link road - Taylor Drive-Edmund Wright Way - West Nantwich road network

Angry Nantwich residents have voiced fears over the impact that making Welsh Row one-way will have on their streets.

Cheshire East Council is considering a new ‘West Nantwich’ highway plan to stop traffic turning in to Welsh Row from Waterlode.

Part of the plan would be to link Taylor Drive to Edmund Wright Way, and to make Marsh Lane one-way between Welsh Row and Edmund Wright Way.

But residents on Taylor Drive fear hundreds of vehicles will use their narrow residential street as a cut through from Waterlode to access Malbank Waters, Queens Drive and Marsh Lane.

Some expressed their concerns at a recent Nantwich Town Council meeting, and a public meeting was held at Malbank School to discuss the plan.

One resident Sue Bradley said: “The proposal to stop traffic turning in to Welsh Row from Waterlode means that traffic wishing to access Malbank Waters, Queens Drive will arrive at the canal end of Welsh Row and probably go straight over into Taylor Drive rather than drive down Welsh Row to Queens Drive.

“The crossroads at the end of Edmund Wright Way are very busy at school times and those turning right into Marsh Lane will find a very narrow bit of road, on a bend with virtually no pavement.”

One Taylor Drive householder told Nantwich Town Council: “This road is simply not wide enough, it’s a residential street with a lot of parked cars.

“Even without those, it’s not good to push traffic towards a primary school. There is a conflict of interest here in terms of health and safety and from an environmental perspective.”

Cheshire East Council has held a 21-day “public engagement” exercise between November 13 and December 4 to find out people’s views.

If the proposals go ahead, an application will be made for the Taylor Drive-Edmund Wright Way link, and Traffic Regulation Orders (TROs) for the Marsh Lane one-way scheme, and turning restrictions into Welsh Row from Waterlode.

We contacted Cheshire East Council highways for an update on the plans following the ‘public engagement’ exercise, and are still awaiting a comment.

(Images courtesy of Google Maps)

8 Comments

  1. The plan to open a link down Taylor Drive and to make Welsh Row one way was set as a condition of the planning application being granted at Malian Waters phase 2. As the homes are either built or under construction, it seems like cart before the horse again as the TRO will now have to happen in some form or other and cannot be stopped. I agree with others who say that the plan is daft, especially as the objection to the homes off Queens Drive was that the road system was not suitable for sustained increased traffic at this part of town. Now it’s done, we’re stuck with the bad planning that Cheshire East refused to fight and allowed the appeal to fall and the plans to get through. Just wait until Kingsley fields is built and see the result on the roads at this side of town? Too many government cuts have left the council weak in planning skills and incompetent to stand up when plans are clearly not in the public interest. How much pollution will all this cause, as residents of Queens Drive will be adding one or so miles to each journey to go round and back again. The humps on Marsh lane will also be a challenge with the narrow parts and parked cars to navigate. Weak council and pathetic decisions.

  2. I really oppose the idea of making the bottom of Welsh Row one-way – why do they have to make life difficult for the hundreds of people who have lived in this part of town for years; think of all the extra traffic pollution from having to drive all the way round to access Queens Drive… but then CEC have never really demonstrated any idea of traffic planning, they seem to just cause one mess after another, then spend years & millions clearing up after themselves.

    • I agree – a pointless idea which will result in inconvenience, increased air/noise pollution and extra fuel use. All unnecessary and of dubious benefit.

  3. I have to concur with the comments of E.L. The Taylor Dr/Edmund Wright Way link was always intended to be so, its just never been completed due to poor management of the S.106 monies. There are currently only 2 access points off Welsh Row into this west part of town and a third is needed. Marsh Lane is too narrow for more traffic once Malbank Waters is completed and so the only other alternative is Queens Drive. Taylor Drive is perfectly adequate for more traffic (it could even be widened slightly on the canal side). Edmund Wright Way is also suitable and with the speed bumps, traffic speed will be controlled and hence safety should not be an issue. However, the Welsh Row 1-way system is questionable and its difficult to see the benefits of this.

    • Utter rubbish

      • It was mentioned when the appeal for 12/2440N —
        http://doc.cheshireeast.gov.uk/NorthgatePublicDocs/07514956.pdf — was allowed

        “In relation to the scheme for up to 240 dwellings, an alternative arrangement to address those capacity concerns was agreed with the highway authority, involving a reduction in the flow of traffic from the development through the junction by diverting trips to Taylor Drive. That would involve upgrading the current pedestrian link between Edmund Wright Way and Taylor Drive, so that it could take vehicular traffic allowing for an alternative route onto Welsh Row/Chester Road for vehicles heading west from Nantwich (CD20). The financing of the necessary works is secured by the planning obligation (ID11)”

        “The Secretary of State is satisfied that, as agreed by the Highway Authority, upgrading the current pedestrian link between Edmund Wright Way and Taylor Drive, so that it could take traffic, would divert sufficient traffic away from the junction to mitigate any concerns in relation to junction capacity”

  4. I came here to write exactly this. All too often what the Section 106 money is actually allocated to gets lost when builders don’t meet their agreed obligations. Had this already been done there would be no debate and we would have already had a new traffic layout before development began on Queens Drive.

  5. Taylor Drive is not a “narrow residential street”. It was created as part of a link between Marsh Lane and the Welsh Row/Chester Road junction. It had always been intended as a link road, but the developers managed to build the houses without completing the link to Edmund Wright Way.

    When planning permission was granted for the Malbank Waters development, one of the conditions was that some of the Section 106 money be spent on completing this link, and work started on it earlier this year.

    The only people opposed to the opening of this link are those who actually live on the road, which is understandable, but it is a vital link that will take the traffic currently using Marsh Lane (which is definitely a narrow residential street) and also relieve congestion on Queens Drive. So yes, there will be more traffic on Taylor Drive, but it won’t be constant traffic and the link is very much needed for the wider good of the community.

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