Sewage plant access road approved

A CONTENTIOUS plan to build an access road across a recreation ground has been given the green light by Warrington planners.
The road, together with access gates and a pump control kiosk, will be built on Winwick Recreation Ground.
Local residents had opposed the proposals and Winwick Parish Council expressed concern.
But members of the borough’s development control committee were told the scheme was needed to relieve problems with sewer flooding in the area.
The access road will be constructed in “grasscrete” to minimise its impact. It will “wrap around” numerous properties to the southern edge of Myddleton Lane and end behind properties in Maple Road where an underground detention tank will be sited.
Applicants United Utilities withdrew an earlier application to allow talks with residents and, as a result, reduced the size of the pump control kiosk.
The parish council did not object to the scheme but said it should not be allowed at the cost of “unhappy residents.”
Nearby householders objected to the loss of urban green space and suggested there should be better sites available. They were also concerned about noise and smell problems when the site was visited.
But the committee was told alternative sites would be more costly and more create sewer network issues. The development would be tucked into a corner of the recreation ground, would be screened by existing hedges and trees and would seldom be visited.