The reopening of a major Crewe road closed for months - has been delayed due to a planning delay from one of the council's partners on the project.

The A530 Middlewich Road, running to Leighton Hospital, has been closed since May this year - for the North West Crewe Package scheme.

United Utilities recently discovered original pipework installed below the ground of the major road, was not as recorded.

The NCWP Crewe roadworks began on May 9 - with a target completion of 80 weeks - October (LDRS).

Further technical investigation work was required as an immediate priority to determine the material of the original pipework, before new diversion work could take place.

As a result, the A530, which had been due to open at the end of October, will now unfortunately have to remain closed, with the new rescheduled date for the road to reopen being January 2023. 

Chair of Cheshire East Council's highways and transport committee, Cllr Craig Browne, said: "It is very frustrating that this technical issue has arisen and as a result we find ourselves facing a delay.

"We have been working closely with United Utilities to set out what is required from them going forward on this vital strategic infrastructure project for Crewe.

"We are of course disappointed that this technical issue has come up and has delayed the planned reopening.

Chair of Cheshire East Council's highways and transport committee, Cllr Craig Browne (Cheshire East Council).

"In order to recover time, residents will now see works taking place at the weekends to try to claw back as much as possible, in an attempt to reopen the road before the target date of January.

"I can only apologise to residents for the prolonged period of disruption."

Gareth Davies, customer delivery manager at United Utilities, said: "We have been working closely with Cheshire East Council and Balfour Beatty over the past few months to plan the six packages of work required of United Utilities as part of the NWCP.

"These involve diverting existing mains water pipes at a number of locations, in a way that does not cause any disruption to supplies for our tens of thousands of customers in the area - including the hospital.

"Unfortunately, there were some delays of approximately eight weeks encountered by us and we sincerely apologise for any impact this may have had to the overall project.

The delay comes after United Utilities recently discovered original pipework installed below the ground was not as recorded (Ryan Parker).

"There were a number of factors at play, including the complexity of the work required, as well as the need to do some elements of work at night to keep our teams safe.

"We were also in a time of high demand due to the hot weather, and were carefully managing the resources required across our region.

"Of our six packages of work for the North West Crewe Package, two have now been finished and we are working hard to ensure the remaining four are completed on or before their estimated dates.

"We remain committed to working directly with Cheshire East Council and Balfour Beatty on this important strategic infrastructure project."

Cheshire East Council is keeping residents up to date through a monthly newsletter dedicated to the Crewe roadworks (Jonathan White).

The council is keeping residents up to date through a monthly newsletter dedicated to works on the North West Crewe Package scheme.

You can sign up to this HERE. Cheshire East Council says it will continue to keep the latest information for the project on dedicated web pages.

READ MORE: Two Crewe men charged with burglary set to appear in Cheshire court today.

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