Work continues to progress well on the much-anticipated £53m Poynton Relief Road, which will improve links between the Poynton and Macclesfield.

With less than a year to go until the planned opening, Cheshire East Council deputy leader Councillor Craig Browne and our town's MP David Rutley visited the site to see 'at first hand' how the scheme is taking shape.

The Poynton Relief Road will relieve Poynton and neighbouring areas of high traffic volumes and congestion, while claiming to improve air quality for residents by diverting traffic, and opening up employment land.

It will be almost two miles long.

Cheshire East Council contractor Graham claim to have made 'excellent progress' this year, especially with the earthwork operations during the dry summer months and more recently on the project's major structures.

Work slowed but continued during the early 2021 lockdown, and the project remains on time.

Piling operations to form the wingwalls and foundations of the Adlington bridge were completed in early November and the second phase of piling works has recently started to form the south side wingwalls and supports for the new Chester Road bridge.

The Adlington works involved one of the largest piling rigs in Britain, which enabled auger (corkscrew-style) drilling to a depth of 31m. The cavity was then pumped with concrete to create the foundations. Reinforced concrete works are now under way.

Other recent successes include the completion of all service diversions on Chester Road.

Councillor Craig Browne, deputy leader of Cheshire East Council and chair of the authority's highways and transport committee, said: "It is impressive to see this long-awaited scheme really taking shape and continue to progress well.

"Despite the impact of the Covid pandemic, Cheshire East Council has maintained its commitment to investing in major infrastructure projects in the borough.

"This new road will not only improve links to Macclesfield, the surrounding area, south Manchester and the airport, it will also open up some much-needed employment land and reduce traffic congestion and improve air quality in the area."

While the people of Poynton culturally may identify more with Stockport, the town is included within the boundaries of Cheshire East and the Macclesfield parliamentary constituency.

Macclesfield MP David Rutley said: "It's great to see such positive progress on this important local infrastructure project over the last year.

"I am very grateful to Cheshire East Council and the project team at Graham for all their hard work and commitment to the task ahead.

"This will ensure that the long-awaited Poynton Relief Road remains on track to open in the autumn next year, which will be warmly welcomed by many local residents."

Graham are a national contractors, who have completed numerous projects across the north west.

Nick Hodder, project manager at Graham, said: "We're really pleased with the progress that has been made on site in 2021, where activity has been gradually stepped up following the Covid-19 pandemic.

"With phase-two piling works now under way, our team continues to work closely with Cheshire East Council and our stakeholders to move the project towards an eagerly-awaited completion next year."

The project is also believed to currently be on budget, and not exceed £53m.

Cheshire East Council contributed £21m towards the cost of the scheme with Cheshire and Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership providing £5.6m from the government's Growth Deal and the Department for Transport providing £16.4m.

A total of £7.7m is planned to come from developer contributions.

The council wishes to apologise for the ongoing disruption at Prestbury/Macclesfield's Bonis Hall Lane and thanks people for their patience. The works are due to be completed by early March next year.

The council will then undertake a further junction improvement at Adlington.

Both sets of works are essential to unlock the full benefits of the relief road when it opens to traffic in Autumn 2022.

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