FEARS Pepper Street in Lymm village centre was set to close for up to 16 weeks later this month for resurfacing works, restricting access to a car park and school, have been allayed.
Local Cllr Graham Gowland says he has received an update from a Warrington Borough Council officer working on the Pepper Street project – that a recent notice for the 25th July for 16 weeks will not result in closure after all – it’s an exploratory and utilities improvement stage of the works. There may be lights at some point, but it is simply the exploratory stage, with the actual resurfacing happening next year.
Cllr Gowland said: “To be clear, Pepper Street is not actually going to be closed and the car park will remain open.”
In a communicationt o Cllr. Gowland the officer says: “As we are considering a future project on Pepper Street, it may be necessary to undertake some invasive site investigation to identify underground services etc. to inform the design. For this reason, we have made provision for a road closure should the need arise due to the narrowness of the road. A road closure requires special legal orders and can take some considerable time to arrange. This will require the posting of a notice on site as part of process…. The period of time stated on the order is misleading but means that the road closure may take place any time within the period advertised…..
“To be clear, it is now very unlikely that the road closure will be required until we get to a construction stage. This will be some time away yet and as far as next Summer to coincide with school closure and better weather. I will utilise an alternative method of identifying services by using Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), so no closures are planned.
“It is my intention to plan and undertake a consultation element and I will contact you soon to discuss this.”
Cllr Gowland added: “It’s really good news that Pepper Street is going to be resurfaced, and locals will have a say over the final design of the surface.
“Part of the project includes exploratory digging, which is going to take place over the next few months, but the road will stay open. Next year – hopefully during the school holidays – the actual resurfacing will take place, which will probably require the road to be closed, but for the shortest period of time possible, with a suitable diversion in place.”
