A CONTROVERSIAL crossing set to be switched on today, Friday, is causing uproar at Winsford Town Council.

The toucan crossing in High Street – which will link the Verdin Exchange with Winsford Learning Zone – will be tested on Friday afternoon, but councillors are angry that it was ever built in the first place.

At the council’s last meeting on March 15, members said they were not consulted and the crossing would cause gridlock at a busy spot when there is already a subway underground.

Clr Charlie Parkinson said: “I’m totally against this thing. It will cause road blocks that will back up to Dingle Lane. And how will emergency services from Collingham Way get past it all. It’s going to turn New Road into a rat run.

“They should have used the money to put new drains in and open up the subway. They could have done it up for a fraction of the cost.”

John Evans, from Cheshire West and Chester Council’s highways department, got a grilling about the thinking behind the new crossing.

Clr Brandon Parkey said: “We weren’t consulted. Nothing was discussed. The highways department were out of order, very out of order. They shouldn’t have gone ahead with it without full planning permission.”

But Mr Evans said the crossing would not have come in with the original planning application, but later as a request from an engineer, which is why no consultation was carried out.

He said: “It’s not cost the authority [CWAC] a penny. The scheme was designed by external consultants and checked by the council.

“It has had a stage two safety audit to look at things like queue lengths and visibility.”

Clr Parkinson read aloud the minutes of the former county council’s planning committee from 2008, which stated that Mid Cheshire College should pay to fill the subway in.

But Mr Evans replied: “My understanding is that the subway will remain open. There wasn’t money secured to close it. No-one ever gets knocked over using the subway but no-one gets mugged using the crossing. This will give people a choice.”

In response, Clr Parkey said: “You mention the risk of mugging in the subway so why haven’t you installed cameras down there?”