between Chronicle Cheshire Max T = ice driving county only if absolutely necessary. The Highways, Bosley and Buxton is snowed in 3.2 conditions announcement follows heavy snowfall overnight Highways closed, and the A537 with roads Month and throughout the morning. The A34 is passable Agency between Macclesfield closed Min T = with care, the A54 between Bosley and Buxton is and Buxton. -1.1 closed due to snow and ice. The A537 between Macclesfield and Buxton is closed due to snow and ice. The M6 northbound at Junction 21A has difficult driving conditions due to snow and ice.
Cheshire East Council 98 Local Climate Impacts Profile
Wilmslow Major 05/01/2010 Month 01/01/10 - Snow 50 schools Freezing temperatures continued to pose a Maccesfield Schools Emergency services Express disruption Max T = 03/01/10 closed, challenge for emergency services and gritters in and Wilslow and gritters have after further 3.2 emergency Macclesfield and Wilmslow over the New Year struggled in heavy snow Month services and weekend. About 50 schools have been closed Macclesfield and Min T = gritters struggle across the borough, roads are treacherous and bus Wilmslow, and about -1.1 services are badly affected. 50 schools have been closed across the borough, roads are treacherous and bus services are badly affected
Crewe Snow closes 05/01/2010 Month 05/01/2010 Snow Schools closed More than a dozen South Cheshire schools are South Schools More than a dozen Chronicle South Max T = today closed because of snow. Schools closed Cheshire South Cheshire schools Cheshire 3.2 include; Crewe: Underwood West Primary and are today closed schools Month Springfield School. Alsager: Excalibur Primary, Min T = St. Gabriel's Primary, Cranberry Primary and -1.1 alsager School. Sandbach: Sandbach High School, Sandbach School, Sandbach Primary School. Middlewich High School, Brereton Primary School and Woodcocks Well Primary at Mow Cop are also closed. Knutsford Snow hits 05/01/2010 Month 05/01/2010 Snow Schools closed Snow has once again blanketed Knutsford this Knutsford Schools The following schools Guardian Knutsford - Max T = morning causing more widespread chaos. As a are closed: Knutsford again 3.2 result, the following schools are closed: High, St. Vincents Month Knutsford High, St. Vincents Primary, Egerton Primary, Egerton Min T = Primary, Holmes Chapel Comprehensive, St. Primary, Holmes -1.1 John's Wood Community, Mobberley Primary, Chapel Comprehensive, Manor Park and Yorston Lodge. However, St. John's Wood Bexton Primary School is open today, Tuesday. Community, Mobberley Primary, Manor Park and Yorston Lodge
Wilmslow Teacher's 04/01/2010 Month High School PE A Wilmslow High School PE teacher who went Wythenshawe Wilsmow Customer Services Express tragic Max T = teacher died of to see her GP with a bad cough and cold has died Hospital High School, received 3 times as pneumonia 3.2 pneumonia after being diagnosed with pneumonia. Sue Hool, Wythenshawe many calls today than death Month 35, went to the doctor three weeks ago and was Hospital on a regular Monday Min T = sent to Wythenshawe Hospital -1.1 Macclesfield Cold snap 04/01/2010 Month 01/01/10 - Ice Emergency Freezing temperatures continued to pose a Macclesfield, Council - Customer Services Express continues to Max T = 03/01/10 services challenge for emergency services and gritters in Wilmslow, Highways, received 3 times as cause 3.2 struggle, car Macclesfield and Wilmslow over the New Year Redesmere Police many calls today than problems Month accidents weekend. A Cheshire Police spokesman said a Lane in on a regular Monday Min T = Mazda RX8 skidded off Redesmere Lane in Siddington -1.1 Siddington at 8.40am on Monday (January 4) and and Leek a Peugeot 308 came off Leek Road near the Road near the Fools Nook Inn at 11am on Saturday. No one Fools Nook was injured in either collision. Inn. Crewe Gritters target 04/01/2010 Month Ice More than 500 Gritting lorries are now treating only 'Priority Cheshire East Council - Customer Services Chronicle A roads in Max T = tonnes of grit One' routes across Cheshire East. A spokesman Highways, received 3 times as Crewe and 3.2 has been used to said "more than 500 tonnes of grit has been used Highways many calls today than Nantwich Month treat roads since to treat roads since December 31. Deliveries of Agency on a regular Monday Min T = December 31 grit will continue this week, with some gritting -1.1 vehicles loading directly from the Winsford salt mine." Middlewich Gritting work 04//01/10 Month Ice Gritting vehicles Gritting vehicles have been working through the Cheshire East Council - Customer Services Guardian continues as Max T = worked night to prepare for more freezing temperatures Highways, received 3 times as temperatures 3.2 throughout the and snowfall this week. All 17 vehicles have Highways many calls today than plummet Month night, been sent out by Cheshire East Council to pre- Agency on a regular Monday Min T = salt the roads and to maintain priority routes. Grit -1.1 bins were refilled on Monday and Cheshire East Council has the option of loaning vehicles from West Cheshire. Deliveries of grit will continue this week, with some gritting vehicles loaded directly from the Winsford salt mine. Middlewich Warning to 31/12/2009 Month Mean T Cold Dangerous The Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) had Middlewich The Institute Guardian drivers as Max T = =1.7 weather driving reminded drivers of the need for extra care on the of Advanced temperatures 4.8 leads to conditions roads in the holiday season. It is likely that Motorists plunge Month treacherous problems caused by these severe weather (IAM) Min T = driving conditions will be compounded by the huge 0.2 conditions volume of motorists travelling to towns and shopping centres for the sales. Macclesfield Cold snap 31/12/2009 Month Mean T Cold Some road Cheshire East Council insists gritting essential Macclesfield Council - The A54 between Express causes Max T = =1.7 weather closures Macclesfield and Wilmslow roads remains a and Highways, Bosley and Buxton and closures 4.8 leads to priority over the New Year. The A54 between Wilmslow Highways the A537 between Month treacherous Bosley and Buxton and the A537 between Agency Macclesfield and Min T = driving Macclesfield and Buxton are currently closed due Buxton are currently 0.2 conditions to drifting snow caused by high winds, which closed have made them 'impassable' according to the council. Over 700 tonnes of salt had been delivered to the Macclesfield area in the last 24 hours. Crewe Cheshire East 30/12/2009 Month Mean T Cold Hazardous roads Cheshire East Council has moved to assure all South Council - Assuring Cheshire East Council Chronicle Council have Max T = =2.3 weather because of residents it is working flat out to grit South Cheshire Highways, residents has moved to assure all busy 4.8 severe frosts Cheshire's roads and pavements. The cold snap Highways residents it is working Christmas Month that arrived just over a week ago has seen severe Agency flat out to grit South gritting roads Min T = frosts which have made roads hazardous. Minor Cheshire's roads and 0.2 roads and housing estates especially have pavements suffered with 'ice rink' conditions. Wilmslow Pub defeats 29/12/2009 Month Mean T =2 Snow Elderly people A big-hearted landlord and his team of festive Express snow to Max T = could not walk cooks have saved Christmas dinner for residents deliver dinner 4.8 to a pub on who were trapped in their homes by the snow. Month Christmas Day The hungry diners at Gwyneth Morley Court Min T = because of the thought they might have to miss out on their 0.2 slippy pavement dinner date booked in at The Railway after the severe weather meant they couldn't walk to the pub. Nick Quinn of The Handforth pub decided to take Christmas to them and turned up with his team to cook dinner on site. Wilmslow Ambulance 29/12/2009 Month Mean T =2 Ice Increased Paramedics received more than 20 callouts to Wilmslow, Hospital Paramedics received Express calls up for Max T = ambulance calls treat residents in Wilmslow and Alderley Edge Alderley more than 20 callouts trips and slips 4.8 who were injured slipping on ice over Christmas. Edge and on ice Month Dangerous conditions under foot caused by the Macclesfield Min T = freezing conditions led to 15 requests for an 0.2 ambulance in Wilmslow and six in Alderley Edge between December 21 and 27 when dangerously slippy pavements and roads were at their worst. A further 37 were reported in Macclesfield. Macclesfield Dozens 29/12/2009 Month Mean T =2 21/12/09 - Ice leads to Injuries Paramedics received dozens of callouts to treat Macclesfield Macclesfield Dangerous conditions Express injured on ice Max T = 27/12/09 injuries Maxonians who were injured slipping on ice over Hospital, under foot caused by 4.8 and Christmas. Dangerous conditions under foot Fire Service the freezing conditions Month ambulance caused by the freezing conditions led to 37 led to 37 requests for an Min T = call outs requests for an ambulance to Macclesfield ambulance to 0.2 between December 21 and 27 when dangerously Macclesfield between slippy pavements and roads were at their worst. December 21 and 27 A further 15 were reported in Wilmslow and six in Alderley Edge. The ambulance service attended 374 falls on Boxing Day alone around the region. Firefighters used an inflatable dingy to rescue a dog that fell through ice on Trentabank Reservoir in Macclesfield Forest on Sunday morning (December 27th.) Wilmslow Snow 23/12/2009 Month Mean T = Cold Dangerous Gritters have again been out in force on the roads East Cheshire Council - Gritters have again Express disruption - Max T = -0.6 weather driving across East Cheshire and with the low Highways, been out in force on the follow the 4.8 leads to conditions temperatures set to continue across the area, Highways roads latest here …. Month treacherous drivers and pedestrians are urged to take extra Agency Min T = driving care. 0.2 conditions Macclesfield Snow 23/12/2009 Month Mean T = 22/12/2009 Cold Some road The traffic chaos in Macclesfield remains as Macclesfield; Council - The police have Express disruption - Max T = -0.6 weather accidents due to snow and ice continues to cause difficulties for Beech Lane, Highways, confirmed there have follow the 4.8 leads to ice drivers. The police have confirmed there have Prestbury Highways been minor accidents latest live … Month treacherous been minor accidents on Tuesday on Beech lane, Road, Agency, on Tuesday on Beech Min T = driving a four vehicle collision on the corner of Prestbury Kennedy Police Lane, a four vehicle 0.2 conditions Road and Kennedy Avenue, and a minor Avenue, collision on the corner collision on Chestergate. There have also been Chestergate of Prestbury Road and reports of accidents on the A523 near Adlington and the A523 Kennedy Avenue, and a and Roe Street. Police have confirmed a number near minor collision on of accidents may not be reported due to their Adlington Chestergate. There have nature, as most vehicles involved would be and Roe also been reports of travelling at low speeds. There are also reports Street accidents on the A523 that the Cat and Fiddle is iced over and cars are near Adlington and Roe having trouble up the hill. Street
Cheshire East Council 99 Local Climate Impacts Profile
Wilmslow Let it snow' in 22/12/2009 Month Mean T = Snow People struggle While most commuters grumbled as Wilmslow Wilmslow Leisure Express a Wilmslow Max T = -0.7 to get to work was transformed into a winter wonderland this wonderland 4.8 week, it was a Christmas wish come true for the Month town's children. The serene landscape of Min T = Wilmslow was quickly transformed into a huge 0.2 playground, with youngsters discovering the delights of sledging, building snowmen and having snowball fights, leaving few patches of snow undisturbed. Knutsford Police 22/12/2009 Month Mean T = Cold Cheshire Police With the weather worsening across the county Cheshire Police Cheshire Police are Guardian weather Max T = -0.7 weather issues winter and expecting to worsen still, Cheshire Police are issuing winter driving warning and 4.8 leads to driving advice issuing winter driving advice on its website and advice on its website advice Month treacherous Youtube for drivers on how to ensure their car is and Youtube Min T = driving fully equipped for the bad weather. 0.2 conditions Crewe Leighton's 22/12/2009 Month Mean T = Cold Increase in Local people are being urged to think twice Leighton Leighton The recent cold snap Chronicle A&E dept Max T = -0.7 weather emergency before using the Emergency Department at Hospital Hospital has led to a rush of urges patients 4.8 leads to admissions Leighton Hospital. They are being urged to emergency admissions. to consider Month surge in choose alternative and more appropriate services Trips, slips and the options Min = A&E available when possible. The recent cold snap has fractures led to an for minor 0.2 admissions led to a rush of emergency admissions. Trips, 'exceptionally busy' run ailments at Leighton slips and fractures led to an 'exceptionally busy' in to Christmas Hospital run in to Christmas. Crewe Winter 17/12/2009 Month Mean T = Cold People need to A Crewe insurance company is warning drivers Crewe Swinton - A Crewe insurance Chronicle insurance Max T = 3.9 weather be vigilant over to be vigilant of thieves targeting people Crewe based company is warning warning for 4.8 car theft attempting to defrost their cars this winter. insurnace drivers to be vigilant of South Month Swinton, based at Broad Street, says motorists company thieves targeting people Cheshire Min T = who leave their cars unattended to de-ice attempting to defrost motorists 0.2 windscreens give thieves an open invitation and their cars this winter risk invalidating insurance policies. The firm says policies do not cover thefts if cars are stolen as a result of leaving keys in an unattended vehicle. Cheshire Severe 19/11/2009 Month Mean T = 19/11/2009 Strong Difficult driving Motorists in Cheshire and the North West are Cheshire Council - Chronicle weather Max T = -3.7 winds conditions being advised to check the weather forecast and Highways, warning for 10.3 road conditions before they travel today. Highways Cheshire road Month Agency users Min T = 4.9
Crewe Britain facing 13/11/2009 Month Mean T Flooding Severe weather Britain was braced for flooding and damage for Chronicle 'year's worst Max T = =1.7 and gales warnings issued gale-force winds as forecasters issued severe storm' 10.3 weather warnings about the worst storm of the Month year so far. Min T = 4.9
The Sentinel High winds 02/11/2009 Month Mean T = High The Met High winds and heavy rain caused problems Cheshire and heavy Max T = 9.3 winds and Office has across North Staffordshire and South Cheshire rain cause 10.3 Wind speed heavy rain issued an over the weekend. problems Month = 7mph early Min T = Rainfall = warning of 4.9 0mm severe weather for Northern England with winds predicted to reach 60mph or more. Cheshire Mud, glorious Oct-09 Month Mean T 31/10/2009 Heavy rain 20, 000 people A bit of rain doesn't scare Cheshire folk. Dorfold Park, Leisure, 20, 000 people poured Life mud Max T = =11.4 went along to Thousands of you turned out for the Nantwich Nantwich Dorfold Park into Dorfold Park, 14.1 Wind speed the Nantwich Show, despite the inhospitable weather - Nantwich Nantwich for the Month = 1mph Show at Dorfold conditions. It did not dampen the spirits of the Nantwich Show despite Min T = Rainfall = Park, Nantwich, 20, 000 people who poured into Dorfold Park, the rain 7.8 0mm despite heavy Nantwich, armed with wellies, waterproofs and rain umbrellas.
