Council leader Terry O’Neill
TOWN Hall chiefs at Warrington have welcomed a £1 million funding boost from the Government to help solve the town’s long-standing traffic congestion problems.
The funding – revealed by Warrington-Worldwide on Monday – is from the Government’s Local Major Transport Scheme fund.
Warrington is one of only six authorities in the country to have secured development funding from the fund.
It will go towards the initial development costs of the Warrington Waterfront Western Link scheme, will connect the A56 Chester Road to the A57 Sankey Way and will include a high level crossing of the Manchester Ship Canal which will bypass heavily congested Bridge Foot.
The scheme will also enable the regeneration of the Warrington Waterfront area located to the south west of Warrington Town Centre which will include the creation of many new jobs and the building of new homes to ensure Warrington’s continued economic success.
The money will allow the council to prepare an outline business case for the scheme, highlighting its transport and regeneration benefits.
This will include further work to refine the estimated cost of the scheme.
Early work has demonstrated that the scheme is expected to cost in the region of £150 million.
The business case will be submitted to Government in anticipation of receiving further funding from the Department of Transport and other sources to deliver the scheme.
Council leader Cllr Terry O’Neill said: “I welcome the government’s announcement of funding for this scheme which will help to ensure the continued economic success and prosperity of Warrington. It will be vital in order to attract additional employment and residential opportunities to the town. It will help to further increase Warrington’s already strong contribution to the Northern Powerhouse.”
Cllr Hans Mundry, lead member for highways and transportation, said: “We are very pleased the government has agreed to fund the initial costs of the Warrington Waterfront Western Link scheme. The completion of this scheme, expected by the early 2020s, will provide a ‘missing link’ in the town’s transport network and enable Warrington to cope much better with incidents and congestion on the motorway network and also provide a vital fixed high level crossing of the Manchester Ship Canal reducing the impact of ship canal bridge swings on traffic congestion.”
