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Cheshire Flintshire Access Road Study

Published: 19/04/2018

Flintshire County Council’s Cabinet will be asked to approve a joint commission to engage a specialist partner to make recommendations on the preferred routing option for a potential new cross-boundary highway scheme. The Mersey Dee Alliance “Unlocking our true potential” prospectus, published in 2017, highlights the significant contribution that our sub-region currently makes to the national economy. A number of road and rail schemes are identified within the prospectus which are considered essential to unlock future development. However, in order to explore longer term options which would ensure that the highway network across the region operated effectively and efficiently, discussions have been taking place between officers of Flintshire County Council, Welsh Government (WG), Cheshire West and Chester Council (CWAC), Wrexham County Borough Council (WCBC), and Highways England to explore potential network solutions for the wider Deeside and Chester area. Flintshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Streetscene and Countryside, Councillor Carolyn Thomas, said: “This is an exciting time for our region and this joint commission is an opportunity to look at the region as a whole and how best all counties could benefit. The benefit for us would be removing traffic congestion from the local area, direct access onto the A55, improved access to new and emerging development sites in the areas around Hawarden, Saltney and Broughton and the provision of direct access to Broughton Retail Park. There is also the possibility of opening up access to a proposed new rail based park and ride station in the vicinity of Broughton serving the Chester - North Wales Coast railway line.” It is expected that this work can be undertaken within a maximum of four months following which a further report will be presented to Cabinet with details of the outcome of the study.