Middlewich Booth Lane to 02/09/2009 Month Mean T Booth Lane Booth Lane will be closed for as much as six Middlewich; Council - £10 million Booth Lane will be Guardian be closed to Max T = =13.1 closed for up to months in January for a major flood prevention Booth Lane Highways sewer closed for as much as replace sewer 17.1 Wind speed 6 months for project. The main road from Sandbach to and Cross replacement six months in January system Month = 6mph major flood Middlewich will be shut between Cross Lane and Lane scheme. for a major flood Min T = Rainfall = prevention Long Lane South as part of a £10 million sewer prevention project. The 9.8 0mm project replacement scheme. Booth Lane is prone to main road from flooding due to the rise in building developments Sandbach to and growing population in the area. Cross Lane is Middlewich will be also due to close between June and October. shut between Cross Lane and Long Lane South
Crewe Fifth of 24/08/2009 Month Mean T Honeybees Loss of Nearly a fifth of the UK's honeybee colonies died Across the Biodiversity Nearly a fifth of the Chronicle honeybees Max T = =14.8 dying honeybees last winter, figures from the British Beekeepers' country UK's honeybee colonies died last week 19.6 Wind speed Association (BBKA) has revealed. Across the died last winter Month = 0mph country an avergae of 19.2% of colonies died Min T = Rainfall = over winter, with the highest losses in the north 11.9 0mm of England, where 32.1% perished. Diseases such as the varroa mite have infected hives, killing the bees, while climate change and pesticide use have also been suggested as possible factors in the insects' decline.
Knutsford Mini 11/07/2009 Month Mean T 08/07/2009 Heatwave Increase in Last week's heatwave caused an increase in Warrington Last week's heatwave Guardian heatwave Max T = =13.7 respiratory respiratory conditions. Warrington Hospital Hospital caused an increase in causes 19.0 Wind speed problems recorded a 'significant' increase in A&E respiratory conditions increase in Month = 1mph attendances with conditions like pneumonia, respiratory Min T = Rainfall = NHS Warrington board members were told last problems 11.5 0mm Wednesday. The humidity meant doctors saw an increase in breathing problems.
Middlewich Hot weather 09/07/2009 Month Mean T Heatwave Loss of fish The recent heatwave may have been welcomed Biodiversity, Three Lymm Angling Guardian threatens fish Max T = =14.2 by many sun worshippers up and down the Leisure Club venues all 19.0 Wind speed country but fish located in shallow, sheltered suffered from the Month = 8mph water are exposed to conditions that often lead to heatwave, Founders Min T = Rainfall = fatalities. This has been the case on three Lymm Pool, Belmont Pool and 11.5 0mm Angling Club venues in the last week, Founders Grimsditch Mill Pool Pool, Belmont Pool and Grimsditch Mill Pool all all suffered fish losses suffered fish losses.
Middlewich More than 3, 09/07/2009 Month Mean T Flooding Knutsford Over 3, 000 fish Thousands of fish died in Knutsford's Moor Pool Moor Pool, Biodiversity, Thousands of fish died Guardian & 000 fish die in Max T = =14.2 recently have died after torrential rain flooded parts of the town. The Knutsford Environment in Knutsford's Moor Knutsford Moor Pool 19.0 Wind speed experienced Environment Agency has not yet discovered why Agency Pool after torrential rain Guardian after torrential Month = 8mph a heatwave the deaths happened, but bosses said pollution, a flooded parts of the rain causes Min T = Rainfall = with legal sewage overflow and the recent heatwave town. The Environment flood in 11.5 0mm temperatures were hypothetical causes. Knutsford recently Agency has not yet Knutsford of almost experienced a heatwave with temperatures of discovered why the 30◦C almost 30◦C, but last week torrential rain flooded deaths happened parts of the town, affecting roads, businesses and a school. The Environment Agency believes more than 3, 000 fish died during the unusual weather.
Cheshire East Council 100 Local Climate Impacts Profile
Knutsford Heatwave 30/06/2009 Daily Mean T Heatwave Hundreds of fish The heatwave has killed hundreds of fish in a Wallasey's Biodiversity, Guardian kills of fish in Max T = =19.2 killed lake at Wallasey's Central Park. Officers from the Central Park Environment Officers from the Wallasey 23.4 Wind speed Environment Agency visited Central Park to look Agency Environment Agency Central Park Daily = 0mph at ways of oxygenating the water. visited Central Park to Min T = Rainfall = look at ways of 16.6 0mm oxygenating the water, Month after the heatwave led Max T= to hundreds of fish 18.6 dying at Wallasey's Month Central Park Min T = 10.2
Middlewich Bad weather 19/02/2009 Month Mean T =6 19/02/2009 Bad Road markings Extreme weather conditions delayed the Cromwell Council - Extreme weather Guardian delayed work Max T = Wind speed weather left incomplete completion of road markings on Cromwell Avenue and Highways, conditions delayed the 6.1 = 2mph overnight Avenue and Sankey Way. Road markings were Sankey Way Highways completion of road Month Rainfall = left incomplete overnight due to bad weather, Agency markings on Cromwell Min T = 0mm causing confusion for motorists. Avenue and Sankey 1.3 Way
The Sentinel Weather 10/02/2009 Daily Mean T Icy Possible grit Cheshire County Council has used 9,000 tonnes Cheshire Council - Cheshire County Update: Grit Max T = =3.3 weather shortage of grit in the last six weeks - compared to 8,000 Highways, Council has used 9,000 supplies are 4.9 Wind speed tonnes throughout last winter. Highways tonnes of grit in the last running out Daily = 8mph Agency six weeks Min T = Rainfall = -0.6 0mm Month Max T= 6.1 Month Min T = -3.5 The Sentinel Snow could 08/02/2009 Daily Mean T = - Snowfall Maximum of Heavy snow Heavy snow has been predicted across North Cheshire Council - lead to icy Max T = 0.8 2◦ Celsius predicted Staffordshire and South Cheshire, which could Highways, conditions 1.9 Wind speed lead to icy conditions in the morning. The Met Highways Daily = 3mph Office said sleet and snow is currently moving in Agency Min T = Rainfall = from the west, which will turn heavy later. The -3.0 0mm weather office warned this is likely to result in Month some accumulations of snow in many areas, and Max T= there will be a maximum of 2◦ Celsius. 6.1 Month Min T = -3.5 Crewe More snow as 05/02/2009 Daily Mean T = - 05/02/2009 Ice and Salt supplies More snow has been falling across the UK Council - Chronicle shortage of Max T = 0.1 snow running low overnight amid warnings that some local councils Highways, salt looms 0.5 Wind speed face dwindling salt supplies with which to clear Highways Daily = 1mph roads and help keep traffic moving. Some Agency, Min T = Rainfall = councils have admitted they are now only using Businesses -1.7 0mm salt on major routes, while britain's biggest salt- Month supplier, Cheshire - based Salt Union, said staff Max T= are working round the clock but still cannot meet 6.1 demand. Month Min T = -3.5 The Sentinel Motorists 03/02/2009 Daily Mean T = - 03/02/2009 Ice and Small number of Motorists in Staffordshire and Cheshire escaped Cheshire Council - A small number of escape severe Max T = 0.6 snow roads shut the worst of the severe weather today as the rest Highways, roads were shut because weather as 0.7 Wind speed of the country braced itself for Arctic conditions. Highways of the snowfall, county braced Daily = 9mph Gritter trucks worked throughout the night to Agency, including the A53 for more Min T = Rainfall = ensure commuters had a safe route. A small Businesses between Leek and snow -3.3 0mm number of roads were shut because of the Buxton, and the A54 Month snowfall, including the A53 between Leek and Macclesfield to Buxton Max T= Buxton, and the A54 Macclesfield to Buxton road 6.1 road. Month Min T = -3.5 The Sentinel Delays as 02/02/2009 Daily Mean T = - 02/02/2009 Snowfall A lorry shed its Motorists faced extra delays on their way to work Cheshire Council - Motorists faced extra lorry sheds Max T = 0.1 load of fridges today with overnight snow causing snarl-ups on Highways, delays on their way to load of 0.8 Wind speed near junction 17 the roads. The problems were further Highways work fridges on M6 Daily = 3mph on the compounded by an accident on the M6 this Agency, Min T = Rainfall = southbound side morning. The accident which closed about one Hospitals -2.6 0mm at about 6am lane, caused delays of about 30 minutes for Month motorists. In Cheshire, the Met Office is Max T= forecasting that today will be bitterly cold with a 6.1 raw north to northeasterly wind bringing Month sunshine and snow showers which will be Min T = heaviest and most frequent towards the Peaks. -3.5 The maximum temperature will be 1◦C. Chester Snow and 02/02/2009 Daily Mean T = - 02/02/2009 Ice and Schools closed Congleton High School is closed and Cheshire Cheshire Council - Congleton High School Chronicle weather latest Max T = 0.1 snow Police have closed the A54 which crosses the Highways, is closed and Cheshire for Chester 0.8 Wind speed Cheshire / Derbyshire boundary due to the snow. Highways Police have closed the and Cheshire Daily = 3mph The A537 Cat and Fiddle Road was closed earlier Agency, A54 Min T = Rainfall = today but is now reopened and passable with Schools, -2.6 0mm care, Police Month Max T= 6.1 Month Min T = -3.5 BBC Site Round-up of 02/02/2009 Daily Mean T = - 02/02/2009 Ice and Four schools Cheshire - just four schools. Cheshire Schools Four schools shut in UK school Max T = 0.1 snow shut in Cheshire Cheshire closured 0.8 Wind speed Daily = 3mph Min T = Rainfall = -2.6 0mm Month Max T= 6.1 Month Min T = -3.5 The Sentinel Weather 02/02/2009 Daily Mean T = - 02/02/2009 Ice and The At least five At least five schools were shut as bitter;y cold Cheshire Schools At least five schools warning as Max T = 0.1 snow maximum schools were weather gripped Staffordshire and Cheshire were shut snow causes 0.8 Wind speed temperature shut today. In Cheshire, the Met Office is forecasting schools to Daily = 3mph will be 1◦C that today will be bitterly cold with a raw north to shut Min T = Rainfall = north easterly wind bringing sunshine and snow -2.6 0mm showers which will be heaviest and most Month frequent towards the Peaks. Max T= 6.1 Month Min T = -3.5 The Sentinel Barbecue 30/07/2009 Month Mean T Flooding So far in July People might Hopes of a barbecue summer have been well and Cheshire Leisure summer? Max T = =14.7 - not spend less time truly dashed. Take a 19.0 including outdoors raincheck Month yesterday's Min T = downpour - 11.5 107.9 mm (4.2 ins) of rain had fallen on Staffordshire, which is almost twice as much as the Met Office would expect to see this time of year. Over in Cheshire, the downpours have been even worse, with 123 mm (148 ins) of rain so for this month. In June there was 87.1 mm
Cheshire East Council 101 Local Climate Impacts Profile
(3.4 ins) of rain in Staffordshire and 75 mm (3 ins) in Cheshire.
