As I am sure you are well aware, Brook Lane has been closed since March 22nd, whilst, as part of the on-going works for the A34 Alderley Edge and Nether Alderley Bypass, Birse Civils construct the new bridge.
Towards the end of May we were informed by Birse Civils that due to works reaching a critical stage they would regrettably need to close the footpath on Brook Lane for a number of weeks, which as you can see from our previous article generated considerable concern amongst local residents.
Within 24 hours Dave Hill, Project Director for Birse Civils, responded to these concerns and informed our readers that "Birse and Cheshire East Council have undertaken a full review of the footpath closure along Brook Lane. As a result we believe it is possible to keep the footpath open for the duration of the works. We are hopeful that the new footpath and road will be open across the new bridge by mid August."
However, we have been informed today that the target date for opening Brook Lane has unfortunately had to be moved back by a week and they are no longer able to maintain pedestrian access through the site. As a result they are going to have to close Brook Lane footpath from the 4th August until the 27th August.
A spokesman from Birse Civils said "The closure is detrimental to the works being finished on Brook Lane. Works will be finished and the road will also be opened for traffic on the 27th August.
"Birse and Cheshire East Council send their apologies and hope this doesn't cause too much disruption to the local community."
Comments
Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.
How can they say initially that the footpath will remain open throughout? Then say in June it'll need to be closed? Then change their mind and say it'll be open for the remainder of the works, and now decide it needs to close for 3 weeks!
Can we really believe that Brook Lane (incl footpath) will be fully functioning on 27th August - I have my doubts! I and many others will be furious if the footpath is not open in time for 'back to school'!! But what guarantees do we have?
I have only recently moved to the area and where I came from, we had a similar closure and the company responsible laid on a shuttle bus to run every 20 minutes almost round the clock to carry people around the closure. Also we were warned months in advance and given clear, reliable dates and information. That is how a caring and responsible company handled this kind of disruption - not like Birse who in my opinion do not care at all about locals, just about getting whatever they want done as quickly and cheaply as possible, no matter what the inconvenience to others.
"Birse are the only beneficiaries of the unscheduled road and footpath closures, saving huge amounts in building costs. I assume they will be offering a refund on the contract value?" - This statement is incorrect. The contract is set up in a manner that any cost savings benefit Cheshire East Council and therefore the tax payer.
Footpath remaining open throughout – Birse and Cheshire East Council have always maintained that the footpath would need to be closed at some point. In May this year you will recall that we proposed to close the footpath, however, we received several complaints regarding this proposal and as a direct result of this we rediverted the footpath, to allow it to remain open for as long as possible. This action pleased most of the local residents, however, it must be noted that not everyone was happy with the repositioning of the footpath. On the balance of public opinion, we feel this decision was the best solution.
We are now in a position where we need to complete the final tie-in of the new footpath, new road and new utilities. We cannot undertake this tie in work without closing the footpath. It is just simply not possible to undertake from both a practical point of view and a safety point of view. It is important to understand that we are not closing the footpath out of convenience but out of necessity.
The majority of concerns regarding the closure of the footpath previously were people travelling to and from school. As it is currently the school holidays, we feel that the proposed closure will not impact on the public as much.
In response to the concerns raised, we propose to provide a free mini bus service that will run Monday to Saturday 8am till 5.30pm. The mini bus will do a continuous round trip from Loch Fyne to the Somerfield Car Park in Alderley Edge. We may review the provision of this mini bus subject to its use.
Please note we now propose to close the footpath from Monday 2nd August. We hope to open Brook Lane to traffic and pedestrians by 27th August at the latest.
Regards
Dave Hill
Project Director, Birse Civils
That is, what time will the bus arrive & leave Loch Fyne and The Co-op car park?
Birse have just informed us that the mini bus they are providing will leave Loch Fyne on the hour and Co-op on the half hour.
The service will start at 8am and finish at 5.30pm Monday to Saturday
until further notice.
If you need to contact the driver the telephone no is 07800 920429.
I walked through the closed segment of Brook Lane this morning. Mr Hill's statement of "It is just simply not possible to undertake from both a practical point of view and a safety point of view."
There is a small pile of sand next to the old temporary foot path, blocking what is otherwise a clear path through. Not sure what dangers lurk beneath the sand though?