FEARS AS QUEUING HGVS TURN ROAD INTO ‘DEATH TRAP’
Walleys Quarry now wants to open earlier to alleviate problem
MOTORISTS are risking their lives on a ‘death-trap’ road – overtaking queues of Walleys Quarry lorries.
The lorries are often parked up on Cemetery Road, in Silverdale, waiting to get into the controversial landfill site.
But their early-morning arrival forces traffic heading towards Keele onto the wrong side of the road to overtake the queuing trucks. Staffordshire Police are aware of the issue which has been picked up by Stop The Stink campaigners.
Now Walleys Quarry says it is submitting a planning application to try to open its gates even earlier in an attempt to solve the lorries issue.
Campaigner Simmo Burgess, aged 43, said: “Cemetery Road is a death trap – someone is going to get killed on that road – and it is happening when kids are going to school.
“Last week, a woman came up to me literally crying, shaking, because a car had nearly hit her head on. And this has happened a couple of times – it’s not a one-off.
“When you get lorries on both sides of the road, you can’t see around them. So if you’re coming off the traffic lights you’re not going to see anything coming down. There’s no reason for anything to be parked on that road.”
Stop The Stink campaigners want the county council to install doubleyellow lines on Cemetery Road.
Simmo added: “Someone’s going to get killed. All it takes is one fast car going on that road. What happens if a police car goes flying up that road in an emergency and hits another car head-on?”
Staffordshire Police have carried out traffic patrols on the road.
A police spokesman said: “We are aware of queuing vehicles waiting to get onto the site and queuing through the traffic lights and onto Cemetery Road.
“Local patrols and officers from the force’s road policing unit do attend where possible. Where any offences are committed, appropriate action will be taken.”
The latest issue was reported last Thursday morning.
A Walleys Quarry spokesman said: “In response to community requests, we are submitting a planning application that will allow us to open the site gates earlier in the morning to take lorries off the road. This application will not extend operating hours at the landfill.”