The Sentinel New 08/01/2009 Daily Mean T = Extreme Cheshire Fire Firefighters in Staffordshire and Cheshire are to Cheshire Fire Service Stoke-on- Firefighters in equipment Max T = 1.3 weather Authority will benefit from thousands of pounds of funding to Trent And Staffordshire and boost for two 4.0 Wind speed receive £71, 400 help them rescue people from collapsed buildings Staffordshire Cheshire are to benefit fire services Daily = 1mph and undertake mass decontamination of the Fire and from thousands of Min T = Rainfall = public. Stoke-on-Trent And Staffordshire Fire Rescue pounds of funding 0.1 0mm and Rescue Service, and Cheshire Fire Authority Service, and Month will receive £71, 400 each. Improving mass Cheshire Fire Max T= decontamination and Urban Search And Rescue Authority 5.2 (USAR) capabilities are part of the Government's will receive Month £1 billion investment in vital equipment to £71, 400 Min T = ensure that England's fire and rescue services are each. -0.3 equipped to deal with major incidents such as terrorism, industrial accidents or extreme weather. The Sentinel Brace 03/12/2008 Daily Mean T = 03/12/2008 Snowfalls In Cheshire Strong winds Forecasters are warning people to brace Cheshire Council - yourselves for Max T = 1.2 blizzard could cause themselves for heavy snow and treacherous Highways, more heavy 4.5 Wind speed conditions drifts conditions tonight. Weather experts say there will Highways snowfalls Daily = 1mph are expected be heavy and drifting snow across Staffordshire Agency Min T = Rainfall = with up to 20 and Cheshire. Strong winds could cause drifts, -2.7 0mm cm of snow leading to chaos on the roads. Month falling on Max T= higher 6.7 ground by Month tomorrow Min T = morning. 2.0 The Sentinel Snow closes 02/12/2008 Daily Mean T = - 01/12/2008 Snowfall Up to five Gritters out Last night gritters were out through the night on Cheshire Council - Last night gritters were school Max T = 1.4 centimetres through night roads across Cheshire following a severe weather Highways, out through the night on 2.5 Wind speed of heavy last night warning from the Met Office. Cheshire County Highways roads across Cheshire Daily = 1mph snow is Council's 35-vehicle fleet of gritters started work Agency Min T = Rainfall = expected on all routes across the county at 4pm yesterday. -1.9 0mm today in parts Month of the Max T= Midlands and 6.7 cheshire Month following Min T = flurries and 2.0 icy temperatures yesterday. The Sentinel Angling: 01/11/2008 Month Mean T = 25/10/08 - Gale force Flooding caused Two youngsters from South Cheshire braved Astbury Leisure Hancock and Max T = 3.6 26/10/08 winds chaos, one car gale-force winds to fish an overnight session on Mere, near Wilson win 12.5 stuck in water Astbury Mere near Congleton. Phil Cliffe led his Congleton Princes Trust Month four-man Crewe Amals side to the Cheshire and award Min T = North Staffs Anglers Association Rose Bowl title 5.9 last weekend. The match took place on Knypersley Reservoir, where trouble for anglers in the four teams in the final began even before the match started. Local flooding caused chaos on the approach to the reservoir with at least one angler's car getting stuck in the water. The reservoir at its highest level for many years with water pouring over the dam wall. Macclesfield Remembrance 13/08/2008 Month Mean T = Cold War hero with A war hero with dementia died on Remembrance Slade Green Hospitals A war hero with Express Day tragedy Max T = 13.2 weather dementia died Day after wandering into a ditch on his farm and Farm, Over dementia died for war hero 19.6 Wind speed drowning, an inquest heard. He was found dead Alderley Month = 2mph in his pyjamas clutching a bramble branch on 'a Min T = Rainfall = bitterly cold night' at Slade Green Farm in Over 11.8 0mm Alderley.
Macclesfield It's snow joke 26/03/2008 Month Mean T = High Organisers Horrendous weather in Macclesfield and beyond Astle park in Leisure, A charity festival for Express at Easter extreme 5.8 winds, waived the caused chaos over Easter. At a charity festival for Chelford Economy sick and homeless minimu Wind speed hail, snow entrance fee and sick and homeless animals at Astle Park in animals at Astle Park in m temp = 1mph and asked for Chelford suffered where only 50 of the 300 stalls Chelford suffered = -1.7 Rainfall = rainstorms donations opened at the four day event. High winds blew where only 50 of the Month 0.25mm instead several stalls away, while hail, snow and 300 stalls opened at the rain = rainstorms were a constant menace for the few four day event 63.1 mm who braved them.
Crewe Alert 31/01/2008 Month Day temp = 02/02/08 - Ice and Council Cheshire County Council's maintenance teams Cheshire Council - Cheshire Cheshire County Chronicle following extreme 7.8 03/02/08 snow maintenance and gritter fleet are on 24 hour alert to face the Highways, County Council's maintenance severe minimu teams and gritter severe weather threat forecast for the county. The Highways Council's teams and gritter fleet weather m temp fleet on 24 hour authority's maintenance crews, snow ploughs and Agency maintenance are on 24 hour alert forecast = -4.7 alert gritting fleet will be on call throughout the teams and weekend with additional drivers on standby gritter fleet should round-the-clock working be necessary to are on 24 clear the snow. County Council engineers will hour alert to monitor conditions using the Met Office face the forecasts, an ice prediction system and on-the- severe ground inspectors. weather threat forecast for the county The Sentinel Big freeze 08/01/2008 Mean T = Freezing Crewe's Thousands of people have broken bones, cuts and Cheshire Hospitals Crewe's Leighton stretches 6.4 weather Leighton bruises following falls on icy pavements, and Hospital opens a 24-bed emergency Wind speed Hospital opens a chest illnesses have been made worse by sub- ward to cope with extra services = 7mph 24-bed ward to zero temperatures. patients Rainfall = cope with extra 0mm patients. Alsager Road was closed between the A500 junction and the B5500 Nantwich Road junction in Audley.
This is Gales batter 08/01/2008 Mean T = 07/01/2008 Gales Trees and Traffic chaos Gale force gusts of wind caused traffic chaos Cliff Road at Council - Cheshire Police said a Cheshire town 6.3 debris were caused by gusts across the town yesterday. Cheshire Police said a Acton Bridge, Highways, large panel of metal Wind speed blown into of wind large panel of metal fencing blew into the A556 Highways fencing blew into = 11mph roads and Chesterway as the wind reached its peak at 6.50 Plumley Agency, Chesterway as the wind Rainfall = powerlines as am. Cliff Road at Acton Bridge was blocked Moor Road Police reached its peak at 6.50 0mm gusts reached when a tree blew into a phone line in the A556 near am. Cliff Road at Acton speeds of up Plumley Moor Road near Knutsford, closing the Knutsford, Bridge was blocked to 50mph. road from 7.20 am until 10.48 am. Northwich Wind gusts and Cheshire in Northwich were expected to reach 60 mph on Tuesday night. Knutsford Winter 25/10/2007 Mean T = Winter Drivers urged to Drivers are being warned to take extra care on Police Guardian warning 9.6 weather take care on the the roads this winter. Police are urging motorists Wind speed roads to get their vehicles ready to face a season of = 0mph dark nights, fog, snow and ice. Rainfall = 0mm
Cheshire East Council 102 Local Climate Impacts Profile
Middlewich Insects create 29/08/2007 Mean T = Extreme Extreme Flying insects have been buzzing into Marbury Marbury Biodiversity The recent spells of Guardian a buzz at 13.6 weather weather resulted Park for National Moth Night. While the moth extreme weather have Marbury Wind speed has in slight decline population in the area remains healthy compared resulted in a slight = 3mph resulted in in moth to other parts of the country, the recent spells of decline of moths Rainfall = a slight numbers extreme weather have resulted in a slight decline. 0mm decline in moths
Middlewich Nantwich 09/08/2007 Mean T = 06/08/2007 Flash Flash floods Cheshire Fire The streets of Nantwich were turned into rivers Nantwich and Council, Crewe was badly Guardian Councillor 15.4 floods in places saw and Rescue as a freak storm hit the town on Monday night. Crewe Fire Service affected with London calls for grid Wind speed water reach 2 Service received Torrential rain and hail hammered down for an Road and Millstone action after = 3mph feet deep. 50 emergency hour, blocking roads and flooding lanes. Crewe Lane taking the brunt of floods Rainfall = calls between was badly affected with London Road and the storm in Nantwich. 0mm 8.30 pm and Millstone Lane taking the brunt of the storm in Firefighters were also 9.30 pm from Nantwich. Firefighters were also called to called to Morrison's people calling Morrison's Supermarket on Station Road at 8.37 Supermarket on Station for assistance pm where they isolated the store's electrics and Road at 8.37 pm where with the helped remove food products from the flooded they isolated the store's flooding. Police petrol station. electrics and helped also dealt with remove food products the flash floods from the flooded petrol which in places station saw water reach 2 feet deep.
Middlewich Floods turn 08/08/2007 Mean T = 06/08/2007 Flooding Cheshire Fire The streets of Crewe became waist-high Crewe; Council, Valley Road, Guardian Crewe into a 15.4 and Rescue waterways with gutters that spouted like Valley Road, Fire Service Gawsworth Avenue, water world Wind speed service received fountains as a freak storm hit the town on Gawsworth Copesthorne Road, = 3mph 50 emergency Monday night. Valley Road, Gawsworth Avenue, Avenue, Alton Street and Dane Rainfall = calls between Copesthorne Road, Alton Street and Dane Bank Copesthorne Bank Avenue were 0mm 8.30 pm and Avenue were amongst the areas worst hit by the Road, Alton amongst the areas worst 9.30 pm from extreme weather. Cars, pathways and allotments Street, Dane hit by the extreme people calling were also damaged by the flash floods and a Bank Avenue weather. Cars, for assistance strong smell of diesel was reported to be hanging and pathways and with the in the air over Electricity Street from a nearby Electricity allotments were also flooding disused railway works site. Street damaged by the flash floods
Middlewich Fun in the sun 18/07/2007 Month Mean T = 14/07/2007 Heavy rain Size of show Nantwich Family Fun Day organisers thanked the Barony Park Leisure Nantwich Family Fun Guardian for Barony Max T = 16.4 was reduced heavens they did not open for the Barony Park Day ran smoothly Park 10.5 Wind speed because of extravaganza at the weekend. Despite the size of Month = 6mph extreme wet the show having to be reduced due to the extreme Min T = Rainfall = weather wet weather conditions, the fun day went 4 0mm successfully ahead beneath brilliant blue skies. Wind Speed = 15.7 Wind Speed = 66.7 Middlewich Heatwave 13/06/2007 Mean T = 09/06/2007 Heatwave Heatwave Scorching weather attracted crowds to help raise Leisure, Over £3, 000 Scorching weather Guardian helps fete pull 17.9 encourages money for charity at the 59th Hartford Young Economy raised for the attracted crowds to help in crowds Wind speed more people to NSPCC Rose Fete. The event raised over £3, 000 NSPCC raise money for charity = 0mph attend the fete, for the NSPCC. at the 59th Hartford Rainfall = raised over £3, Young NSPCC Rose 0mm 000 for the Fete NSPCC
BBC site School trip 10/02/2007 Mean T = 09/02/2007 Snowfall Cheshire Police Cheshire Police said several roads had been Cheshire Council - Cheshire Police said stranded by 0.5 said several closed to traffic because of the bad weather on Highways, several roads had been snowfall Wind speed roads had been Friday, but added that police vehicles and gritting Highways closed to traffic = 2mph closed to traffic lorries were working to make the roads safe. Agency, Rainfall = because of the Police 0mm bad weather
Knutsford Weather ruins 07/02/2007 Mean T = Fog Fog ruined a The fog came down at halftime and put an early Leisure The fog came down at Guardian another game 0.5 football match end to Winsford United's quarter final Division halftime and put an Wind speed two trophy match against Ashton Town. early end to Winsford = 2mph Winsford were winning 1-0 at the time. United's quarter final Rainfall = Division two trophy 0mm match against Ashton Town
Macclesfield Storm's brute 24/01/2007 Mean T = 18/01/2007 Freak The storms were Freak storms battered Macclesfield, felling trees Macclesfield Council, Four people were Express force 11.4 storms, so serious that and electricity poles, and causing major Fire Service, injured in Thursday's Wind speed tornado the county had headaches for emergency workers, as main Electricity devastation - one = 18mph to rally under its commuter routes remained blocked for hours. companies, seriously - after a Rainfall = first ever major Four people were injured in Thursday's Hospitals tornado ripped 0.25mm incident alert devastation - one seriously - after a tornado properties apart and ripped properties apart and made driving made driving perilous perilous. A giant 14 wheel , 40-ton articulated wagon was blown on its side near Rainow around 2.30pm. It crashed into a wall near The Highwayman pub, but miraculously the driver was unhurt. Three other motorists cheated death when their cars were crushed by falling trees. Middlewich Homes left in 24/01/2007 Monthly Mean T = 18/01/2007 Severe More than 110, Severe storms in mid Cheshire saw many Cheshire; Electricity ScottishPower staff Guardian dark after rainfall 11.4 storms 000 customers residents left without power. ScottishPower staff Lostock, companies - have been working power goes = 81 mm Wind speed across north and have been working continuously since the Wincham and Scottish continuously since the off = 18mph mid Wales, extreme weather hit on Thursday after more than Norley Power extreme weather hit on Rainfall = Cheshire and 110, 000 customers across north and mid Wales, Thursday after more 0.25mm Merseyside Cheshire and Merseyside were affected during than 110, 000 were affected the 14 hour storm. Homes in Lostock, Wincham customers across north during the 14 and Norley were among those left without and mid Wales, hour storm electricity and disruption was caused to traffic Cheshire and signals across the area. Merseyside were affected
Middlewich Think before 18/01/2007 Monthly Mean T = 18/01/2007 High Fire and Rescue People in mid Cheshire have been urged not to Cheshire Fire Service Cheshire Fire and Guardian you call rainfall 11.4 winds Service call out firefighters unless it is an emergency. Rescue Service has = 81 mm Wind speed inundated with Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service has been been inundated with = 18mph calls because of inundated with calls because of the high winds calls Rainfall = high winds. lashing the area. 0.25mm Public been asked not to call them unless it is an emergency.
