Middlewich Bypass costs hit £108m
Cheshire East Council has been recommended to approve the addition of £9.7m to the scheme’s budget as well as accept the final £23m slug of Department for Transport grant funding.
The decision report states the budget for the Middlewich Eastern Bypass is now £107.7m, a step-change from the £59m price tag reported in 2019.
Cheshire East Council blames the cost rises on a delayed funding decision, which delayed construction and succumbed supply chains to inflation.
In January this year, the local authority sought a £47m grant from the government to kick-start the then £98m project’s delivery.
Cheshire East Council has now been recommended to accept the £23.3m remaining of the £46.8m grant issued by the Department for Transport earlier this year, having accepted the first £23m grant in August.
Work was initially expected to begin in the summer this year, with Balfour Beatty lined up to deliver the bypass.
It is now expected that work could begin in spring 2026, with construction anticipated to take 30 months.
Cheshire East Council has been contacted for comment.
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The 1.6-mile Middlewich Eastern Bypass is intended to ease congestion and improve road safety in Middlewich town centre.
Cheshire East Council has spent approximately £27m on scheme preparation, ground investigation, environmental works, and land assembly to date.
Contractors’ target costs are being reevaluated to tee up a 2026 start date, a year behind schedule.
Cheshire East Council has been in charge of the project since taking it over from developer Pochin in 2016.
