Residents fear someone will be killed or seriously injured unless repairs are made to a rural road above Congleton.
Cheshire East Council has been criticised for being “ignorant” to the need for repairs.
A man who lives on Congleton Edge Road even contacted Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service amid concerns that its vehicles would not be able to use the route in an emergency because the impact of a collapsed culvert had narrowed its width.
He explained that the gully runs underneath the road, that it had started to collapse and water that ran through it now flowed over the road instead.
“I truly believe unless this road is repaired we will see a serious injury or loss of life due to the damaged road near the culvert,” said Steve Faulkner, a resident of Congleton Edge Road for nine years.
“The challenge has been to get Cheshire East Highways to meet the residents near where the culvert passes underneath the road, which has started to break up.
“It just seems Cheshire East is slow to act to the point that there is a disaster waiting to happen.”
He said that not only was the road used by cars and larger vehicles to access the homes along it but also by pedestrians to reach nearby footpaths and the Gritstone Trail, as well as caves at what is known as Devil’s Drop on the Congleton side of the Edge, which is close to the Cheshire/Staffordshire border.
The road is also popular with horse riders.
Mr Faulkner said: “My worst fear is that because there is quite a big drop of around 15ft on one side of the road, if a car, horse rider or other road user was injured, and because the safety concern has been raised with Cheshire East Highways on more than one occasion, I would suggest the council could be liable if something did happen.”
He referred to incidents over the years when bike riders who fell on the road needed to be rescued, how the emergency services used the route to reach a woodland fire, and just a few weeks ago a dog was rescued from Devil’s Drop.
Mr Faulkner said: “Frankly, online and phone call issues raised with Cheshire East have resulted in no action and at best an ignorance to the issues and concerns raised.
“Cheshire Fire Service immediately responded and attended to ensure they could navigate the damaged road should they be needed to attend an emergency.”
Congleton East Coun Rob Moreton has told the “Chronicle” that he had been liaising with Cheshire East about the residents’ concerns and that a structural engineer is due to visit Congleton Edge Road “asap”.
He said: “After that I will arrange for a highways officer to meet there with residents and myself. I feel that it’s important that everyone works together on this, it’s a serious issue so we need face to face conversations.
“I was a postman for Congleton Edge Road for 16 years and it has been crumbling for as long as I can remember; it’s unsafe and dangerous.”
