Cheshire West and Chester Borough Council have made an Order the effect of which will be to temporarily restrict traffic one way on Lache Lane from the junction of Greenacre Road to the junction of Whaddon Drive with access into town but no access out to Dodleston from Lache to enable utility works to be carried out by Welsh Water.
The Order will come into force on 8th July 2021 and it is anticipated that the works requiring this closure will take approximately four weeks to complete. There will be further work after this, but it is hoped that they will then be able to use traffic light controls.
Our Councillor Neil Sullivan says:
‘CWAC Highways is of the view that on the grounds of highway safety there is no option but to carry out the first section of Lache Lane work under one way restrictions. This will be reviewed as the job progresses and when the work area shortens then traffic lights will be used.
‘I think we have to accept the professional judgement of our highways Department on this matter. I know it will be disruptive for some of our residents.’
Regarding buses to Dodleston and Kinnerton, the CWaC Transport & Infrastructure team have advised:
‘Buses travelling from Chester to Dodleston will need to divert, but return journeys from Dodleston to Chester can operate normal route. In order to maintain the schedule within existing resources, outbound buses will operate non-stop via the A483 and Rough Hill to Dodleston (or Kinnerton) then drop off passengers for Westminster Park on the return journey. Most daytime journeys terminate at Dodleston, so the journey home to Westminster Park may take around 15 minutes longer. We will ask Stagecoach to publicise these arrangements on the bus and drivers will be briefed accordingly.’
WPRA has suggested that the bus should make a couple of stops on Wrexham Road to allow residents off who prefer to walk rather than take the round trip.
The temporary road changes are being introduced after extensive dialogue between local residents, WPRA, Cheshire West Highways team, Redrow/Taylor Wimpey, Dwr Cymru /Welsh Water and local councillors Razia Daniels, Val Armstrong and Neil Sullivan.