A530 opening delayed to January 2023

Ed : we received this from Cllr Rachel Bailey today

I wish to ensure that residents are aware of a statement issued this afternoon by Cheshire East Council.
I share Cllr Browne's frustration that the A530 at Leighton will not reopen in October as planned, but now January 2023 and regret the continued impact this will have on Audlem residents accessing our Hospital.
Rachel Bailey
CE Cllr Audlem Ward

News Release for Cheshire East

A530 to reopen in January

The reopening of the A530 – part of the council’s North West Crewe Package scheme –

has been delayed due to a planning delay from one of the council’s partners on the

project.

United Utilities discovered recently that original pipework installed below ground in the

affected area was not as recorded. Further technical investigation work was required as

an immediate priority to determine the material of the original pipework, before new

diversion work could take place.

As a result, the A530, which had been due to open at the end of October, will now

unfortunately have to remain closed, with the new rescheduled date for the road to

reopen being January 2023.

Councillor Craig Browne, chair of Cheshire East Council’s highways and transport

committee, said: “It is very frustrating that this technical issue has arisen and as a result

we find ourselves facing a delay.

“We have been working closely with United Utilities to set out what is required from them

going forward on this vital strategic infrastructure project for Crewe. We are of course

disappointed that this technical issue has come up and has delayed the planned

reopening.

“In order to recover time, residents will now see works taking place at the weekends to try

to claw back as much as possible, in an attempt to reopen the road before the target date

of January. I can only apologise to residents for the prolonged period of disruption.”

Gareth Davies, customer delivery manager at United Utilities, said: “We have been

working closely with Cheshire East Council and Balfour Beatty over the past few months

to plan the six packages of work required of United Utilities as part of the NWCP.

“These involve diverting existing mains water pipes at a number of locations, in a way

that does not cause any disruption to supplies for our tens of thousands of customers in

the area, including the hospital.

“Unfortunately, there were some delays of approximately eight weeks encountered by us

and we sincerely apologise for any impact this may have had to the overall project. There

were a number of factors at play, including the complexity of the work required, as well as

the need to do some elements of work at night to keep our teams safe. We were also in a

time of high demand due to the hot weather, and were carefully managing the resources

required across our region.

“Of our six packages of work for the North West Crewe Package, two have now been

finished and we are working hard to ensure the remaining four are completed on or

before their estimated dates. We remain committed to working directly with Cheshire

East Council and Balfour Beatty on this important strategic infrastructure project.”

The council is keeping residents up to date through a monthly newsletter dedicated to

works on the North West Crewe Package scheme – you can sign up here: Cheshire East

Council (govdelivery.com) and will continue to keep the latest information on the project

on its dedicated web pages