Road traffic chaos as schools return
THERE was traffic chaos as the first day at the King’s School’s new £60million campus saw lengthy queues on roads in the surrounding area.
Drop off and pick up times on Thursday, September 3, saw motorists report delays of up to 40 minutes at Four Lane Ends with Prestbury Road, Priory Lane and Alderley Road all badly affected.
Children were attending King’s School’s Alderley Road campus, where a new roundabout has been installed to deal with traffic, for the first time.
And other schools in the area, including Fallibroome Academy, had also reopened.
King’s School has put the problems down to first day teething problems at the new site and says the situation has improved on the days since.
Councillor James Barber, who represents Broken Cross and Upton ward, raised the issue with Cheshire East Council and has asked for highways officers to monitor the situation.
He said: “Following the reopening of local schools in the area such as Fallibroome, and the opening of the new Kings campus, it was obvious there would be serious issues at Four Lane Ends.
“I went down on Thursday to monitor the issue and, as I anticipated, the traffic situation was severe, with queues going all the way down the main roads.
”It was clear for all to see prior to this week that there would be serious issues in the area, and I have raised this with the council.”
The following day traffic was better but this week multi-way traffic lights are scheduled on Macclesfield Road and at Berwick Close and are expected to be there until September 18 and 19 respectively.
Residents describe the road situation in the area as a ‘perfect storm’ with Upton
Priory School, Macclesfield Leisure Centre and Macclesfield Rugby Club also nearby.
A spokesman for the King’s School said: “There was congestion around the school on our first day of term but since then we are pleased that there have been no significant queues.
“Our staff have been carefully monitoring the traffic situation in the mornings and after school, including timing traffic on
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to the pleased improved.
“We anticipated that there would be heavy traffic on the first day and put in place systems to minimise the impact, including a one-way system which has been working well to get traffic on and off the site as quickly as possible.
“Longer-term, we are committed to encouraging pupils to use coach and bus routes, as well as walking and cycling to school.
“Already around half our pupils use car sharing and more than a quarter use buses and coaches.
“We express our thanks to our new neighbours for their patience at the start of term.” site, and we are
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