Roads to get £25m revamp

COUNCIL chiefs have pledged to spend £25 million on improving the road network in the town.

Major plans aimed at easing congestion at peak times and allowing the roads to cope with future developments were unveiled at a meeting of the council’s ruling cabinet

The proposals - known as the Macclesfield Movement Strategy - will see £750,000 spent on revamping the Congleton Road junction with Park Lane near The Flowerpot pub.

Other priorities include the junction of Congleton Road and Moss Lane, the A523 Silk Road and the A523 Mill Lane.

The strategy involves developing major schemes over the next 20 years including:

Widening Cumberland Street in the town centre;

Improving Hibel Road and its junction with the Silk Road;

Junction improvements on Chester Road - A537 including Ivy Road, Fieldbank Road and Broken Cross roundabout;

Widening Park Lane and improving its junction with Churchill Way roundabout;

Improving Prestbury Road roundabout and upgrading Byron’s Lane.

The strategy, which was revealed at Cheshire East Council’s cabinet meeting on Tuesday, is also looking at transport challenges in the town, such as limited bus services, car parking at the train station, poor connections to the motorway and incomplete cycle routes.

It has been developed around the proposals for the town under the first phase of the South Macclesfield Development Area (SMDA).

It could see 3,500 new homes and 15 hectares of new employment land cre- ated in the town.

Introducing the scheme at the meeting, council leader Michael Jones, pictured, said: “£25 million is a lot of money to spend, but Macclesfield needs and deserves it.”

Town councillors will now be consulted through a local member forum.

David Brown, cabinet member for transport, said: “This is a move ahead from the local plan and determine how Macclesfield will develop over the next 20 years.

“Some will need to take place sooner rather than later but there will be con- sultation, especially over the more sensitive sites.”

Coun Brown said improvements for the ‘severe bottle neck’ which occurs at peak times at the Flowerpot junction were ‘well advanced’.

Macclesfield councillor Paul Findlow welcomed the proposals.

He said: “We have to get the infrastructure right before the development, or at least in tandem.

“There are huge problems with traffic in some parts of Macclesfield.

“We have been wanting to deal with the Flowerpot junction for about 30 years.

“With the SMDA, it is a priority and we need to get it right.”

Coun Brendan Murphy also welcomed the strategy but urged the council to handle the proposals for widening Cumberland Street with sensitivity because of the location of the historical war memorial gates on the King’s School boundary.

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