Roadworks: Cheshire

Leigh Ingham Excerpts

Wednesday 21st May 2025 Westminster Hall

[Tim Roca]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. This needs to be resolved as quickly as possible. It is affecting my constituents and his. He has also been working tirelessly to get that road reopened; I thank him for working with me on that.

The road closure is impacting real people’s lives. The chair of governors at Kettleshulme primary school told me months ago that the June completion date was totally unacceptable. They said:

“We have families who utilise this route who will struggle with timely drop off and pick up of their children. Delivery of our curriculum is now compromised. The bus journey to Bollington for swimming lessons will take over an hour.”

As a result, the school has had to cancel swimming lessons. It has also had to cancel its parents and tots sessions, as the facilitator lives in Macclesfield and can no longer get to the school on time. It has pulled out of sporting events. Any collaboration with schools, which used to be easy to organise, now requires a minimum 40-minute trip and a whole host of planning. More seriously, the school has had to stop advertising places to families in Macclesfield because it knows that no parent will sign up for an 80-minute round trip to drop off their children, even at a really good school.

A company in Rainow has staff who cannot get to work because of bus cancellations. Not everyone has a car, or the time, to work their way around the road closure. One constituent said to me:

“To get to Macclesfield we have to make a huge detour via Bakestonedale Road to Pott Shrigley, then through Bollington to join the A523. We cannot use our bus passes to get to Macclesfield as the bus route is basically severed in two.”

Another, who has commuted to Sheffield every day for six years, said:

“This road closure is significantly extending what’s already a complex drive.”

They also noted that heavy goods vehicles are being forced on to narrow and unsuitable roads.

The diversion is not a suitable long-term plan. Bakestonedale Road is a single lane in places, with a steep and narrow track. It is really not suitable, especially in the winter months. It has already deteriorated, with huge potholes forming. Alicia—the head at Kettleshulme—hit one of those potholes recently and, having no phone signal, was forced to walk the rest of the way to school.

The diversion is also having an impact on those who live on the roads that are now seeing above-normal use. Keith Nixon, a resident on Shrigley Road, told me that as a direct result of the closure, commuters become frustrated and attempt to make up for lost time. Residents see cars travelling at well over the speed limit; he has suffered near misses twice, with vans passing within inches of him on the pavement outside his house; and of course, there are issues with noise as well.

[Leigh Ingham (Stafford) (Lab)]

I do not live in Cheshire, but in Staffordshire—a neighbouring county—we have been plagued by roadworks in a similar vein. The Parkside roadworks have been taking place for over 18 months now, with repeated extensions to deadlines. On the point of road safety, we have parents who are not able to get their children to school safely because the roadworks are not putting in proper crossings for those children. Does my hon. Friend agree that it is imperative that when these essential roadworks are taking place, communication from local authorities and county councils is improved, and that residents’ experiences are prioritised when we think about safety?

[Tim Roca]

I agree with my hon. Friend. She is more than welcome to move to Cheshire, but I suspect her residents will not let her, because I know she is a really good champion for these issues in her constituency.

The impact of the closure is widespread. The consequences of the disruption are wear and tear on roads that are not meant to be main arterial routes; the increased emissions from sitting traffic; and the loss of time in school and with family, of time in town with friends, of productivity through decreased trading, or of time spent caring for loved ones. I could go on and on—certainly, my inbox is full of stories like these.

Before I wrap up, I want to spare a thought for one constituent who represents many others who have to navigate both of these disruptions every day. She lives in Disley and works in Tytherington—both in my constituency—which means she has to go around this closure and over the Mill House bridge, which I mentioned at the beginning of my speech. Like others, she is being hit by a double whammy of roadworks. Her 20-minute commute has doubled, and given that she drops her child off in Macclesfield three days a week at set times, she has had to remove the first appointment of her day from her diary. She is a physio, so she is losing money.

When the things we rely on every day go wrong, the impact is huge. That is why I have been working closely with the council, feeding back these stories. I am grateful for the new sense of urgency that the highways team has—particularly since last week, when I called this debate—and I appreciate that things have to be made safe. In fairness to the council, it inherited a £100 million backlog of highway maintenance from the previous Conservative council, and we know that the austerity of the past 14 years has really impacted councils. I also appreciate that the contractor, Ringway Jacobs, used to get away with marking its own homework under a 15-year contract that was given to it recklessly by the Conservatives. However, these roadworks need to close. We need real progress for my constituents, and I am grateful that the Minister is present and will take the time to respond to the debate.

Road Maintenance

Leigh Ingham Excerpts

Monday 7th April 2025 Commons Chamber

[Leigh Ingham (Stafford) (Lab)]

Driving through Stafford has become an absolute nightmare. For years now, we have been in the grip of what can only be described as a plague of roadworks. It is not the odd disruption here or there, but an ongoing onslaught that has affected nearly every part of our town. To be fair, it is not the first time I have spoken to the House about how poorly residents across Stafford, Eccleshall and the villages have been treated by Staffordshire county council when it comes to roadworks and maintenance, but I am pleased that today I get to do so at length because, frankly, the people I represent deserve to have their voices heard loud and clear.

We face simultaneous disruption from a litany of roadworks across town, of which I will name just a few. On Station Road, works are about to begin. On Market Square, another set are about to start. On Tipping Street, it is the same story. There is Radford Bank, which has been of particular concern, as well as Eastgate Street, North Walls, Gaolgate Street, Malt Mill Lane and Beaconside, which is a major artery now reduced to a bottleneck. Then there is Corporation Street, where the disruption is so severe that traffic is rerouting through Co-operative Street, causing real problems for residents.

I spoke to a constituent on the doorstep only a few weeks ago who told me that they feel like they are stuck in a constant state of dangerous disruption and that their small road has become a permanent rat run, and they are not alone. I did for a moment, when I was writing this speech, consider doing a full list of all the roadworks in Stafford and giving the House the date period, a bit like the shipping forecast, but we worked out that it would take the whole debate.

While it is right that roads are repaired, I cannot condone the cavalier attitude shown towards the needs of residents and businesses through poor communication and poor engagement. The same roads are being dug up or being planned to be dug up on repeat because of a lack of strategic planning between organisations. Staffordshire county council is receiving nearly £40 million in funding next year from the local transport authority. Alongside Stoke-on-Trent, it will receive a further £11.6 million in additional cash for fixing potholes and road maintenance. That is this Labour Government putting their money where their mouth is. This Labour Government are providing funding with money that is there, rather than promises and unfunded commitments. This Labour Government are handing councils the cash and the certainty they need, and it is now up to them to get on with the job, to put that money to use and to prove they are delivering for their communities.

After years of neglect from successive Conservative Governments, it is welcome news to my constituents that there are safeguards in place for this funding. If Staffordshire county council does not show how it is improving our roads, it will risk losing 25% of the funding boost. The council must publish reports on its website by 30 June this year, detailing how much it is spending, how many more potholes it has filled, what percentage of its roads are in what condition and how it is minimising streetworks disruption.

My constituents in Stafford, Eccleshall and the villages deserve better than the last Conservative Government and the poor communication and treatment they have received from Conservative-led Staffordshire county council. I will continue to raise their concerns until we see real change in how these decisions are made, communicated and managed by Staffordshire’s Conservative county council.