Sandra Spruce of Sutton Parish Council blasts “piecemeal” Mersey Gateway Project planning process

Jun 4 2009 by Mark Smith, Runcorn and Widnes Weekly News

LIFE WILL become ‘intolerable’ for residents of a village on the borders of Halton if the Mersey Gateway is given the green light.

That is the claim of Sutton Weaver Parish Council, which said the lives of the area’s 400 inhabitants are already blighted by increased HGV and car traffic.

It claims not enough work has gone into examining the possible impact of the project on surrounding infrastructure.

And it blasted what it called a ‘piecemeal’ approach to the planning process.

Speaking at the inquiry, Sandra Spruce, spokeswoman for the parish council, said: “We feel the supporting infrastructure has not benefited from the same in-depth analysis that has gone into the planning application for the bridge itself.

“Halton Council circulated a map showing their proposals for a junction from the Central Expressway on to the M56.

“In the only map which has been shown to the residents of this village, a rectangle shows the possible area where the expressway could eventually join the M56.

“This is vague and unacceptable for a project of this size, and will, one assumes, involved the purchase of green belt land.”

She added: “The current noise levels are already unacceptably high.

“If the new arrangements proposed fail to adequately address traffic flows, then life for the resident of this village will become intolerable.

“The Mersey Gateway Project does not include formal planning permission for this route at the present time, but we feel it will be the inevitable outcome.

“We feel that the method of piecemeal applications is wrong.”