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Start of the winter season

It’s that time again…we are geared up and ready to deliver this year’s winter gritting service on Cheshire East roads with our salt-barns full and our drivers on stand-by from 17^th October.

You may have seen the gritter vehicles out and about at the beginning of October even though it wasn’t cold enough, this was just to allow our drivers to refresh their knowledge of all the routes we grit.

Throughout the winter period, our gritter crews are on standby 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Last winter in Cheshire East we carried out 172 gritting runs from October up until early May and treated 61,828 km of road, using 6,330 tonnes of salt in the process!

Our gritter team do vital work to keep our road network safe for you throughout the winter months. Winter weather can be extremely unpredictable, so we monitor the weather forecast closely to ensure that our gritting routes are treated at the right time.

We routinely treat key routes across the borough, but we cannot ensure that all roads will be completely clear of snow or ice, so please take care – especially on untreated roads.

To see the roads we grit, please have a look at our gritting routes map online. If you would like to get daily alerts about whether we are gritting or not, then please follow our @CECHighways twitter feed.

Want to find out more? Take a look on our gritting and snow clearance webpage.

Works Programme updates

Each month we update our website to show progress against schemes that are included in this year’s programme.

Our programme can be viewed here and will next be updated at the beginning of November:

August’s highways highlights

We produce a summary report which shows an overview of the work we have completed. Did you know, in August we repaired 1,053 potholes!  To view a breakdown of our works in August, click here

Gullies during Autumn

During autumn, leaf fall along with the wet weather can mean that gullies may start to run a bit slower. This doesn’t mean that they are blocked or need immediate attention. Gullies can also vary in the speed they can drain water away. Some will overflow during heavy rain even if there is no blockage. The water will clear when the rain stops. Please only report overflowing or blocked gullies if it is still causing a flood when the heavy rain clears. Blocked gullies will be emptied as part of our gully emptying programme where we empty them and check that they are working.

We inspect our gullies for any damage and will arrange any repairs if they are required. You can check to see the gullies we maintain and when we last emptied it on our online tracker.

What you can do to help

Each gully has a trap to collect and stop leaves, litter and dirt from entering the drain and causing a blockage. Whenever the trap is full the gully’s drainage will slow down and may cause it to overflow. This is a likely cause of most non-urgent issues and should be picked up during our routine maintenance. You can help us with non urgent issues during this busy time:

• by cutting back any vegetation that overhangs onto the gullies,
• gullies which get covered by leaves can be cleared by brushing them away

When to report

You should report a problem to us if:

• water flowing off the road is at risk of entering a building e.g. house or garage
• there is standing water on the road obstructing safe passage
• water on the road has not drained away after the rain has stopped
• there is a risk of ice forming on the road
• we have not already scheduled maintenance work 

It would help us if you could use pictures or videos in your report of any flooding to help us to plan the work.

You can read more on our road gullies and drains webpage.

Highways flooding

Winter months can bring heavy and prolonged rainfall with snow also adding to the significant water. This combination can lead to highway flooding, which is both inconvenient, and potentially dangerous. Water draining off land may also carry debris, stones, and soil, which can block gullies and drains.

After a heavy or prolonged rainfall, it can take several hours for our highway drains to clear the roads of large volumes of water. This is because road gullies carry the water from the road away to ditches, sewer systems or rivers. So, after heavy rain, please wait a few hours before you report highway flooding to us.

Drivers should not attempt to drive through flood water as it is likely water will enter air intakes and stall engines leading to dangerous situations requiring rescue by already stretched emergency services. Even when the water is not deep, drivers should proceed very slowly to avoid aquaplaning collisions and to prevent soaking pedestrians and properties.

Pedestrians too should not enter floodwater, as there may be hidden obstacles or even holes such as manhole covers that have ‘popped out’ due to water pressure.

In dealing with blocked highway drains, we prioritise flooding on main roads.

• To report an urgent incident phone 0300 123 5020
• To report an urgent incident out of working hours 0300 123 5025 (for use after 5pm and before 9am, including weekends.)

You can read more on our gullies and drains webpage.