Middlewich Ambulance 18/01/2007 Monthly Mean T = Gale force Numerous Ambulance chiefs issued a plea to the public to Cheshire Hospitals Ambulance chiefs Guardian chiefs warn rainfall 11.4 winds incidences stay indoors and not to contact the service unless issued a plea to the public to stay = 81 mm Wind speed caused by gale it is a real emergency as crews tried to cope with public to stay indoors indoors = 18mph force winds numerous incidents caused by today's gale force and not to contact the Rainfall = cause winds. The North West Ambulance Service service unless it is a 0.25mm ambulance issued a statement to Cheshire and Merseyside real emergency chiefs to ask residents this afternoon after the weather public to stay conditions brought devastation to Cheshire. indoors
Cheshire East Council 103 Local Climate Impacts Profile
BBC site Five people 18/01/2007 Monthly High A third man was Five people have been killed and at least a dozen Cheshire Hospitals, A fifth person was killed in bad rainfall Mean T = winds killed in Chester injured in severe weather in the North West. A Police struck by a tree near weather = 81 mm 11.4 when his lorry third man was killed in Chester when his lorry Crewe. Derek Barley, Wind speed was blown over, was blown over, a farmer died repairing a fence 61, of Manchester, was = 18mph a farmer died near Birkenhead and a fifth was struck by a tree working on site in Rainfall = repairing a fence near Crewe. Derek Barley, 61, of Manchester, Middlewich when he 0.25mm near Birkenhead was working on site in Middlewich when he was was fatally injured and a fifth was fatally injured. A spokesman for Cheshire struck by a tree Constabulary said a German lorry driver died near Crewe. when his vehicle overturned on the A55 near Derek Barley, Cheshire. 61, of Manchester, was working on site in Middlewich when he was fatally injured. Middlewich Flooding 23/08/2006 Month Mean temp 16/08/06 & Flooding Homes and Stormy weather caused misery in Middlewich Middlewich; Council, Karen and Stuart Guardian misery rain = = 16.7 18/08/06 businesses twice in one week when drains were unable to Booth Lane Economy Derbyshire, who have 135.5 flooded after the cope with extreme rainfall. Karen and Stuart lived in Booth Lane for mm town was hit Derbyshire, who have lived in Booth Lane for 10 10 years, said they were hard by deluges years, said they were flooded for the 3rd time in flooded for the 3rd time on both four years on Friday. Somerfield supermarket in four years on Friday. Wednesday and had to close early on Wednesday after drains Somerfield supermarket Friday overflowed and it was shut for an hour and a half had to close early on on Friday morning after rainwater came through Wednesday and it was the roof. shut for an hour and a half
Middlewich Heatwave 10/08/2006 Month Mean T = Fire Eight fires in The spell of hot weather in mid Cheshire has led Fire Service, 53 hours at The spell of hot Guardian leads to extra extreme 14.9 last week, flurry to a flurry of fire problems in the area. As a Biodiversity the scene of weather in mid fire problems maximu Wind speed of fire problems result, Northwich firefighters are offering advice a fire Cheshire has led to a m temp = 8mph due to the heat on how to stay safe while enjoying the sizzling flurry of fire problems = 25.8 Rainfall = sunshine. Over the last week, they have dealt in the area 0.25mm with eight fires involving 298 fire appliance movements and about 53 hours at the scene of fire.
Middlewich Fire was too 02/08/2006 Month 28/07/06 - Fire Firefighters Officers were called to Delamere at 4.45 pm on Delamere Fire Service, Four bales of straw and Guardian close to forest extreme 30/07/06 were on full Friday after four bales of straw and hay caught Forest, Biodiversity hay caught fire at maximu alert after a fire at Eddisbury Lodge Farm. Firefighters Eddisbury Eddisbury Lodge Farm. m temp blaze threatened returned to another fire at the forest on Sunday at Lodge Farm, Firefighters returned to = 25.8 to spread to 7.55 am. A blaze was contained at Manor Lane, Manor Lane, another fire at the forest Delamere Whatcroft at 4.30 pm on Saturday and a the A556 at on Sunday. A blaze was Forest. The hedgerow fire on the A556 at Oakmere was also Oakmere and contained at Manor incident was controlled at 4.45 pm the same day. The Hesketh Lane, Whatcroft at 4.30 included in a following day there was a grass fire at Hesketh Drive in pm on Saturday and a number of grass Drive, Lostock Gralam at 4.50 pm. Lostock hedgerow fire on the fires caused by Gralam A556 at Oakmere was the hot weather. also controlled at 4.45 pm the same day. The following day there was a grass fire at Hesketh Drive, Lostock Gralam at 4.50 pm
BBC site Sunshine 04/05/2006 Mean T = Sunshine More people The signs suggest warm sunshine has helped England brings local 13.2 voting in local boost turnout in the local elections in England, as voters out Wind speed elections voting enters its last few minutes. = 2mph Rainfall = 0mm
BBC site Roads 23/11/2005 Mean T = Cold Gritters and snowploughs are on standby on the Cheshire Council - Gritters and prepared for 0.3 weather prospect of a cold winter looms over the North Highways, snowploughs are on winter Wind speed West. Across Lancashire, Cheshire, Greater Highways standby weather = 2mph Manchester and Merseyside, the Highways Agency Rainfall = Agency has 13 winter weather depots and 18 ice 0mm stations, providing real time weather information backed up by pictures from CCTV cameras.
BBC site Floods and 08/01/2005 Mean T = 01/01/2005 Floods and 10, 000 Scottish Power-Manweb said 10, 000 customers Cheshire Electricity Scottish Power- gales batter 9.5 gales customers were were without a supply in north Wales, Cheshire companies - Manweb said 10, 000 Wales Wind speed without a supply and parts of Shropshire on Saturday. Scottish customers were without = 10mph Power a supply in north Rainfall = Wales, Cheshire and 0mm parts of Shropshire
BBC site Arctic 27/01/2004 Mean T = Cold The Met Office has issued an advance weather Council - weather 0.6 weather warning for much of the UK, with severe weather Highways, arrives in Wind speed expected to cause widespread disruption. Highways Britain = 1mph Winsford Rock Salt Mine in Cheshire is Agency Rainfall = supplying natural rock salt to hundreds of 0mm Highways Agency gritters in a bid to ensure roads remain thawed.
BBC site Homes 10/01/2005 Mean T = Strong Parts of Engineers are working to restore electricity to Cheshire and Electricity Engineers are working without 10.9 winds Cheshire parts of Cheshire affected by power cuts after the North companies to restore electricity to power after Wind speed affected by more than 200 homes without power after strong West parts of Cheshire storms = 8mph power cuts after winds brought flooding to parts of the North affected by power cuts Rainfall = more than 200 West. after more than 200 0mm homes without homes without power power after strong winds brought flooding to parts of the North West
Crewe Here comes 08/08/2003 Daily Mean T = Heat and Increased sales Temperatures have been on the rise - and with Crewe Leisure, Temperatures have Chronicle the sun! Max = 16.8 bright of bright pink them sales of bright pink flip-flops, tropical ice Economy, been on the rise - and 31.6 Wind speed sunlight flip-flops, cream and even maternity wear. Popular Retail with them sales of Daily = 2mph tropical ice activities this week have included barbecues and bright pink flip-flops, Min T = Rainfall = cream and even paddling in the garden. Woolworths in Crewe ran tropical ice cream and 25.2 0mm maternity wear out of paddling pools. even maternity wear RF/mm = 0 Sun hours = 9.4 Crewe Bunnies 09/01/2003 Mean T = Cold 130 rabbits have Pet rabbits are being dumped because some Biodiversity Pet rabbits are being Chronicle dumped in 6.7 weather been made owners lose interest in looking after them in cold dumped cold Wind speed homeless in the weather. According to the RSPCA, about 130 = 6mph north west rabbits have been made homeless in the north Rainfall = west. 0.4mm
Macclesfield Anger as 12/12/2002 Mean T = Ice Reputation of Police are investigating nearly 20 accidents amid Council - Police are investigating Express gritting 2.8 council could be early morning commuters chaos during the Highways, nearly 20 accidents shortage Wind speed in trouble. sudden cold snap. Gritters did not go out onto Highways amid early morning causes many = 0mph Young man local streets the night before because weather Agency, commuters chaos accidents Rainfall = killed in forecasts had predicted temperatures would stay Hospitals 0mm collision. above freezing. There was black ice on the roads and heavy frosts, and in those conditions emergency services were stretched to cope with reported crashes and accidents. It's believed to have dipped -4◦C in parts, many roads and streets were affected in town and country areas, and Pexhill Road, between Broken Cross and Siddington, was especially badly hit. In Adlington on the A523 road a lorry and a car collided, killing the car driver, 24 year old Paul Rushton. BBC site Fierce 26/01/2002 Mean T = 26/01/2002 Mini Dozens of Dozens of homes were damaged by a mini Alsager Multiple Dozens of homes were weekend 10.3 tornado homes damaged tornado that householders said whipped through services damaged by a mini weather roars Wind speed by a mini their estate in Alsager in Cheshire on Saturday. tornado in = 17mph tornado Rainfall = 0mm
Cheshire East Council 104 Local Climate Impacts Profile
BBC site Tornado rips 26/01/2002 Mean T = 26/01/2002 Tornado A tornado has A tornado has damaged up to 100 houses in Cheshire Multiple A tornado has damaged into house 10.3 damaged up to Cheshire as high winds swept across England. services up to 100 houses in Wind speed 100 houses in Houses lost their roof tiles and branches were Cheshire = 17mph Cheshire torn from trees as screaming winds and driving Rainfall = rain wreaked havoc in Alsager near Crewe at 0mm 0730 GMT on Saturday. Shocked eyewitnesses in Alsager say a 'wall of water' carved a pathway 20 yards wide through a housing estate in the Close Lane area.
Macclesfield Weather 23/08/2001 Mean T = Bad Woodford Air Crippling costs and bad weather have grounded Woodford Leisure, Crippling costs and bad Express grounds air 16.3 weather Show grounded the Woodford Air Show for good. Economy weather have grounded show Wind speed and costs for good the Woodford Air Show = 14mph ground Rainfall = Woodford 0mm Air Show for good The It’s snow joke Cold Sandbach's Sandbach’s market was cancelled due to health Sandbach Leisure, Sandbach’s market was Chronicle for market weather market was and safety concerns. Traders who braved the Economy cancelled Series traders cancelled - loss arctic conditions were moved to the smaller of profit market near the town hall.
