A MIDDLEWICH resident who spoke out about the town’s continued long wait for a bypass was given assurances by Cheshire East Council cabinet that the project ‘will be pushed forward.’


Cabinet members discussed the Middlewich Eastern Bypass on Tuesday, February 9, and agreed to look once more at whether or not to keep the original route that was planned.


Middlewich resident, Jonathan Parry, of Warmingham Lane, took the opportunity to speak to cabinet members, explaining the traffic nightmare residents of Middlewich are experiencing.


Jonathan said: “The bypass has been promised for thirty years, and is so far just a multi-million pound cul-de-sac, with little benefit to Middlewich. What is more, developments are shooting up along the existing route, attracting even more traffic through the town.


“Lewin Street and Booth Lane are already over capacity and will be even worse when the ANSA site is there. We’re seeing numerous accidents along Lewin Street because the pavements are too small, and our roads are in a terrible state of repair – basically Middlewich is not designed for HGVs.”


Cabinet member for Highways, Cllr David Brown, responded in full agreement of the traffic problems in Middlewich and reassured Jonathan that the bypass is now one of his two ‘top priorities’.


Cllr Brown, said: “I come from Congleton and the Congleton link road is important to me and so is the bypass in Middlewich.


“They are my top two priorities now that we’ve secured funding for the bridges in Crewe and you can have my assurance that this will be pushed forward, it is not going to be stuck under the carpet.”


“There are severe congestion problems in the land surrounding Middlewich, there’s no doubt about that, certainly in Lewin Street and Brooks Lane. If you do get two lorries there it’s practically impossible for pedestrians to walk down the road.


“From my point of view it’s vitally important that we move this along at a pace. If we are going to be in a position where we can exploit HS2 when that comes along we need to get this road in and we need it functional.”