The proposals by Cheshire County Council and Vale Royal Borough Council to develop the Long Wood site as a warehouse complex will lead to even more dangerous traffic levels and will do nothing to improve safety on this road.

Concern over traffic levels on this section of the A556 was one of the main factors identified at the Examination in Public of the Cheshire Structure Plan which led to the recommendation to delete the proposed warehouse development at Long Wood from the Structure Plan.

Both Cheshire County Council and Vale Royal have chosen to ignore the recommendations of the panel and are determined to develop the site.

The proposed development will create a warehouse complex one and half times larger than the Morrisons depot with an estimated additional 5,500 traffic movements every 24 hours onto the A556.

Peak flows of 375 and 250 additional movements are anticipated during the morning and evening rush hours and the majority of movements will be by heavy goods vehicles. I do not believe that this level of additional traffic can be absorbed safely on the A556.

Vale Royal claims that the A556 is actually 20per cent safer than comparable roads - this is in contrast to the report of the EIP which acknowledged that this section of the A556 had an above average accident rate.

Roy Collinson (Cheshire County Engineer) has also described this section of the A556 as "substandard" and "one of the worst stretches of road in the county" (Northwich Guardian, 26 November 1997).

Readers who use the A556 will be able to draw their own conclusions as to which is the more accurate version and should lobby their councillors to express their concern at the proposed development.

JC Smith

Ascol Drive, Plumley

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