2 Years, No Action!

For two years now, a landslip at Soot Hill has closed the route into Northwich. The damage it’s causing is becoming unbearable.

Local businesses are struggling, with many people now shopping elsewhere because of the difficulty of driving into town. Barnton residents are unsafe on their own streets, with children unable to play out as more traffic than ever before is poured down narrow and dangerous residential roads. The extra traffic is causing noise, risking accidents, and increasing pollution. After 2 years of suffering, CWAC have decided that none of this is worth fixing until later this year, after the summer season where Marbury Park and Anderton Boat Lift will attract tourists to this already dangerous diversion route.

Along with Northwich Lib Dem Town Councillor Lee Sidall, I organised a march to protest delays at Soot Hill and Winnington Bridge. We were overwhelmed by the support we received, with close to 100 people turning up on the day from across our area. The message was clear: residents are sick of being ignored by the council. Money is poured into Chester, but a hole in one of the major routes into Northwich is not worth fixing. Funding is set aside by the council for emergencies, but that CWAC said they don’t consider Soot Hill an emergency. Our MP doesn’t care; whilst we walked the streets to make sure residents voices are heard, she was furthering her own career on GB News. She did not fight for us in parliament, and our application for government funding to build a second bridge at Winnington was denied, despite the current bridge’s lifespan being less than 5 years.

“It’s been misery for residents, and the council’s failure to do anything is a slap in the face.” says Roy Garton, a former Lib Dem councillor for Barnton.

Both the Tories and Labour have shown that they don’t care about fixing the issues here. They’ve both been complicit in selling Northwich off to the highest bidder, but as new houses are built without the infrastructure to match, our schools, GPs, and roads are being stretched to breaking point.