Macclesfield Flood Risk Management Plan

Following a review of flooding in Cheshire East, Macclesfield has been identified as an area of flood risk. As such the Council have a statutory duty to work with other local flood risk management agencies including the Environment Agency and United Utilities to work together to reduce this risk. Working with the local risk management authorities, four objectives have been agreed to mitigate local flood risk in the Macclesfield flood risk area, in summary these are:

• The council, supported by the Environment Agency, will increase awareness of flooding and the Flood Hub regional flood warning service, boost community resilience and educate the community on watercourse responsibilities;
• The council, with support from United Utilities, will manage development/redevelopment opportunities by mapping sustainable urban drainage systems (Suds), de-culverting and other flood risk mitigation opportunities; 
• The council and United Utilities will develop a better understanding of the risks in Macclesfield from the condition and capacity of culverted watercourses, highlighting the areas most at risk in order to develop a surface water management plan; and
• The Environment Agency and the council will consider areas for mapping potential water quality improvements in the area. 

Further details are available online – Macclesfield Flood Risk Management Plan.

Engaging with Elected Members

Last week we hosted a Highway Service Members Engagement Event at Macclesfield Town Hall. It was attended by various elected Councillors and was a great opportunity to update them on the Highways Service to give them information about topics that affect their local communities.

Information was shared about our winter service and flooding. We were also joined and supported by our partners at the Environment Agency, United Utilities and the Flood Hub.

Works update

Moss Lane Resurfacing Moss Lane in Macclesfield closed for resurfacing work on Monday 10 October. The work to improve the road will take approximately 17 days to complete under the following closures:

• 10 October – 30 October between the hours of 09:30 – 16:30, including the weekend of 29 and 30 October
• Full closure on Monday 24 October from 09:00 through until Tuesday 25 October at 16:30.

The closure is needed because we have a duty of care to keep people safe whilst resurfacing the road. Diversion signs will be in place and access points will vary during the works. Pedestrian access will be maintained. Cyclists will need to dismount for safety reasons and use the pedestrian-controlled footways. Emergency services are aware of the closure and diversion arrangements are in place. 

We understand that there is no right time to work and we make every effort to keep disruption to a minimum. Sometimes, the works may have to be changed at short notice due to unforeseen circumstances such as adverse weather conditions.

More information can be found on OneNetwork.

Beam Street, Nantwich

Footway and road improvement work on Beam Street is progressing well and we are working towards the final completion. The installation of the central island and new pedestrian crossing has now finished. You can find out more information about the Beam Street work on the Beam Street webpage.

LCRIG Highways Awards

We attended the LCRIG (The Local Council Roads Innovation Group) Strictly Highways Awards this month as we were shortlisted for two awards:

• Best use of technology in the Highways and Transportation Sector for Bollin Grove
• Collaborative Partnership for the whole Cheshire East Highways Service – we were awarded highly commended!

The awards bring together the whole highways community, including councils, the Department for Transport (DfT), academia, industry associations, and the supply chain. The event helps attendees to learn about new highways innovation and technology and share experiences.

North West Crewe package (NWCP)

Construction activities continue for the North West Crewe Package which will significantly ease congestion in the Leighton area and create quicker routes to the hospital. It will improve roads and junctions, bringing forward opportunities for housing developments and for local businesses to expand. It will take place over the next two years.

The latest traffic management information is as follows:

the A530 Middlewich Road remains closed between Pyms lane and Smithy Lane – with a diversion via Flowers Lane. This is scheduled to be in place until January 2023 but we are working hard to reopen this road sooner if it is safe to do so

• there are 2-way traffic lights on A530 Middlewich just south of Smithy Lane
• there are narrow lanes between Smithy Lane and the Biowise facility for the new Milehouse Junction works
• 2-way traffic lights are in place on the A530 in Middlewich just south of Flowers Lane

Access to the hospital is unaffected to all users other than those on the A530 approaching from the direction of Nantwich. The Hospital ‘H’ symbol should be followed along the official diversion route. This route automatically becomes the existing hospital route at University Way.

You can keep you up to date with the project by signing to the North West Crewe Package newsletter.

For information on the scheme, visit our North West Crewe Package webpage

Spotted an issue on the highway?

To report any highways issues that present an immediate danger, call us on 0300 123 5020 during working hours or out of working hours on 0300 123 5025. To report a problem on our roads or pavements, or to check if the issue has already been reported visit our Highways page.