Campaigners fear Weekender festival gridlock due to Central6 street planters

CAMPAIGNERS are warning that the forthcoming Neighbourhood Weekender festival could bring gridlock chaos to Warrington as a result of the Central6 blocked residential roads in Westy/Latchford.

The festival, which takes place this weekend, is expected to attract more than 45,000 people. As there is no camping at the festival site thousands will travel to Victoria Park each of the two days-many by car with Latchford acting as the site for the official car-park and travel through the village as a major route to the site.

However in June 2022, as part of the Central6 Street Plans, Grange Avenue was blocked by planters. Grange Avenue is a Key Connecting Road in Westy/Latchford and lies less than a mile away from the Festival site. The 2023 festival will be the first time it has taken place since the roads were blocked and it is feared that there will be major disruption to established festival and residential traffic flow.

Campaigners opposing the central 6 plans say official monitoring, undertaken by Warrington Council’s consultants, show blocking the roads in has led to increases in traffic of 14% on Kingsway South and 216% on some of Latchford’s other roads*. This has led to daily traffic jams at the centre of Latchford which reach back into Grappenhall, Orford and Warrington Town centre.

Val Daniels, a resident from Latchford, said, “The Council keep dismissing the traffic jams their Central 6 road blocks have created. Those of us who live with the chaos know what the reality is like. The Central 6 planters on Grange Avenue really are bad news for Warrington. The Council’s own research shows the planters lie at the centre of chaos, pollution and misery. We hope they can be lifted in time for the 45,000 Neighbourhood Weekender’s-the planters are supposed to be temporary and 90% of all residents want them gone. Businesses in Latchford have already been hit as a result of the traffic chaos and no one wants to see Warrington South become gridlocked. The Council have convinced themselves that traffic jams don’t exist and there is poor planning in and around the Latchford area.”
Residents have set up an information website at www.central6.org
*Sources of data
6 Streets Plan – Westy LTN – Interim Monitoring Report – October 2022: Traffic Flow data Broadbent Avenue increased by 216%, Henshall Avenue increased by 60%, A50 Kingsway South (south of Grange Avenue) increased by 14%. Pg 15 and Pg5

A Warrington Borough Council spokesperson said: “The Neighbourhood Weekender event organisers and the council have traffic management plans and contractors on site all weekend and will be dealing promptly with any issues if they arise. As usual, road closures and parking restrictions will be in place during the event. Access to roads off Grange Avenue remain restricted to residents only.
“While Knutsford Road will remain accessible during the day, we advise all festival goers to look to get public transport where possible, as we are expecting a large number of people to be in the town over the weekend.”

Numerous road closures confirmed to accommodate Neighbourhood Weekender music festival