WARRINGTON South Tory MP Andy Carter has urged inspectors to reject the Labour-run council’s proposed local plan.

The plan aims to ‘drive forward growth and development’ and help deliver the homes, jobs, transport infrastructure and community facilities the borough needs.

Meanwhile, the Western Link bypass had been estimated to cost around £212.7 million.

The route is planned to connect the A56 Chester Road with the A57 Sankey Way in Great Sankey.

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 the cost to deliver the scheme could increase significantly. There are concerns about how any increases in costs would be met, with doubts over whether the bypass will still be built.

The council says the latest cost estimate it has supplied to the Department for Transport amounts to around £269 million – an increase of more than £56 million.

Mr Carter recently gave evidence at a public hearing into the local plan.

He said: “I’m really concerned that Labour councillors are putting forward a local plan to independent inspectors which involves thousands of new homes, hundreds more cars which will inevitably come with those homes and a massive increase in HGV movements from the new distribution centres planned for the edge of the town – when they know there are big problems with delivering the infrastructure to support the plan.

“Local roads are already under significant pressure, the challenge of crossing two canals and the Mersey as well as the rail lines mean vehicles are funnelled onto already congested routes.

“The council’s preferred option to address crossing the rail mainline, Ship Canal and River Mersey is to build the Western Link bypass and Government have agreed to contribute £142 million.”

Mr Carter highlighted the council’s ‘own admission’ over the funding shortfall for the bypass, which he believes ‘brings a big question mark over the entire local plan’.

“The national planning framework makes it clear that local plans must be sustainable across economic, social and environmental objectives,” he added.

“Congestion in Warrington will get worse not better if this plan is approved, this plan will make our air quality worse, contrary to the council’s own commitment to tackle the climate emergency, there’s no priority being placed on developing brownfield sites ahead of using the green belt and now there’s a big hole in the infrastructure finances that they say are needed to make the plan work.

“I’ve urged the inspectors to reject Labour’s local plan and require councillors to look again at what they are proposing.”

Appleton Conservative councillor Mark Jervis has also shared his views.

He said: “The Labour plan is to develop 2400-4200 new homes and major logistics warehouses on green belt south of the Ship Canal.

“The housing will be serviced by a ‘D’ loop around the new development starting and finishing on the A49/London Road at Lyons Lane and at Owens Corner/Stretton.

“All of the traffic leaving the new housing development will have to use the existing overcrowded highway network without any firm commitment by Labour to properly address the constraints of the limited and inadequate existing crossings of three waterways in south Warrington.

“The logistics proposals will similarly challenge the existing transport infrastructure in the south of Warrington. This is planning illiteracy.”

Furthermore, Cllr Jervis stated that the Government’s funding offer for the Western Link was subject to a number of conditions, including the council having a preferred bidder with a firm price to construct the scheme and confirmation from the council of its ability to cover all remaining funding over and above the capped Government funding offer for the scheme.

He said: “There are no signs whatsoever at present that the council can meet these Government conditions and therefore the scheme appears to be in serious jeopardy.”

But the council says it is confident that the local plan will be found to be ‘sound’ by the independent planning inspectors.

A spokesman said: “At the final examination hearing session, the inspectors confirmed that we had met the requirements under the ‘duty to co-operate’ and hoped to provide their initial views on the plan before the end of November.

“We also remain fully committed to delivering the Warrington Western Link road scheme following the granting of programme entry for the scheme by the Department for Transport in April 2019 along with a conditional offer of £142.5 million of funding towards the cost of the scheme estimated at that time to be £212.7 million.

“The council’s contribution of £70.2 million towards the cost was signed off at the July 2019 cabinet meeting.

“The offer of funding for the scheme requires us to have an approved full business case and to have secured all the required consents and permissions for the delivery of the scheme. These consents and permissions are not yet in place.

“Between September 2021 and September 2022 a gateway review has been undertaken on the scheme and this has identified that due to the extreme inflation pressures and in particular currently exceptionally high construction rates, the latest cost estimate which we have supplied to the Department for Transport amounts to c.£269 million, an increase of c.£57 million.

“This was reported to the inspectors in the recently concluded Warrington local plan examination in public and we are currently liaising with the Department for Transport.

“As part of this, we are also exploring all possible sources of additional funding including from the Department for Transport and other sources such as community infrastructure levy or business rate retention. As part of this, all other funding options will be investigated.

“We remain fully committed to delivering the Warrington Western Link scheme.”