The Undeserved Bad Congleton 1st For the second consecutive week Congleton 1st Congleton Leisure Chronicle loss for 1st XI weatherr XI lost due to XI were robbed by the weather, this time against Series the weather league leaders Brook-lands.
The Cash granted Heavy rain Councillors The £220, 000 needed to protect Congleton Park Congleton Council £220, 000 The £220, 000 needed Chronicle to repair agreed to protect from river erosion has been authorised. At a needed to to protect Congleton Series Congleton Congleton Park meeting of Congleton Borough Council, protect Park from river erosion Park bridge from river councillors agreed to the repairs, specifically by Congleton has been authorised area erosion the bridge over the River Dane where erosion Park from could be dangerous. Heavy rain over recent river erosion summers has exacerbated the problem and the affected area has been for much of the year.
The A and E Cold Leighton Leighton Hospital near Crewe was shut for six Sandbach Leighton Leighton Hospital near Chronicle admissions weather Hospital near hours on Tuesday to help staff catch up with the Hospital Crewe was shut for six Series double as Crewe was shut ‘unprecedented’ number of admissions. The hours hospital shuts for six hours influx has been put down to winter flu and bugs its doors and the cold weather exacerbating existing conditions such as asthma.
The Crash victims Cold Fatal car carsh A man who stopped to help at the scene of a fatal Congleton Hospitals Chronicle ‘could have weather car crash on Newcastle Road, Congleton opposite Series frozen to Little Moreton Hall said that the injured could death’ have frozen to death if he and his wife and another helper had not been there.
The Wonderful Sharp wind Excellent The weather was sunny with a sharp wind across Sandbach Leisure Chronicle achievement’ playing the pitch and there were excellent playing Series for confident conditions for conditions after the overnight rain when a very Sandbach football game determined Sandbach side approached the game with fourth in the league Broughton Park.
Crewe Hospital halts 12/01/2000 20/12/99 - Cold Non-essential For weeks, scores of medics have been on Leighton Hospitals, For weeks, scores of Chronicle non-vital ops 12/01/2000 weather surgery has been standby in expectation of a major epidemic, Hospital Adult medics have been on as flu takes suspended as which is already stretching UK medical resources Services standby in expectation hold staff brace to the limit. Since December 20, Leighton has of a major epidemic themselves for a seen about 900 emergency admissions, 17% up flood of elderly on the same period last year. More than 2, 000 people struck people attended accident & emergency during down with the this time. A significant proportion of cases flu involves elderly people complaining of severe chest infections and flu-like symptoms. Just two weeks ago, beds were still available but South Cheshire Health Authority ensured enough staff could be called on to avert a crisis. Pressures peaked on December 30th when the hospital admitted 72 emergency cases in just a day. The Market closes 16/02/2000 Mean T = 10/02/2000 Gusts of A wind Sandbach Sandbach market was closed on Thursday after Sandbach Leisure, Sandbach market was Chronicle for day due to 4.6 wind speed market was Congleton Borough Council decided it could not Economy closed Series gusts of wind Wind speed indicated closed - loss of guarantee the safety of traders and shoppers = 7mph showed gusts profits because of bad weather. Tony Parr, acting head Rainfall = of up to 45 of amenities and leisure services at Congleton 0mm knots Borough Council, said: "at 7.30 am, a wind speed indicated showed gusts of up to 45 knots and the national weather forecast had stated that worse was yet to come. Stallholders had turned up at The Commons as usual only to learn market inspectors had taken the unusual step of cancelling the day's trading. The Collapsed 08/03/2000 Mean T = Cold Crewe man died A Crewe man died of hypothermia after Darlington Hospitals, A Crewe man died of Chronicle man died 12.6 weather of hypothermia collapsing while alone at his home, an inquest Avenue, Adult hypothermia Series from Wind speed heard. Carl Lind, 54, died in hospital a day after a Crewe Services hypothermia = 9mph neighbour found him almost naked in the hall of Rainfall = his home in Darlington Avenue, Crewe. 0mm
The Weather 16/02/2000 Mean T = Strong Attempts by A spokesman at Jodrell Bank told The Jodrell Bank Leisure Staff at Jodrell Bank Chronicle hinders space 2.9 wind scientists at Chroniclethis week: 'we had extremely high are not allowed to Series probe Wind speed Jodrell Bank to winds and we are not allowed to operate the operate the telescope in = 6mph track down the telescope in winds of more than 40 miles per winds of more than 40 Rainfall = missing £165 m hour so we could not take part in the miles per hour so could 0mm American space observations. not take part in the probe were observations scuppered by the wind Macclesfield Maroon 17/06/1998 Mean T = Flash Parkgate Road Vincent Smith's first thoughts were for his son Parkgate Council, Moss Estate in Express family feared 11.2 floods in Macclesfield when the Moss Estate was flooded and awash Road, Hospitals Macclesfield was for health Wind speed flooded, with with sewage. Vincent, 32, said Parkgate Road Macclesfield flooded and awash with = 5mph Moss Estate became a health hazard that could have put his sewage Rainfall = awash with ten-month old son, James, at risk. He claims the 0.2mm sewage sewers bust regularly when it rains but this time he found himself marooned in his home along with his partner and baby. Macclesfield Freak tidal 17/06/1998 Mean T = Flash Macclesfield hit Macclesfield was today counting the cost of Macclesfield; Macclesfield Express wave left trail 11.2 floods by flash floods, Monday night's monsoon which lashed the town Hurdsfield, experienced a flash of devastation Wind speed Garden Street in centre and surrounding villages in the heaviest Prestbury, flood. And most of the = 5mph Hurdsfield worst rainfall in history. A tidal wave swept across the Sutton and 60 residents saw wall to Rainfall = hit heart of the borough leaving a trail of mayhem, Bollington. wall water and lost 0.2mm misery and destruction in its wake. The five hour carpets, furniture and storm - said by met-men to occur once in every valuables to the freak 64 years - deposited a staggering two inches of flash floods. The fire rain on the town raising river levels, flooding station answered more drains, and collapsing culverts. Garden Street in than 200 calls for help Hurdsfield was the worse hit as householders found themselves paddling in three foot of raw sewage which had seeped in from flooded street drains. It was wall-to-wall contaminated water for most of the 60 residents who lost carpets, furniture and valuables to the freak flash floods. The fire station answered more than 200 calls for help which began just after storms started at 3pm on Monday afternoon. The heaviest floods hit Hurdsfield, Prestbury, Sutton and Bollington. Macclesfield Flash floods 17/06/1998 Mean T = Flash Macclesfield hit For many Maxonians the freak flash floods Macclesfield Macclesfield was Express wreak havoc 11.2 floods by flash floods, caused mayhem and misery as storms lashed the declared a disaster zone Wind speed householders town and surrounding villages leaving some and the council = 5mph left ankle deep horrified householders ankle-deep in raw sewage. activated emergency Rainfall = in raw sewage The town was declared a disaster zone and the measures 0.2mm council activated emergency measures.
Macclesfield Macc gripped 15/04/1998 Mean T = Snow Two roads The town's hill farmers had ovens filled with Macclesfield Two roads were closed Express by snow 1.9 closed, newborn baby lambs this week as winter took a grip over from heavy snowfall, Wind speed lambs had to be the Easter holiday. Newborns were popped into the Macclesfield and = 6mph put inside Aga stoves in makeshift incubators after sheep Bosley roads to Buxton Rainfall = makeshift farmers battled against blizzards all through the had to be cleared and 0.8mm incubaators in a night on Easter Monday to rescue their stock. gritted battle against Two roads were closed from heavy snowfall blizzards overnight, the Macclesfield and Bosley roads to Buxton had to be cleared and gritted, but a police spokesman said there were no reports of any accidents. The two roads were reopened yesterday (Tuesday.)
Cheshire East Council 105 Local Climate Impacts Profile
Macclesfield Winter bed 28/01/1998 Mean T = - Cold Seven new beds Hospital plans to ease winter bed pressures have Maccelesfield Hospital plans to ease Express plans hailed a 1 weather at Macclesfield been hailed as a success - even though the Hospital winter bed pressures success Wind speed Hospital opened number of emergencies is less than expected. For have been hailed as a = 1mph in the despite fewer admissions, Macclesfield Hospital success Rainfall = assessment is still running at last winter's levels which East 0mm ward, all non Cheshire Trust Chief Executive Nick Wood has urgent surgery described as 'hell on wheels.' In early January, was suspended seven new beds were opened in the assessment throughout the ward and all non urgent surgery was suspended month throughout the month. Macclesfield Black ice 07/01/1998 Mean T = Ice Car accidents Police warned motorists to beware of black ice Congleton Police warned motorists Express warning after 4.9 after a string of accidents in the town this week. Road at to beware of black ice accidents Wind speed Monday morning (January 5) saw a number of Marton and after a string of = 6mph cars slide off the road and into hedges and fields Gawsworth accidents in the town Rainfall = as many motorists returned to work for the first 0mm time after the Christmas break. A Ford Sierra went off the road on Dark Lane, Henbury and finished up on its roof in a field but the driver was only slightly injured. Two cars collided and damage to a fence was caused along Congleton Road at Morton on the same road in Gawsworth, a car left the road and went into a hedge just past the Chain and Gate pub. A Peugeot and Volkswagen collided at Butley Lane, Prestbury with one car ending up in a hedge. Fortunately in all the accidents no-one was seriously hurt. Macclesfield Council 07/01/1998 Mean T = Gales Grounds Council workmen have been hailed as heroes Macclesfield Council workmen have Express workmen are 4.9 maintenance after they gave up their Christmas to keep roads been hailed as heroes hailed as Wind speed staff and open as gales lashed the area. Grounds after they gave up their heroes for = 6mph engineers were maintenance staff and engineers worked round Christmas to keep roads keeping roads Rainfall = inundated with the clock to clear fallen trees and floods. They open as gales lashed the open 0mm calls to deal were inundated with calls to deal with fallen trees area. Grounds with fallen trees as record winds swept Macclesfield. One team of maintenance staff and and floods five worked a 15 hour shift through the night and engineers worked round missed their Christmas mornings with their the clock to clear fallen families. They even dealt with one incident they trees and floods. They had not been called to when they came across a were inundated with tree blocking Cumberland Street. They cleared calls to deal with fallen the road before carrying on dealing with please trees for help. At the same time the council's engineers were busy dealing with floods which hit all parts of the Borough on the same night.
Cheshire East Council 106 Local Climate Impacts Profile
Service questionnaire
This interview is designed to assess typical scenarios or personal experiences of severe weather events relevant to the service. We will then be able to use this method to enable priorities to be established, that will help to guide Business Continuity Planning to be incorporated into Service Plans.
Do you monitor weather updates and storm warnings from the Met Office or elsewhere regularly?
Do you get people from a specific group in distress more frequently than others as a result of extreme weather events? (ie. elderly, children or people from deprived areas)
Reputation – Based on a numbered system: 1 (poor), 2 (average) or 3 (good)
How would you assess the reputation of this department in tackling extreme weather events?
LCLIP example from Highways
There were 46 incidents reported by the media: 11 consequences, of which the manager and staff interviewed were not aware 4 incorrect reports 6 events considered minor by the staff interviewed Leaving a total of 36 significant consequences
The staff interviewed assessed the department’s reputation as ‘good’.
Is there a specific type or individual event that has damaged the reputation?
Do you believe this department is prepared for a potential rise in extreme event intensity and frequency?
Costs – As a result of the weather event (recorded in £s) Needed to determine the overall cost to each service area from each consequence
Do you have any financial information on the event in damages?
LCLIP example
February 2007: Last week’s heavy snowfall cost the Council £110, 000. This was the total cost of labour, machinery and salt. The costs included staff time, roads gritted, and the amount of salt used to grit the roads. Staff time – Estimate the number of days staff spent on weather event
How many people did it take to tackle this event?
How long did it take to tackle this event, and were there any problems encountered?
Cheshire East Council 107 Local Climate Impacts Profile
Service provision – The impact on service provision
Do you have any guidelines on dealing with severe weather events?
Is your team adapting to either an increase in extreme weather events, climate change or both? Is there a future strategy?
Do you think you have enough funding to cope with an increase in such weather events?
Do you have enough resources in tackling extreme weather events?
LCLIP example
A tree smashed through the windscreen of a school bus travelling along the A541. Three schools were closed due to a power cut. A tree was blown down Hawarden High School’s yard damaging a number of cars.
Overall significance – High, Medium or Low (How significant weather event was on the service area)
LCLIP example
Ten residents were evacuated from a block of three-story flats in Alan Road off Terrig Crescent in Buckley, after part of the roof was blown off. This was the most significant event in January 2007, the costs were £88, 000 for fixing the property, storing the furniture, security guards, skip hire and temporary accommodation (costing £51, 312).
