Traffic chaos set to continue as closure of Adlington Road extended

What a joke! I make this an additional three weeks and six days onto a schedule of eight weeks. I really pity the local residents and commuters who would normally travel that route. Do the contractors have to pay any recompense by way of penalties to the council?

This is unbelievable - it's been causing chaos in all parts of Wilmslow due to people taking A34 or Manchester Rd instead!!! A real pain in the drain!!! Pardon the pun..

That's some project over-run! Liquidated damages from the contractors are surely due.

To be fair I don't think it is the contractor's fault. They have been working flat out every day. They were given a job to do which really hadn't taken into account that a) that section of the road there are major utilities and b) that the existing sewers had obviously been working at capacity or over it for a very long time. What I have noticed is that further down the road in the dip by the bridge by the houses on the town side, there is a smell of bad eggs which has been there even before they started working. Either way this also needs fixing, as will the listed bridge at this rate given the number of extremely heavy vehicles who have been using it.

Appears we have a pavement too narrow on a blind bend to safely push a pram. How would a Mom with a baby in a push chair cross the road, turn the pram thro' 90 degrees and get passed a pedestrian, let alone another pram? Then when you get to the R Bolln bridge you have to cross the road again, without any pavement to get over the bridge.
Then there is the blind bend on the other side of the road by the new housing estate, where there is a telephone pole planted in the pavement, you cannot get passed anyone without walking on the road. I have seen Moms with prams do just that.
This also happens weekly because of the bin collection at other points.
CEC bear a heavy responsibility for creating hazardous points along Adlington Rd. Let us hope and pray that noone is injured or killed.
Perhaps we are all the safer for this road to remain closed.

Terry - you needn't worry. Cheshire East clearly feels that the town is full of Bear Grylls types.

Some very valid issues raised by Terry Roeves. Maybe East Cheshire council should have considered the infrastructure issues before approving land for residential development.

Terry Reeves' comment is wholly valid and we have pointed this out to the Council and Jones Homes but our comments are ignored - as usual. I would not want to have to cross the road on the blind bend by the entrance to Wilmslow Park and then have to walk in the road to cross the bridge over the Bollin where as Mr Reeves correctly points there is only an extremely narrow pavement across the bridge.

As for the extension of the road closure we are now subjected to further inconvenience. At rush hour it now takes a good 20/25 minutes longer to cross Wilmslow (and uses a lot more fuel - I guess we will have spent well over £100 more than usual because of the detour). We have been subjected to the inconvenience of 5 or 6 or 7 occasions when temporary traffic lights have been in use since the development started. The road is frequently muddy and in the recent dry spell our cars were covered in dust from the road. Meanwhile, the people who sold the land and the developers make huge sums of money while the residents just suffer with not one penny of compensation.

Will be interesting to see how Cheshire East spends the council tax from the new properties. I know, let's create a service company (with the specific role of creating service companies) with no chance of success - give an unqualified councillor the role of Chairman then dissolve it in 12 months and watch the money disappear.

It would make great comedy, but in reality it is a tragedy. Cheshire East has been a failure- stop the experiment and bring back MBC and CCC.

Agree entirely with the above. The dangers of this road are obvious especially for young pedestrians and cyclists. How is it that Road Safety Auditors submitted a report which made no mention of young cyclists? I contacted the Auditors and they admitted to concerns for young cyclists about which they had thought "long and hard". They did not report their concerns as they had no solution. Auditors are fully aware that their responsibility is to describe the dangers and it is the Highway Authority's legal responsibility to mitigate the dangers. I shared the correspondence with CEC Highway and Planning Officers and they did not contact the Auditors requesting a full description of the dangers. The Developer also took no action. Why would Public Officers with a Duty of Care to young children act in this way? Could it be that a rigorous Road Safety Audit would describe problems for which there was no cost effective solution within the Planning granted by CEC.
I referred this to the Local Government Ombudsman but she reuses to investigate because I have not suffered a "personal injustice"

Having read the comments above surely there is blatant negligence here and perhaps a cover up. I wonder what legal options we have to uncover the truth and bring these decision makers to task?

Firstly Jackie, as someone who works in the Construction Industry let me tell you that we should not feel sorry for the Contractor, as detailed contracts are always drawn up and utility maps are always available from the utility companies (albeit the pipe locations aren't always exactly accurate). So the pipe laying contractor knew exactly what they were getting into and should have been aware of all the locations. Therefore the overrun is definitely down to them as there are no preceding trades or follow on trades that can be blamed for them not completing their task on time.

