BIDDULPH residents are up in arms about plans to link their private estate to a council estate via a new road.

The residents live on the new Summerhills development, a large estate under construction and consisting of three, four and five bed houses.

It is being created by Bellway and Morris Homes, with access to the main road through the estate, St David's Way, off Park Lane.

Some 91 people from 52 homes on and surounding the estate signed a petition opposing moves to create a through road from St David's Way to St John's Road.

They claimed the link road would become the unofficial Biddulph bypass for traffic looking to avoid the town centre.

Traffic calming measures had been put in place in Woodland Street, Mill Hayes Road and John Street to restrict traffic flow, they said.

St David's Way should not be treated any differently, said the residents, and the ultimate traffic calming measure for the estate road would be not to open it up to through traffic.

They added that the width of St David's Way was not designed to take such through traffic.

Moorlands planners say the link road is a requirement of the planning permission for the new estate, and is necessary to protect roads through Knypersley from high volumes of traffic.

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