Major £270m new Cheshire road 'ready to go' - but huge funding shortfall casts doubt

Question marks continue to be raised over whether the proposed bypass will be built as a £56m funding hole continues to grow

Uncertainty surrounds the proposed Western Link bypass – but the council leader says it is ‘ready to go’ and hopes the Government will fund all of the cost.

The route has been planned to connect the A56 Chester Road with the A57 Sankey Way in Great Sankey. It had been estimated to cost around £212.7 million.

The Government has previously confirmed, in principle, it will put £142.5 million towards the controversial scheme, with the council planning to contribute £70.2 million.

But, as reported in October 2022, the council said the latest cost estimate it had supplied to the Department for Transport amounted to around £269 million – an increase of more than £56 million. Question marks continue to be raised over whether the proposed bypass will be built.

Speaking last Tuesday, council leader Cllr Hans Mundry said it would deliver ‘economic growth for the whole region’.

“The Western Link is still important and it fits right in – had a meeting earlier this week with all the northern leaders, and we put the Western Link as one of our priorities to make sure it gets delivered,” he added.

“The new Government came in and they spoke about economic growth, and growing ourselves out of poverty and growing ourselves out of difficulty, the Western Link delivers on everything the new Government is looking for.

“It delivers land, it delivers opportunities, it delivers growth, and it delivers and economic turnaround – it delivers everything that the Government is looking for and the scheme is ready to go.

“We would like to see that funding in full by the Government in the future, bearing in mind it delivers exactly what they are asking for.”

Cllr Mundry stated there had been ‘some talks’ with the previous Government about it ‘funding it fully’.

In a written statement, transport secretary Louise Haigh said the ‘financial inheritance this Government has received is extremely challenging’.

She added: “In recent weeks, the gap between promised schemes and the money available to deliver them has been made clear to me.

“There has been a lack of openness with the public about the status of schemes – some of which were cancelled or paused by the previous Government, without proper communication to the public.

“As the Chancellor informed Parliament, I am commissioning an internal review of DfT’s capital spend portfolio. We will bring in external expertise and move quickly to make recommendations about current and future schemes.

“This review will support the development of our new long-term strategy for transport, developing a modern and integrated network with people at its heart, and ensuring that transport infrastructure can be delivered efficiently and on time.

“I am determined that we build the transport infrastructure to drive economic growth and opportunity in every part of the country, and to deliver value for money for taxpayers.

“That ambition requires a fundamental reset to how we approach capital projects – with public trust, industry confidence and government integrity at its heart.”

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