Cheshire East Council is “working hard to make roads safe”, claimed a council leader today.
It comes after many motorists flooded us with complaints about the crumbling state of our busy A roads, in particular the A530 Middlewich Road and A530 Whitchurch Road.
We revealed on Sunday how dozens of drivers had reported dangerous potholes and damaged surfaces on Middlewich Road between Alvaston roundabout in Nantwich and Rising Sun pub in Wistaston.
Many have been reporting potholes along that road on the council’s “Fix My Street” pages since November and December.
And a section of Whitchurch Road near Aston and Newhall has been closed for four days (Jan 27-30) to carry out urgent repairs.
Now the council has admitted they sent out teams to make “emergency repairs” on Sunday and today (January 28), and that a full re-surfacing is set to take place in the summer.
Cllr Mark Goldsmith, chair of Cheshire East Council’s highways and transport committee, told Nantwich News: “We are aware of the potholes on this stretch of road in Wistaston, many of which have been recently reported to us.
“Winter conditions have a huge impact on the condition of our roads and the recent prolonged wet and icy conditions have created a large number of new potholes.
“This is because water seeps through cracks in the road and the water expands when frozen.
“When it then melts away, it leaves the road weakened and the pressure from traffic then creates a pothole.
“It also means we get large numbers of potholes appearing over a short period of time.
“We understand the frustration it causes but it happens widely all across the country after bad winter weather.
“However, we are working hard to respond to this and to make the roads safe.
“Initially, we have made short-term, emergency repairs to the A530, which we did on Sunday and again today (Tuesday).
“Longer-term, this section of the A530 has also been earmarked for resurfacing, which is undertaken in the summer months.
“This will be finalised when our road maintenance budgets for 2025/26 are agreed.
“In the meantime, if the public sees a new pothole on the A530 or on any of our roads, then please report it using the FixMyStreet website or by calling us on 0300 123 5020 in an emergency.”
However, one motorist blasted the quality of the “emergency repairs” which he says are already failing.
Jonathan White, from Wistaston, said: “It’s clear that the repairs were poorly executed.
“Some of the worst sections were completely missed, and the repairs done have not been properly sealed.
“This shoddy, token-effort work means the cavities are likely to reopen in a few weeks, requiring further repairs.”
“Working hard “!!! ?? Too little too late. Whilst i appreciate every effort of any road repair…Why have the roads got to the desperate disastrous and dangerous state as they have now!!? Cheshire East need to cut the ‘dead wood’ employees and make the existing one’s work to the full potential like the rest of us have to work to everyday! And as for the CEC big salary pen pushers… cut their salaries to what they deserve to earn and see what they achieve!
A51 is no better, as that is used by many motorists, HGVs in particular and in parts it is crumbling into the canal. Nothing is done and it’s not a new issue, it’s long standing, without anything being done. Why is it such an issue now for CEC to step up and repair the roads – has it something to do with CEC wanting to increase rates by up to 9.99% (not rocket science).
As long as councils continue to waste the bulk of their money on totally useless ‘Social Services’ that deliver no value to anyone other than the employees the Uk will continue to look like a third world country with unmaintained litter strewn roads
Lots of other countries experience far worse winter weather than we do in the UK and yet manage to keep their road network in far better shape than ours. We dont repair roads in this country we just patch them up as cheaply as we can until they fail again. Fix – on – fail clearly isnt working and a longer term approach is needed.
Let’s hope they do a better job on the A530 compared to the atrocious botch job on the A500
The whole area is a mess. The roads aren’t just in disrepair; they’re battered daily by unsuitable heavy vehicles. Around Church Minshull, which has become a dangerous rat run to Winsford, Nantwich, and Crewe, safety is now a real concern. HGVs and trucks, following sat navs blindly, are clogging narrow roads and old bridges unfit for their loads. It’s chaos, no traffic lights, no order.. and I’ll be avoiding it entirely. My heart goes out to the locals dealing with it all. Probably was a quiet area at one point in time.
I beg to differ, especially when you mark up pot holes to repair right next to more holes that don’t meet whatever criteria this stupid council see fit to enforce.