A56 drainage work should end flooding

MAJOR drainage works have been completed on the A56 Chester Road, Warrington, designed to end years of flooding.
The £170,000 project has been ongoing since April along the road between its junction with Runcorn Road and the borough boundary.
Jointly funded by the borough council and the Environment Agency, the work includes the installation of new attenuation tanks with pumps, a new footway drainage system, improvements to the existing gullies and pipe lining.
Severe flooding has effected the area for years – and two years ago led to the cancellation of the Creamfields festival.
Cllr Linda Dirir, the borough council’s lead member for environment and public protection said: “This area has been a problem for years. The maintenance team have helped on site on many occasions to provide sand bags and pumping equipment to remove flood water from the area but after 2012, which was one of the wettest years on record, we knew something had to be done to manage the flood risk long-term.
“The effects of the flooding saw the annual Creamfields event cancelled and the overland flow of water from adjacent fields contributed to serious flooding to Chester Road and external flooding to a number of properties.
“Thanks to a successful bid to the Environment Agency, the work has been able to be completed and the entire system cleaned out and improved. This new drainage system will also provide immense peace of mind to the many households and businesses in that area that have experienced first-hand the distress of flooding.”
This year’s Creamfields again transformed farmland adjacent to the A56 into a mudbath and resulted in the road being covered in mud, which took weeks to clear away.