How significant do you think the weather event was on the service area?
Is there anything else of significance that you think is relevant to this project?
LCLIP example
Mold, Mynydd Isa, Pontblyddyn, Leeswood were the worst affected by flooding, properties in Buckley were flooded due to an inadequate drainage system. Bagillt was flooded as drains were overwhelmed, and council staff went out to clear the water at Greenfield, Mold and Sychdyn, which was caused by a build up of leaves.
Thank you for your time!
Cheshire East Council 108 Local Climate Impacts Profile
Keele University weather station graphs
Yearly average sunshine hours recorded at Keele University weather station 1972-2008
160.0
150.0
140.0
130.0 Yearly average 120.0 Linear (Yearly average)
110.0 Sunshine hours Sunshine
100.0
90.0
80.0 1972 1975 1978 1981 1984 1987 1990 1993 1996 1999 2002 2005 2008 Year
Figure 29 – Yearly average sunshine hours recorded at Keele University weather station 1972-2008
Yearly average rainfall (mm) recorded at Keele University weather station 1972-2008
90.0
85.0
80.0
75.0
70.0 Rainfall (mm) 65.0 Linear (Rainfall (mm))
60.0 Rainfall(mm) 55.0
50.0
45.0
40.0 1972 1975 1978 1981 1984 1987 1990 1993 1996 1999 2002 2005 2008 Year
Figure 30 – Yearly average rainfall (mm) recorded at Keele University weather station 1972-2008
Cheshire East Council 109 Local Climate Impacts Profile
Yearly average maximum temperature (◦C) recorded at Keele University weather station 1972-2008
14.0
13.5
13.0
12.5 Yearly average maximum 12.0 temperature 11.5 Linear (Yearly average maximum temperature)
11.0 Averagemaximum teperature(◦C) 10.5
10.0 1972 1975 1978 1981 1984 1987 1990 1993 1996 1999 2002 2005 2008 Year
Figure 31 – Yearly average maximum temperature (◦C) recorded at Keele University weather station 1972-2008
Yearly average minimum temperature (◦C) recorded at Keele University weather station 1972-2009
7.0
6.5
6.0
5.5 Yearly average minimum (◦C) temperature 5.0 Linear (Yearly average minimum temperature)
4.5 Average temperature minimum 4.0 1972 1977 1982 1987 1992 1997 2002 2007 Year
Figure 32 – Yearly average minimum temperature (◦C) recorded at Keele University weather station 1972-2009
Cheshire East Council 110 Local Climate Impacts Profile
Yearly average extreme maximum temperature (◦C) recorded at Keele University weather station 1972-2008
21.0
20.0
19.0 Extreme maximum temperature (◦C) 18.0 Linear (Extreme maximum temperature (◦C)) 17.0
16.0 Extrememaximum temperature(◦C)
15.0 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 Year
Figure 33 – Yearly average extreme maximum temperature (◦C) recorded at Keele University weather station 1972-2008
Yearly average extreme minimum temperature (◦C) recorded at Keele University weather station 1972-2008
2.5
2.0
1.5
1.0 Extreme minimum temperature (◦C) Linear (Extreme minimum 0.5 temperature (◦C))
0.0 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008
Extrememinimum temperature(◦C) -0.5
-1.0 Year
Figure 34 – Yearly average extreme minimum temperature (◦C) recorded at Keele University weather station 1972-2008
Cheshire East Council 111 Local Climate Impacts Profile
West Cheshire College weather station graphs
Temperature
Yearly maximum temperature (◦C) recorded at West Cheshire College weather station 1997-2008 33 32 31 30 29 Maximum 28 temperature
27 (◦C) Max temp (◦C) 26 Linear 25 (Maximum 24 temperature (◦C)) 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 Year
Fig – Yearly maximum temperature recorded at West Cheshire College weather station 1998-2008
Yearly minimum temperature (◦C) recorded at West Cheshire College weather station 1997-2008
0 -1 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 -2 -3 -4 Minimum -5 temperature -6 (◦C)
Min temp (◦C)Min -7 Linear -8 (Minimum -9 temperature (◦C)) -10 Year
Fig – Yearly minimum temperature recorded at West Cheshire College weather station 1998-2008
Cheshire East Council 112 Local Climate Impacts Profile
Wind speed
Mean and maximum windspeeds (mph) recorded at West Cheshire College weather station 1997-2008 80 70 60
50 Mean windspeed (mph) 40 Maximum 30
Wind (mph) Wind windspeed (mph) 20 10 0
1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 Year
Fig – Mean and maximum windspeeds recorded at West Cheshire College weather station 1998-2008
Rainfall
Yearly total rainfall (mm) recorded at West Cheshire College weather station 1997-2008
800
750
700
650 Yearly total 600 rainfall
550 (mm) Rainfall (mm) 500 Linear 450 (Yearly 400 total rainfall (mm)) 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 Year
Fig – Yearly total rainfall recorded at West Cheshire College weather station 1998-2008
Cheshire East Council 113 Local Climate Impacts Profile
Buxton weather station graphs
Rainfall
Rainfall (mm) measured at Buxton weather station 2003-2009
300
250
200
150
Rain (mm) Rainfall (mm) 100
50
0
Apr-03 Oct-03 Apr-04 Oct-04 Apr-05 Oct-05 Apr-06 Oct-06 Apr-07 Oct-07 Apr-08 Oct-08 Apr-09 Oct-09
Month Fig –Rainfall (mm) measured at Buxton weather station 2004-2009
Sunshine
Sunshine (hours) measured at Buxton weather station 2003-2009
300
250
200
150 Sunshine (hours)
Sunshine (hours) Sunshine 100
50
0
Jun-03 Dec-03 Jun-04 Dec-04 Jun-05 Dec-05 Jun-06 Dec-06 Jun-07 Dec-07 Jun-08 Dec-08 Jun-09 Dec-09
Month
Fig –Sunshine (hours) measured at Buxton weather station 2004-2009
Cheshire East Council 114 Local Climate Impacts Profile
Average temperature
Average temperature (◦C) measured at Buxton weather station 2003-2009
20
18
16
14
12
10 Average temperature (◦C) 8
6
Average temperature (◦C) 4
2
0
Oct-03 Oct-04 Oct-05 Oct-06 Oct-07 Oct-08 Oct-09
Apr-03 Apr-04 Apr-05 Apr-06 Apr-07 Apr-08 Apr-09
Month Fig –Average temperature (◦C) measured at Buxton weather station 2004-2009
Cheshire East Council 115 Local Climate Impacts Profile
Procurement Enablement graphs on essential mileage
Transaction by Booking Type 160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0 Administration Flight Hotel Rail Refund
Spend by Booking Type
£8,000.00 £7,000.00 £6,000.00 £5,000.00 £4,000.00 £3,000.00 £2,000.00 £1,000.00 £0.00 -£1,000.00 Administration Flight Hotel Rail Refund -£2,000.00
Cheshire East Council 116 Local Climate Impacts Profile
Scoring Chart for Risk
Scoring chart for IMPACT
Factor re Effect on Service/Project Embarrassment/reputation Personal Safety Financial Implications
Sco
Service - Major loss of several important areas. Adverse and persistent national Disruption 5+ Days media coverage > £1m Major 4 Adverse central government Death Or Project - Complete failure or extreme delay response >£5m for corporate risks (3 months or more) Service - Complete loss of an important area. Adverse local publicity of a major Major effect to services in one or more areas for a and persistent nature period of weeks Adverse publicity in Between £1m Serious 3 Disruption 3-5 Days Major injury professional/municipal press and £500,000
arena Project - Significant impact on project or expected
benefits fail/ major delay (2-3 months) Service - Major effect on an important area or adverse
THREATS effect on one or more areas for a period of weeks Disruption 2-3 Days Adverse local publicity /local Between £500,000 and Significant 2 Severe injury public opinion aware £100,000 Project - Adverse effect on project/ significant slippage (3 weeks–2 months) Service - Brief disruption of important area Significant effect to non-crucial service area Minor Disruption 1Day Complaint from individual/small Minor injury or 1 Less than £100,000 group discomfort Project - Minimal impact to project/ slight delay less than 2 weeks
Positive national press Major improvement in Major improvement to service, generally or across a Producing more than Exceptional 4 National award or recognition by health, welfare & broad range £50,000 national government safety
Recognition of successful Significant Major improvement to service or significant initiative improvement in Significant 3 Producing up to £50,000 improvement to critical service area Sustained recognition and health, welfare &
OPPORTUNITIES support from local press safety
Cheshire East Council 117 Local Climate Impacts Profile
Chart 2 – RISK CRITERIA FOR LIKELIHOOD
OPPORTUNITIES THREATS - Factor Indicators (Favourable Outcome) - Indicators Description Score Description
Regular occurrence Clear opportunity, can be relied on with >75% chance of >75% chance of occurrence or Very likely 4 Frequently encountered - reasonable certainty to be achieved in the achieved in one year. occurrence daily/weekly/monthly short term.
40% to 75% chance of Within next 1-2 yrs May be achievable but requires careful 40% - 75% chance of occurrence. Reasonable Likely management. Opportunities that arise over 3 occurrence Occasionally encountered (few prospects of favourable results and above the plan. times a year) in one year. <40% chance of occurrence or 10% - 40% chance of Only likely to happen 3 or Possible opportunity which has yet to be Unlikely 2 some chance of favourable occurrence more years fully investigated by management. outcome in the medium term.