Next, fines are in place for Councils overrunning works, so I see no reason why the Council shouldn't impose a fine on the Contractor for the delays and inconvenience caused to local residents and commuters. This then begs the question as to what CEC will use the money raised for?

Terry, I can only assume that you do not live in this locality, nor use this road as you are happy to see it closed. Unfortunately for us locals this road is a lifeline and avoids us travelling out of way to get to places like Wilmslow train station. I for one have seen my average fuel consumption go down from 42mpg to 38mpg simply because of this road closure, as well as the increase in travel time due to extra congestion on the A34.

What we are all getting away from is the simple fact that CEC shouldn't be allowing houses to built on green fields, in areas that don't have the necessary support infrastructure (schools, jobs, GP's, etc), especially when close to a 1,000 houses are being built at Woodford Aerodrome. Can you imagine the chaos when all these houses are built and God forbid we have to close this road again?

CEC should think seriously about their plan to build so many houses in Wilmslow, when jobs don't exist and everyone will surely be a commuter!

I agree Tim and I have referred the matter to Cheshire Constabulary. The evidence for Miscondut in Public Office is compelling. The Chief Constable has decided not to refer this to the CPS. He has not refuted any aspect of the evidence or provided any explanation for his decision .I have complained of course and the PCC has suggested that there should be a further ' independent' review of the evidence. I am awaiting the Chief Constable's response

! I make this an additional three weeks and six days onto a schedule of eight weeks.
That's almost a 50% error.

Any chance CEC will inform us what the contractor will pay in fines?

Given CEC's record on supervision and management of such works I'd be surprised if they collected anything.

Please note, only a Court can impose fines, CEC can impose overrun Penalties. Not the same, except in misguided Public perception.

Overrun penalties are only charged I think if companies have not negotiated the new timescale. What are the chances of Cheshire East not agreeing to the new timescale? - zero I think.

One doesn't have to be a genius to realise that something stinks about the Adlington Road safety aspect. It is glaringly obvious there are very dangerous areas of this road but no, it would appear,t to the Road Safety Officer or other CEC officials.
Why were they "looking the other way" when planning approval for the development was being considered? With the great increase in traffic volume to be expected from a 205+ homes development, plus the 950 homes being built at Woodford, the public has a right to expect its paid servants are professional enough to require mitigating improvements be instigated long before development work be allowed. Why not?
Heaven forbid that a tragedy occurs on or near to the Vardon bridge but if such an event occurs these very officers could be having their collars felt.
Will somebody at CEC please tell us what the "stink" is?

Assuming it is a contract with an agreed end date, if it over-runs the contractor will HAVE to renegotiate the end date with CEC. But there will (or should!) be liquidated damages clauses in the contract so that penalty payments become due by the contractor for any such over-run.

It would be interesting to know if such clauses exist, and if so were they invoked and at what cost to the contractor?

A 50% over-run is no small error!

Surely the overrun is two weeks. Adlington Road closed on 14th March and was due to open this weekend, 7th May. The opening date now is 21st May - 14 days late.
If one is lucky enough not to have to be involved in rush hour traffic, the peace and quiet of the road closure is a bonus. After all, with the massive building programme planned for this area, the gridlock to come will be a nightmare. The jams that this closure has caused will be as nothing by comparison.

I live locally and like everyone else am sick to death of the traffic chaos caused by this.
What I think everyone is missing is that the works ate being done by Jones Homes \ Emmerson Group\ Orbit Developments and as major land owners and commercial property owners CEC do as they say . Normal rules don't apply in this case I am afraid. That's not just my opinion but the opinion of my neighbours as well .The contractors should be fined for over running but I would like to bet they wont be and you will all never know. They set a unrealistic target to complete the works in the first place and knew it would never be finished . Its easier to get an extension for the works if not finished than get permission to close the toad for 12 weeks in the first place !!!!

The road is now OPEN !

Thanks for the good news Jon - I can now get out to the Garden Centre without setting aside an hour and a half to do so. My money is on temporary lights going up for further work by the end of the year.

Great news meaning i can shorten my journey time i live in poynton but travel every saturday to get to wilmslow and i see enough of tempory rd works getting out of poynton has it is without seeing anymore elsewhere

Just came down Station road -a notice still up about diversion. At the top end roundabout by Unicorn notice about road. The above might explain why so little traffic is currently using the road. At the same time a traffic counter has been put on the road.

Just back from other garden centre. Signs now gone at Unicorn roundabout - not been down bottom road. Signs still up on Handforth Road and Dean Row Road. It therefore remains blissfully peaceful on Adlington Road.

Well Jackie at least the signs still indicating Adlington Road is closed are not making the traffic counter work too hard. We wouldn't want that would we?