Councillors air worries about “yellow brick road”

FOUR councillors have joined forces to raise concerns about a proposed new link road at Warrington which has already been dubbed “the yellow brick road.”
Cllr David Simm, chairman of Penketh Parish Council, has joined the three Penketh members of Warrington Borough Council – Cllrs Linda Dirir, Allin Dirir and David Keane – to highlight the issue.
A public consultation, organised by the borough council, is already underway and continues until July 28.
The new road will link the south of Warrington with the west of the borough, by-passing the town centre, linking the A56/A5060 Chester Road with the A57/A562 at Penketh or Great Sankey.
A number of options are being considered – including a “yellow route” which has become known locally as “the yellow brick road.”
Cllr Simm said: “The first problem was that although the borough council has arranged 18 consultation events around the town, none of them were in Penketh! “Working with our borough councillors we have managed to arrange a 19th local consultation on Wednesday  July 19 from 6-8pm at the Shannon Bradshaw Community Centre on Meeting Lane – the same building as the Police Station. We hope that locals will attend and give their views”.
Cllr Linda Dirir: “Locally, most concerns are about the yellow route proposal.
“This new main road would force its way through the green border of Penketh and Sankey at the back of Grange Drive – joining the A562 facing the new restaurant on the site of the old Labour club. It would severely affect properties in both Penketh and Sankey.”
Cllr Keane added: “The proposed road would not simply be a by-pass for the town centre, it would clearly also be heavily used to access the many hundreds of houses that are planned to be built off the new road. It would also no doubt be very convenient and very heavily used by Widnes and Runcorn traffic seeking to avoid the new and expensive toll bridges. That new and extra traffic would clearly be attracted through Penketh and the whole of the proposed new route. This would be a clear limitation on the benefits proposed”.
Cllr Allin Dirir said: “we are determined that local residents will be properly informed about the consultation proposals and will now have a chance to give their views. We urge local residents to attend the consultation meeting and give their views. Parish and borough councillors in Penketh will be speaking together with a strong voice on behalf of the residents of Penketh and Cuerdley”.
More details can be found at www.warrington.gov.uk/westernlink and paper copies of the summary of the consultation are also available at Penketh Pool on Honiton Way.
Pictured (left to right) are Cllr David Keane, Cllr David Simm, Cllr Linda Dirir and Cllr Allin Dirir at the site entrance to the proposed yellow route.