‘We may never solve relief road flood problem’

THERE may never be a solution to the A555 Airport Relief road’s flooding problems, a leading councillor has admitted.

The dual-carriageway, which runs through Poynton as it connects to Manchester Airport, was closed once again last week as Storm Christoph brought torrential downpours.

Completed in 2018, the £290m route has already been shut because of heavy rainfall on a number of occasions.

It was closed on Wednesday, January 20, between Bramhall Oil Terminal and Styal Road, as ‘a precautionary measure’.

Although the pumps did not fail, the road’s storage tanks were full and, with the surrounding land saturated, there was nowhere to safely discharge the water without causing problems elsewhere.

The road was built as a joint project between Cheshire East, Stockport and Manchester councils.

An independent investigation following floods in 2019 found that ‘design shortcomings’ meant the A555 would ‘remain vulnerable to flooding from prolonged or frequent heavy rainfall’.

Morgan Sindall – the firm that built the road – is now working with the councils to find an engineering solution to the recurring problem.

But at a full meeting of Stockport council on Thursday night, economy and regeneration chief Coun David Meller admitted there may not be one.

He said: “It’s incredibly frustrating. Work is still ongoing on looking at potential medium-term solutions.

“But we have to be honest, we don’t know what is possible in terms of engineering, but we are continuing to do that work.”

He added: “We are working with Morgan Sindall to look at ways in which we can address this once and for all.

“As it stands we still don’t know what’s in the realm of possibility and we also don’t know – if it is possible – how much it would cost.”

Coun Brian Bagnall told the meeting: “The truth here seems to be we have been left with a brand new road, costing hundreds of millions of pounds which is currently defective.

“It floods and has had to be closed on several occasions when there has been a heavy storm or prolonged wet weather.

“It’s very clear this project has gone very wrong and, as yet, no one has been held responsible and there have been no consequences.

“And we need to find a solution to fix it.”