Very <10% chance of 1 Rarely/never before <10% chance of occurrence Has happened rarely/never before unlikely occurrence
Risk Matrix – Likelihood and Impact Likelihood THE RISK MATRIX (With Scores) Very Likely 4 LOW MEDIUM HIGH HIGH 4 8 12 16 Likely 3 LOW MEDIUM MEDIUM HIGH 3 6 9 12 Unlikely 2 LOW LOW MEDIUM MEDIUM 2 4 6 8 Very Unlikely 1 LOW LOW LOW LOW 1 2 3 4
Impact Minor 1 Significant 2 Serious 3 Major 4
Cheshire East Council 118 Local Climate Impacts Profile
Crewe swimming pool energy consumption 2008/09
Cheshire East Council 119 Local Climate Impacts Profile
School closures 05/01/2010-09/01/2010
Cheshire East Council 120 Local Climate Impacts Profile
Cheshire East Council 121 Local Climate Impacts Profile
Hurdsfield Road, Macclesfield
Cheshire East Council 122 Local Climate Impacts Profile
Countryside Service impacts
Service impact Current situation Likely changes as a result of climate change Impact of change Action required – now?! Location of County wide. Uneven distribution & Wetter winters Increased erosion. Adaptation of site management countryside facilities diversity of site facilities Ecological changes Cost implications Drier summers Increased fire risks Adaptation of site management including need to meet basic Need for shading requirements (e.g. refreshments) Ecological changes More ‘extreme’ weather events Sudden / dramatic impacts on site infrastructure Adaptation of site management Cost implications Greater visitor safety hazards Changes in visitor behaviour Site locations may be inappropriate. Re-allocation of corporate strategic resources towards more Potential increase in overall visitor numbers local facilities and changing visitor demands Longer ‘visitor season’ - increase in seasonal pressures Potential changes in visitor recreational demands Changes in visitor profiles (e.g. more east / south Europeans) Management of High standard Changes in visitor travel patterns Visitors more responsive to daily changes in weather More flexible staffing countryside facilities Focused on needs of estate Changes in visitor needs & behaviour Adaptation of site management including need to meet basic requirements (e.g. refreshments) Visitor travel Predominantly car borne. Increased travel costs Increased demand for local quality facilities Revision of service marketing to promote more local Generic encouragement for walking & Pressure to reduce travel CO2 facilities cycling Development of initiatives to reduce car travel Promotion of facilities county wide & Re-allocation of corporate strategic resources towards more national local facilities Implementation of the Environmental Performance Group Carbon Minimisation Plan Community cohesion Ad hoc. Increased need for joined up public services Countryside sites increasing used as wider community Integration of wider social objectives into site management Primarily seen as recreational resource / resource planning biodiversity refuge Establishment of partnerships to facilitate wider social Some partnership working integration Land resource Primarily managed as recreational resource / Need for multi faceted land management Opportunities for additional carbon sequestration, site for Integration future land demands into service and land biodiversity refuge alternative energy production, local food production, management planning flood alleviation etc Implementation of the Environmental Performance Group Carbon Minimisation Plan Biodiversity Ad hoc. Focused on managing ‘traditional’ Ecological change Traditional management objectives and techniques Management for future habitats rather than past habitats site based habitats and increasing inherent Species migration inappropriate Increased integration with wider landscape scale initiatives wildlife Environmental Ad hoc. Focused primarily on site Increasing need to address behavioural impacts Making connections between local & global Commitment to environmental education as core purpose education biodiversity Development of educational partnerships Service provision Staffing Increased costs of staff travel More flexible staffing Revision of staffing requirements support Vehicles Need to reduce energy demand of buildings More energy efficient vehicle fleet Review staff travel requirements Buildings More energy efficient buildings Implementation of building energy efficiency measures Tools, equipment etc Development of sustainable procurement policy Implementation of the Environmental Performance Group Carbon Minimisation Plan Community leadership Guided by corporate objectives. Climate Climate change, energy efficiency and sustainable Front line services will be expected to act as community Implementation of staff training & awareness. change not seen as priority environmental management will be increasingly leaders and to demonstrate best practice Initiation of action ‘on the ground’ predominant within corporate plans Preparation of Divisional Climate Change risk assessment Implementation of the Environmental Performance Group Carbon Minimisation Plan Instigation of best practice communication plan to share knowledge with other Cheshire landowners & countryside sector professionals
Cheshire East Council 123 Local Climate Impacts Profile
Withington rainfall gauge
Rainfall recorded at Withington Rain Gauge recorded from 1st January 1983 - 31st August 2009
50 45 40 35 30 Daily rainfall (mm) 25
20 Rainfall(mm) 15 10 5 0
24th September 1990. 9th September 2002. 47mm of rainfall 47.2mm of rainfall
Cheshire East Council 124 Local Climate Impacts Profile
Highways weather data
Surf Temperature Freeze Temperature Date Time Station Air Temperature (◦C) Relative Humidity (%) Precipitation (mm) Visibility (m) Wind speed (mph) Wind direction (◦C) (◦C) 12/01/2010 1300 A494 Shotwick 1.8 85 0 2000 E 3 12/01/2010 1300 A534 Fullers Moor 1.4 88 0 10.3 SE 2 -2.7 11/01/2010 1300 A494 Shotwick 1.2 89 0.6 2000 E 2.4 0 11/01/2010 1300 A534 Fullers Moor 0.7 93 0.3 3.1 SE 2 -5.4 11/01/2010 1300 A537 Cat and Fiddle NO DATA AVAILABLE 08/01/2010 1300 A494 Shotwick 0.2 66 0 2000 3.1 N -0.7 -6 08/01/2010 1300 A534 Fullers Moor -1.5 74 0 4.9 NE -2.5 -8 08/01/2010 1300 A537 Cat and Fiddle -3.8 75 0 15.4 E -4.7 -0.4 07/01/2010 1300 A494 Shotwick 0.7 72 0 2000 3.4 N 0.4 -3.3 07/01/2010 1300 A534 Fullers Moor -1.9 84 0 2.9 NW -2.4 -11.4 07/01/2010 1300 A537 Cat and Fiddle -4.8 82 0 4.9 N -4.3 -1.5 06/01/2010 1300 A494 Shotwick 1.2 78 0 2000 6 NE 1.1 -2 06/01/2010 1300 A534 Fullers Moor -0.6 91 0 5.1 NE -0.6 -11 06/01/2010 1300 A537 Cat and Fiddle -3.2 93 0 25.1 E -3 -0.1 05/01/2010 1300 A494 Shotwick 0.4 94 1 2000 0 N 1.1 -0.3 05/01/2010 1300 A534 Fullers Moor -0.3 96 0.4 4.3 N 0.9 -16.8 05/01/2010 1300 A537 Cat and Fiddle -2.4 95 3.9 5.4 E -3.6 -2.6 04/01/2010 1300 A494 Shotwick 2.9 71 0 2000 3.1 W 2.2 -3 04/01/2010 1300 A534 Fullers Moor 1.1 75 0 3.6 W -0.3 -6.2 04/01/2010 1300 A537 Cat and Fiddle -3.2 93 0 9.2 NW -4.1 -1.3 31/12/2009 1300 A494 Shotwick 3.1 70 0 2000 6.7 N 4.6 -1.8 31/12/2009 1300 A534 Fullers Moor 2.6 67 0 4.5 N 2.3 0 31/12/2009 1300 A537 Cat and Fiddle -1.6 76 0 10.5 E -0.3 0 30/12/2009 1300 A494 Shotwick 3.1 83 1.4 2000 0 NE 3.7 -0.1 30/12/2009 1300 A534 Fullers Moor 3.3 77 3.2 6.7 E 2.9 0 30/12/2009 1300 A537 Cat and Fiddle -1 96 0 27.3 E -0.5 0 29/12/2009 1300 A494 Shotwick 3.9 83 0.1 2000 3.8 E 3.8 -2.9 29/12/2009 1300 A534 Fullers Moor 2.4 88 3 8.7 E 2.7 -3.4 29/12/2009 1300 A537 Cat and Fiddle -0.5 96 0 26.6 E -0.6 -2 23/12/2009 1300 A494 Shotwick 2.1 78 0 2000 3.8 SE 2.8 -4 23/12/2009 1300 A534 Fullers Moor 1.9 77 0 2 SE 0.4 -6 23/12/2009 1300 A537 Cat and Fiddle -2.1 94 0 2.5 SW -2.9 -7.8 22/12/2009 1300 A494 Shotwick 4.6 71 0 2000 6.9 SW 6.5 -2.6 22/12/2009 1300 A534 Fullers Moor 2.6 78 0 4 SW 0.7 -5.5 22/12/2009 1300 A537 Cat and Fiddle -2 95 0 10.1 SW -0.7 -6.4 17/12/2009 1300 A494 Shotwick 3.5 66 0 2000 8.1 N 4.2 -1.5 17/12/2009 1300 A534 Fullers Moor 2.9 77 0 6.3 N 3.7 0 17/12/2009 1300 A537 Cat and Fiddle -0.7 83 0 12.1 NE 0.8 -1.9 15/12/2009 1300 A537 Cat and Fiddle 0.8 96 0 8.9 E 2.4 -1 19/11/2009 1300 A537 Cat and Fiddle 10.3 78 0 29.1 SW 10.6 0 24/08/2009 1300 A494 Shotwick 16.3 81 0.1 2000 3.4 SE 20.6 -0.1 24/08/2009 1300 A534 Fullers Moor 15.7 77 1.2 2.2 S 20 0 19/02/2009 1300 A494 Shotwick 9.7 3.9 0 2000 4.9 W 19/02/2009 1300 A534 Fullers Moor 9 2.1 62 4.5 NW 14.6 0 19/02/2009 1300 A537 Cat and Fiddle -3.8 85 0 9.2 NE -2.7 -13.5 10/02/2009 1300 A494 Shotwick 4.4 68 0 2000 6.5 NW 10/02/2009 1300 A534 Fullers Moor 4.8 56 0 12.3 NW 11.5 0 10/02/2009 1300 A537 Cat and Fiddle -0.6 92 0 17.9 NW 4 0 03/02/2009 1300 A494 Shotwick 1.1 74 0 9.4 E 03/02/2009 1300 A534 Fullers Moor -0.3 79 0 7.8 SE 3.5 -4.9 03/02/2009 1300 A537 Cat and Fiddle -3.8 97 0 19.2 SE -1.4 -5.2 02/02/2009 1300 A494 Shotwick 0.1 84 0.2 7.4 NE 02/02/2009 1300 A534 Fullers Moor -0.9 87 0.1 7.4 N 2.2 -10.4 02/02/2009 1300 A537 Cat and Fiddle -3.6 95 0 22.1 NE -2.2 -0.1 13/08/2008 1300 A494 Shotwick 18.3 57 0 4.9 NW 33.5 -0.1 13/08/2008 1300 A534 Fullers Moor 16.6 59 0 5.6 NW 28.9 0 13/08/2008 1300 A537 Cat and Fiddle 13.5 73 0 9.8 NW 27 0 26/03/2008 1300 A494 Shotwick -8.7 76 0 10.3 NW 17.5 0 26/03/2008 1300 A534 Fullers Moor 8.2 82 4.3 8.1 NW 17.1 0 26/03/2008 1300 A537 Cat and Fiddle 2.6 94 3.5 7.4 SW 5.7 0 31/01/2008 1300 A494 Shotwick 7.1 51 2.6 16.8 W 9.4 -0.1 31/01/2008 1300 A534 Fullers Moor 5.4 67 3.4 12.3 SW 7.8 0 31/01/2008 1300 A537 Cat and Fiddle 2.5 64 0.3 38.9 W 5.6 0 08/01/2008 1300 A494 Shotwick 9 89 0.2 7.4 SE 9.2 -1.1 08/01/2008 1300 A534 Fullers Moor 8.6 92 4.8 8.5 S 7.8 0 08/01/2008 1300 A537 Cat and Fiddle 5.3 100 0.8 25.3 SW 5 0 29/08/2007 1300 A494 Shotwick 29/08/2007 1300 A534 Fullers Moor 14.8 71 1.4 7.4 NW 26.4 0 29/08/2007 1300 A537 Cat and Fiddle 12.4 66 0 6.5 NW 28 0 08/08/2007 1300 A534 Fullers Moor 16.8 62 0 7.4 NW 42 0 08/08/2007 1300 A537 Cat and Fiddle 13.9 58 0 13.4 NW 33.7 0 18/07/2007 1300 A534 Fullers Moor 19 .1 70 1.9 3.6 NW 34.9 0 18/07/2007 1300 A537 Cat and Fiddle 13.9 90 2.3 11.6 NW 23.1 0 24/01/2007 1300 A494 Shotwick 5.1 72 0 11.4 N 7 -5 24/01/2007 1300 A534 Fullers Moor 4.5 74 0 8.7 NW 8.5 0 24/01/2007 1300 A537 Cat and Fiddle -0.1 98 0 10.7 N 2.3 -9.9 18/01/2007 1300 A494 Shotwick 11.7 50 2000 36 W 12.6 0 18/01/2007 1300 A534 Fullers Moor 10 56 0.6 18.6 W 10 0 18/01/2007 1300 A537 Cat and Fiddle 6.5 74 0.8 51.9 W 6.5 0 23/08/2006 1300 A494 Shotwick 18.9 71 0 2000 6 NW 23/08/2006 1300 A534 Fullers Moor 17 86 0 3.4 N 26 0 23/08/2006 1300 A537 Cat and Fiddle 13.9 100 0.2 8.3 S 18.9 0 02/08/2006 1300 A534 Fullers Moor 15.1 74 0 12.8 NW 22.6 0 02/08/2006 1300 A537 Cat and Fiddle 10.8 100 0.2 21.7 W 12.3 0 04/05/2006 1300 A494 Shotwick 23.3 56 0 2000 15 SE 35.5 -0.1 04/05/2006 1300 A534 Fullers Moor 23 61 0.5 9.4 SE 39.1 0 04/05/2006 1300 A537 Cat and Fiddle 20.1 60 0 26.6 E 33.7 0 23/11/2005 1300 A494 Shotwick 3.7 94 0 2000 1.6 N 6 -6.5 23/11/2005 1300 A534 Fullers Moor 2.6 100 0 4.7 N 5.3 -8.8 23/11/2005 1300 A537 Cat and Fiddle -1.9 96 0 0 NW 1.6 -7.4 08/01/2005 1300 A494 Shotwick 7.4 54 0 2000 15.4 W 8.8 0 08/01/2005 1300 A537 Cat and Fiddle 2 73 0 42.1 W 3.2 0 27/01/2004 1300 A494 Shotwick 2.6 68 0 2000 6.7 N 4.6 0 27/01/2004 1300 A537 Cat and Fiddle -2.7 91 0 14.5 NW 1.1 -0.1 10/01/2005 1300 A494 Shotwick 11.1 70 0 2000 9.6 SW 11.2 0 10/01/2005 1300 A537 Cat and Fiddle 6.4 100 0 23.5 W 6.9 0 08/08/2003 NO DATA AVAILABLE 09/01/2003 1300 A494 Shotwick 3.9 86 0 2000 7.4 N 4.7 -4 08/01/2003 1300 A494 Shotwick 1.4 89 0 2000 1.3 NW 2.3 -5.4 26/01/2002 1300 A494 Shotwick 10.5 69 12.1 SW 8.5 26/01/2002 1300 A537 Cat and Fiddle 5.5 95 25.9 SW 5.5 23/08/2001 1300 A537 Cat and Fiddle 18.5 66 6 S 29. 0 12/01/2000 NO DATA AVAILABLE
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Land drainage problems and outline solutions
Hurdsfield Road, Macclesfield No of properties flooded: Approx 100 – Hurdsfield Road, Black Lane, Garden Street, Steeple Street
Proposed works: Option 1 – Design processing Option 2 – Additional storage required for periods of intense rainfall to relieve River Bollin
Estimated cost: Option 1 – To be determined Option 2 – Further investigation required
Comments: Storm of 15 June involved both foul and surface water problems whilst storm of 27 October involved only the watercourse.
