Highways bosses at Cheshire East Council have laid the blame for the A51 Reaseheath bypass delay firmly at the developers’ door.
In a statement finally issued today – a week after Nantwich News contacted the council – they said delays were down to a lack of “highways agreements” to allow the road to be adopted.
The bypass should have opened in 2022 but has been continually delayed for almost four years.
The developers in their latest statement said the delay was at the council end, and anticipated it would not now be open until June 2026.
But in a statement today, Cllr Mark Goldsmith, chair of Cheshire East Council’s highways and transport committee, said: “All roads within the Kingsbourne estate, between Waterlode and the A51, remain the legal responsibility of the developer.
“As it stands, there are no highway agreements in place for the roads to be offered up for adoption.
“The council is still awaiting the necessary documentation from the developer before this process can move forward.
“Responsibility for completing these agreements lies entirely with the estate’s developers.
“The council is actively pressing them to provide the required information without further delay.
“Until the agreements are finalised and formally signed, the roads cannot be adopted or opened for public use.”
A spokesperson for the consortium said: “The majority of construction work on the A51 bypass has now been completed.
“The consortium is currently working with Cheshire East Council to secure final approvals on a number of outstanding technical details.
“Once these are in place, we will coordinate the required road opening notices and progress the final surfacing and associated completion works.
“Separately, discussions are ongoing regarding the road adoption agreement for estate roads at Kingsbourne, including how responsibilities will be split between the consortium and individual developers, with phasing to be agreed.
“We remain committed to working with the council to enable completion, which is now expected by Spring 2026.”
When it opens, the bypass will connect the new Kingsbourne development to the A51 at Reaseheath, designed to free up the bottleneck of traffic leaving the estate on Waterlode.
But some residents fear it will also create a rat-run for traffic coming from Chester and into the town centre.
I’m sure councillor Goldsmith and the developers will disappear soon as a major accident occurs on a far to narrow road to take heavy traffic.
Fifteen all,Cheshire east to serve..
Enough of the blame game,get it bloody open
Road is far too narrow but developers have finished construction, made their money, and will now walk away from this, they don’t care and neither does CE council. Will it ever be done, I don’t think so.
I’m not interested in a blame culture.
Can you please get some decent members of your respective teams together who can work to get this resolved.
If it’s simply a matter of getting the relevant paperwork together, this could be resolved in days not Months.
I suspect that even at this late stage we are not being told the truth.
Is this another Sect 106 failure? Good LA’s have tight procedures to control this valuable infrastructure facility.
If Cllr Goldsmith says it, then it must be true! Will somebody tell Goldsmith to get off his backside and actually visit the site, so that he can see for himself that the new road is not fit for purpose as it is too narrow.