Roadworks to complete £1.7m power network upgrade rescheduled

Electricity North West 2

As reported on wilmslow.co.uk last month, more than 22,000 homes and business in Wilmslow, Handforth, Chelford and Alderley Edge are set to benefit from a £1.7m upgrade to the local power network.

Engineers from Electricity North West, the region's power network operator, are replacing 5km of underground electricity cables between Alderley Edge and Wilmslow.

Electricity North West said the project, which will replace faulty oil-filled cables which have been in place for around 60 years, with new environmentally-friendly and efficient cables was scheduled to carried out as soon as possible as it's emergency work to protect the power supplies to 22,000 properties but having listened to feedback they have adapted the plan.

The work, which has been agreed by Cheshire East Council, started on 24th July and will take approximately 17 weeks. The project is on track and will still be completed on schedule but Electricity North West has adapted the traffic plan in response to feedback from key stakeholders and businesses.

The work on Cliff Road in Wilmslow will start on or around Monday, 7th August, with a road closure for approximately three weeks and will continue through Chancel Lane and Church Street where two way traffic lights will be in place.

Work will continue along Hawthorn Lane where there will be a one way closure and this work will be completed within approximately six weeks.

Styal Road is planned to be closed for 12 weeks from mid-September. Road signs will be in place and customers will be notified. A full diversion route will be signposted and traffic will be monitored.

Temporary traffic lights and road closures will be in place to allow engineers to safely carry out the work. Where there are road closures access to properties will be maintained.

John Pietsch, South Operations Transmission Manager, for Electricity North West, said: "We're proud to be investing almost £2m in the local community to ensure 22,000 customers enjoy a reliable supply of power which we all take for granted every day.

"Power cuts are thankfully rare, but as these cables were first installed in the 1960s it's vital we upgrade them now and replace a faulty cable, so we continue to deliver an excellent, safe and affordable service to all our customers across the region.

"It's an investment of around £1 per property per year to keep power flowing for at least another 60 years, so it's great to be delivering such value for such an essential service to the local area."

See the Cheshire East Council's website for more information regarding road closures and planned works.

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Electricity North West
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Comments

Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.

Julien Rachel Alder
Monday 7th August 2017 at 9:14 pm
Clearly it is not being monitored 45 minutes to get from one end of styal road to the other and road works at both ends! Every road from the Airport to the A34 completely blocked.... poor A-B workers and residents... better planning and communication needed by the councils and road network providers.
David Briggs
Wednesday 9th August 2017 at 5:49 pm
Another example of "not monitoring" today at 11.00 am leaving Wilmslow. 1.5 mile queue as far back as the Honey Bee from roadworks and temporary single carriageway lights after the airport tunnels. 30 minute wait to reach the M56/Hale lights/roundabout. No traffic waiting in the other direction.Simple monitoring and real time adjustment of the temporary lights would have reduced waiting time by at least two thirds. Which contractor? Which official department monitors?
Graham Shaw
Thursday 10th August 2017 at 2:48 pm
John Pietsch needs to check his facts before spouting off about 'thankfully power cuts are rare'. Living near the Unicorn Pub our area is regularly suffering from power outages. He cannot deny this as ENWL send me text messages all the time to apologise for the power cut, then to say the fault has been identified, etc, etc. The latest message being the 1st Aug.

We had a similar problem with United Utilities and our water supply until they refurbished all the pumps at Wilmslow Lift.

Let's hope that this work does indeed sort out the 'non-existent' problem of power cuts!