Cheshire East Conservatives welcome the opening of the £90m Congleton Link Road - the culmination of the project they launched in 2012. The 5.5km route opened this weekend for walkers and cyclists before its formal opening for traffic on Monday 19th April.
Cllr Janet Clowes (Conservative Group Leader) stated “I am delighted that this important project has now been delivered. It’s just over two years since Council Leader Cllr Rachel Bailey joined our Congleton MP Fiona Bruce and Transport Minister Jesse Norman MP, on site with Leo Martin (managing director of engineering at GRAHAM to put the first “spade to soil” in February 2019”
“Conservative-led Cheshire East Council started planning for this project back in 2012, working on designs, routes and the lengthy process of raising the essential funding required. The route links the A534 to the west of Congleton with the A536 to the north and was designed with the principle aims of improving road connections in the area, reducing traffic congestion through the town, improving air quality and supporting economic growth in the area”.
Cllr Clowes explained; “During the planning period we were able to contribute £24m to the project with the rest of the funding coming from developer contributions and importantly, a successful business case to Government which secured £45m”.
“At the time, Cllr Bailey explained that this was the largest capital project the Council had put in place and that delivering the scheme from concept to commencement in just 7 years, with completion predicted in a further two years, was a remarkably rapid achievement when such projects usually take upwards of twenty years!”
Cllr Janet Clowes continued “Of course it would not have been possible without the support of our Congleton MP Fiona Bruce, who successfully championed this project at ‘Transport Questions’ in the House of Commons, despite competition from dozens of towns wanting similar funding - It was a strong business case with wide-spread public support.”
Completion of the road will now support the provision of a further 3,000 jobs, 2,400 homes and 20h of employment land that will future-proof the development of Congleton for generations to come.
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https://www.fionabruce.org.uk/news/fiona-and-transport-minister-jesse-n…;
https://www.graham.co.uk/congleton-link-road