River Dean, Bollington No of properties flooded: Approx 50 – Oldham Street, Water Street, John Street, Dean Court, High Street + Tullis Russell
Proposed works: To be assessed
Comments: Excess flows causing flooding along main river (it is rumoured that water released at Lamaload Reservoir were the cause of the flooding)
Buxton Road, Macclesfield No of properties flooded: 2 houses, Buxton Road, Larkhall Road and Swallow Close
Proposed works: Highway drainage improvements
Estimated cost: Say £5, 000
Comments: Surface water flooding is exacerbated by surcharging foul system in Larkhall Road. A scheme has been designed to improve the foul system. An associated problem is leaf fall blocking road gullies. It is proposed to enlarge gully gratings to counter this problem and position additional road gullies at flooding locations.
Thorp House, Macclesfield No of properties flooded: Renovated office block
Proposed works: To be assessed
Comments: Concrete ramp constructed in course of River Bollin caused build up of debris and subsequent constriction of storm flows.
Welsh Row, Nether Alderley No of properties flooded: 1 house + CCC highway (Welsh Row) and numerous gardens
Proposed works: Enlarge culverted section at “Cornerways” and maintain roadside ditches
Estimated cost: £1, 500 + maintenance costs, say £1, 000 pa
Comments: There is concern that the quantity of water entering the watercourse is being adversely affected by the owner at Flume Head. My considered opinion is that this at worse is a contributory concern.
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Blakelow Road/Hollin Road, Macclesfield No of properties flooded: 1 house and 4 gardens
Proposed works: Further investigation required
Estimated cost: Investigation works say £5, 000 per day
Comments: Blockages on the culvert have been/will be located and riparian owners asked to ‘maintain a free flow’ through their property.
8 High Court, Bollington No of properties flooded: Gardens and public highway
Proposed works: To be assessed
Comments: Culverted watercourse collapse undermining property foundations. Possibly associated with surcharging well in High Street.
Black Road/Brymore Drive, Macclesfield No of properties flooded: 1 house
Proposed works: Further investigation required on culverted watercourse under property.
Amberley Road, Macclesfield No of properties flooded: 4 gardens
Proposed works: Option 1 – Replace 3 No pipes with box culvert Option 2 – Regular inspection with maintenance
Estimated cost: Option 1 – £10, 000 Option 2 - £2, 000 manhole access + £600 pa inspection and say £500 every three years desilting
Waterloo Road, Poynton No of properties flooded: 1 garden
Proposed works: Option 1 – Relaying section of culverted watercourse (relining is not an option due to various previous developer’s activities. Culvert needs to be made uniform – further investigation required. Option 2 – Root cutting and desilting as and when required
Estimated cost: Option 1 – £10, 000 Option 2 – Say £500 per day
Paddock Chase/Towers Road, Poynton No of properties flooded: Adopted highway (Paddocks Chase) and unadopted highway (Towers Road)
Proposed works: Enlarge existing gully gratings and construct 1 No. road gully
Estimated cost: £1, 000
24 Rugby Drive, Macclesfield No of properties flooded: 1 garden and 1 playing field
Proposed works: Provide storage for excess flows
Estimated cost: To be determined
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Commonside, Macclesfield No of properties flooded: 1 garden
Proposed works: Option 1 – Desilt 300mm dia CI Pipe culverting private watercourse
Estimated cost: Option 1 – Say £1, 500 (access to site is difficult)
Comments: Proving ownership of defunct private watercourse is proving difficult; whilst Mr Henson’s property (Nursery Cottage) continues to suffer (collapsed dry stone wall)
Ben Brook, Gawsworth No of properties flooded: 2 fields
Proposed works: Option 1 – Individual works as and when required Option 2 – Relay watercourse in highway
Estimated cost: Option 1 – Assume construction of manhole. Say £2, 000 per manhole Option 2 – Say £100, 000
Greenway, Wilmslow No of properties flooded: 2 gardens and Sainsbury’s car park
Comments: Work recently undertaken by MBC at cost of £19, 000 to prevent Sainsbury’s car park (owned by MBC) drainage discharging to watercourse. Problem remains as private dispute.
Moor Pool, Knutsford No of properties flooded: 1 footpath
Comments: Further investigation required
East Tytherington Business Park, Macclesfield No of properties flooded: Private road
Comments: Problem area has become more visible due to recent development which has not considered the problem.
Gough’s Lane, Knutsford No of properties flooded: 4 gardens and a field
Comments: Low point in farmland ponds during intense rainfall. Recent development at 62 Gough’s Lane has highlighted the problem.
Sanctuary Moor, Knutsford No of properties flooded: Fields and gardens (various depending on location of blockage)
Proposed works: Option 1 – Regrade watercourse (unlikely to be acceptable to some residents and English Nature) Option 2 - Regular inspection and maintenance
Estimated cost: Option 1 – Say £2, 000 (hire of machine for two weeks) Option 2 - £35 per inspection and say £1, 000maintenance
Comments: Property named Ranch House took responsibility for cleaning out section forming boundary to property but since death of owner, maintenance has been neglected.
Banbury Close, Macclesfield No of properties flooded: Communal grassed area
Comments: Further investigation required
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Derby Stream, Wilmslow No of properties flooded: Farmer’s field
Proposed works: Remove vegetation from watercourse. Work usually undertaken by farmer but not as frequently as upstream properties would like.
River Lily, Knutsford No of properties flooded: Sections of highway both adopted and unadopted dependent on location of blockage
Proposed works: Option 1 – Overflows to Moor Pool Option 2 – Regular inspection and maintenance
Estimated cost: Option 1 – Say £2, 000 per overflow Option 2 – Already undertaken as PPM No 6 £140 pa inspection and say £1, 000 maintenance
Tytherington Wood, Macclesfield No of properties flooded: Tytherington wood (Leisure Services)
Comments: MBC Leisure Services have recently acquired the wood and set up a system of regular inspection and maintenance.
Amberley Road IT, Macclesfield No of properties flooded: 1 garden
Proposed works: Further investigation works to be undertaken by owner
Brookside Cottages, Eaton No of properties flooded: 1 house + gardens, and public highway
Comments: Owner had diverted culverted watercourse to accommodate extension using undersize pipe. Problem resolved by owner.
229 Blakelow Road, Macclesfield No of properties flooded: 1 garden + Blakelow Road
Comments: Owner to undertake works to limit effects of surface water runoff from adjoining land.
1 Wigwam Close, Poynton No of properties flooded: To be assessed
Proposed works: To be assessed
Comments: Owner reports partially blocked watercourse downstream of his property.
9 Lindrick Close No of properties flooded: Nil
Proposed works: Option 1 – Bank protection
Estimated cost: Option 1 - £500
Comments: Watercourse is eroding bank that supports rear garden (since the bank supports gabions on Council land it is considered likely that MBC have a responsibility – legal opinion sought)
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Black Brook, Macclesfield No of properties flooded: Various depending o location of blockage
Comments: Recent investigation undertaken and various problems located and remedied at a cost of approx £10, 000. Future problems likely due to lack of maintenance.
Conclusion
Most of these land drainage problems were highlighted by recent intense rainfall events, 15 June and 27 October 1998. Flooding has since dispersed except for 13 Ben Brook giving priority to inhabited property that was flooded gives the above prioritised list.
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POST STORM/SEVERE WEATHER SITE RISK ASSESSMENT Tatton Park
PROPERTY LOCATION REF NO. DEPARTMENT HEAD OF DEPT. DATE TIME ACTIVITY Relevant Model or Site Risk Assessments
Nature of Worst outcome Groups at risk Current precautions Estimation of risk Further precautions hazard Action Severity of hazard: Probability of event: Adequacy of controls: Severity of hazard: Probability of event: Adequacy of controls: Severity of hazard: Probability of event: Adequacy of controls: Severity of hazard: Probability of event: Adequacy of controls:
Assessment carried out by Date of previous assessment Job title Date of this assessment Signed Next assessment before
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Assessing hazards during a tree inspection at Tatton Park
Risk zone Inspect Method High Risk Annually Rapid but careful search for clear defects, especially in crown and at base of tree, using binoculars and probe if required Retained trees in High At least six monthly and Thorough inspection, Risk Zone recorded as after storms monitoring rate of decline. showing significant Probe and ladder may be defects (monitored list) required Medium Risk At least every 2 years Rapid but careful search for clear defects Low Risk During normal routine No formal inspection, just visits observation and awareness of the general condition of the trees
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ADVERSE WEATHER PROCEDURES AND GUIDELINES Tatton Park
GALES
Areas affected:
All areas where there is public access, trees and buildings.
Potential hazards:
Falling branches and trees. Falling roof slates, guttering etc. Electricity failure.
Possible precautions: a) Windy Weather
Monitor weather conditions and potential risk areas. Put out signs at both entrances warning people to “AVOID TREES IN WINDY WEATHER” b) Extreme Windy Weather
Put out warning signs at entrances, as in a). Consider partial closure of the estate depending on the weather conditions and individual circumstances of potential risk areas including:
- Boathouse Wood Car Park – trees - Knutsford Entrance Car Park – trees - Home Farm – slates etc - Old Hall – slates etc - Gardens – trees c) Severe Gales
Monitor and determine the level of response appropriate Partial closure of the estates as above Closure of facilities such as toilets where those are affected by electricity failure etc. Total closure of the Park where the impact of the gales or a combination of factors exists that leads to a general and unacceptable level of risk.
Notes: Wind gauge and selection of emergency warning signs are kept in the locked white cupboard (Estate Office)
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At present judgement on the severity of prevailing conditions will be made by Managers, Team Leaders and Duty Rangers present at the time. This may be supplemented in the future by an on-site weather station including a wind gauge. This would enable a more exact judgment of wind speed. The decision to go to total closure may be influenced by a combination of factors in addition to gales these may include:
a) Electricity failure – this would make a total closure decision more likely as there would be the additional hazard of darkness in the toilets, loss of Restaurant and other facilities and failure of the telephones etc. b) Possibility of an event – where severely hazardous conditions, which would normally necessitate total closure, coincide with an event which would be extremely difficult to cancel (eg a wedding) then it may be possible to arrive at a strategy to get people in and out of the estate safely in order to attend the event. Consideration should be given to:
- closure of Rostherne Drive due to its avenue of trees - diversion of traffic to Knutsford Entrance has this drive has far fewer trees - alternatively Mere Gate and the Farm Drive give direct access to the car parks with very few trees on route - close monitoring of pedestrian routes from car parks would be necessary
Responsibilities:
Whenever a Senior or Duty Manager is present it is their responsibility to make a decision on partial or total closure based on their judgement and the guidelines in this document. In the absence of the above, Duty Rangers are empowered to make decisions on partial closure or indeed total closure, but in the latter, should always try to consult with Estate Team Leader or a Senior Manager. This is particularly important when closure will impact on an event.
SEVERE FREEZING/SNOWY CONDITIONS
Areas affected:
Paths, drives, car parks, play area.
Potential hazards:
Vehicles losing control on drives and car parks. People slipping over on pathways. Ground conditions in the play area becoming too hard for safety.
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Possible precautions:
Put out signs at entrances and car parks, “Caution, untreated roads and pathways.” Grit/salt as much of Rostherne Drive and the main pedestrian routes as possible. Keep Knutsford Drive closed. Divert traffic via Rostherne Drive. Close Adventure Playground if ground becomes severely frozen. Signs should be put on the entrances to the play area informing the public and lodges notified.
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Glossary
Adaptation - The action or process of adapting, fitting, or suiting one thing to another
Climate - The average weather and its variability over a certain time period (The Met Office standard is over 30 years) ranging from months to millions of years.
IMD – Index of Multiple Deprivation
IPCC – Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
IPCC SRES – IPCC Special Report on Emission Scenarios
LCLIP – Local Climate Impacts Profile
LRPB – Local and Regional Partnership Board
LSP – Local Strategic Partnership
Mitigation - This refers to any attempts to reduce the affects of future climate change
NHS – National Health Service
PCT – Primary Care Trust
PROW – Public Rights Of Way
Scenario - Describes possible future events or actions
Threshold - A lower limit
UKCIP – UK Climate Impacts Programme
Weather - Meteorological phenomenon happening outside at a given time
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Cheshire East Council 137 Local Climate Impacts Profile
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