A MIDDLEWICH councillor has welcomed steps being taken to develop a second bypass for the town.

At its meeting last December, the Cheshire and Warrington local transport body agreed to consider developing a business case for upgrading Clive Green Lane and building a Middlewich southern link road.

If it follows the Middlewich eastern bypass – which is currently going through Cheshire East Council’s planning process – it would effectively become a second bypass for the town.

At Tuesday’s CEC cabinet meeting, Cllr Bernice Walmsley, Middlewich First, told members she was pleased to see the project on the local transport body’s agenda.

She said: “It seems that bypasses are like buses in Middlewich – you wait ages for one, then two come along at once.

 

“The eastern bypass will help the congestion problems in Middlewich by taking Sandbach-bound traffic out of our town centre.

“However, some of our traffic issues – some would say the majority of our traffic issues – are caused by traffic bound for Cheshire West, so a cross-border approach is obviously necessary to arrive at a complete solution.

“Could I ask that a Middlewich southern bypass is fully-supported, please, by this council?”

Officers told Cllr Walmsley that although the bypass is ‘merely a concept at the moment’, it is something that has been supported by members of the local transport body – which includes CEC.

Cllr Brian Clarke, Cheshire West and Chester Council cabinet member for economic development and infrastructure, said earlier this month that the link would be an important link between Winsford Industrial Estate and the M6 in south Cheshire.

“We do need that bypass,” he added.

“It has now been identified as very important, not only for Winsford but also for Middlewich, because it would take away the problem where high vehicles that go up Nantwich Road cannot pass the low bridge.”