Council knocks back Crewe road proposal

Planning permission for an additional road at Grand Junction Retail Park in Crewe was rejected by Cheshire East Council’s planning committee yesterday.

Triton Property Fund, who own and manage the retail park, put in the application in order to “assist the flow of traffic into, around and out of the retail park.” Triton went on to say that the proposal will “reduce queueing and congestion and may also assist in improving air quality in the site vicinity.”

The council had originally earmarked the entrance-only road plan for approval. It had said the development was acceptable on the conditions of a legal agreement to secure £5,000 towards the Traffic Regulation Order, and improvements to the site’s landscaping.

However, Cllr Suzanne Brookfield, who represents Crewe East, called the application into Southern Planning Committee instead of being determined under delegated powers. She said: “The proposed new access is from a major throughoughfare in Crewe i.e. Hungerford Road/Earle Street, which is at the base of a railway bridge and there is not yet a highways report accompanying the application nor is it apparent the applicant has received any advice from the Highways department of Cheshire East Council. I believe consideration cannot be / should not be given by delegated authority due to the importance of this application due to the locality.”

She went on to state: “The proposed access segregates a cycle and pedestrian access. This would prove dangerous in my opinion.” Cllr Brookfield concluded that the proviso of ‘ingress only’ will not solve the current congestion problems, and will be counter-intuitive as it will block access from the public highway and make the traffic worse.”

Letters of representation against the scheme were received from 20 addresses over safety concerns and thoughts that the scheme will not improve congestion.