A road through a housing estate in Alsager often used as a shortcut is “fully open to the public” a housing developer has said.
A spokesperson for Wain Homes, which built the Lawton Green estate more than five years ago, said it would not consider putting “residents only” signs along the road, despite complaints of speeding drivers and an “escalating volume of unauthorised through-traffic”.
Alsager town clerk Julie Mason wrote to the developer in June to request for the signs to be installed following complaints from residents.
In the email, she said: “We have been informed that Richard Woodcock Way, which runs through the estate, is still an unadopted road due to drainage remedial works that have been identified and requires completion by Wain Homes before the adoption process with Cheshire East Council can continue.
“The town council wishes to enquire when this work will be completed and (asks for) a time frame for completion of adoption by Cheshire East Council.
“(The council) further requests that ‘residents only’ signs be placed on the entrance to the estate due to the volume of traffic utilising the estates residential roads as a cut-through to the new Sainsburys supermarket.”
Road adoption is a legal process that requires a local council to take over the ownership and future maintenance of a private road, making it part of the public highway.
Responding to the town council, a spokesperson for Wain Homes said the estate roads were “fully open to the public” and that the adoption process was on track to be completed “in accordance with expectations”.
It said it had undertaken investigations into sewer blockages reported by residents and found that they had resulted from the disposal of “inappropriate materials” down the toilet.
The spokesperson said: “The material identified was what is commonly referred to within the water industry as a ‘rag’.
This term describes non-flushable items comprising fibrous materials such from wet wipes to cleaning cloths.
“Unlike toilet paper, these materials do not readily break down when introduced into the sewer system and can accumulate within pipework and pumping equipment, ultimately causing blockages and operational difficulties.”
Items that should never be flushed into the public sewer network include wet wipes, baby wipes and cleaning wipes, sanitary products and nappies, paper towels and tissues, cotton buds, fats, and oils and grease from kitchens.
At a meeting of the town council’s Planning, Environment and Community, Coun Richard McCarthy said Wain Homes had “missed the point” of the council’s email.
He said: “We were asking when the road is actually going to be taken over by the council and if they could put some signs up along the lines of ‘tenants only’.
“They came back and told us a lot about sewers but didn’t say when the road would be adopted.”
He suggested that the committee should respond to Wain Homes to ask when the road would be adopted by Cheshire East Council and if it had any plans to put up signs.
Coun Michael Unett added: “We haven’t got anything from them in terms of their intended timescale or if they are going to do anything about the signs.”
Coun Derek Longhurst said: “Apparently the sewage problems are nothing to do with the infrastructure, they are entirely to do with the residents.
“It seems Wain Homes is transferring the responsibility onto residents.”
The Lawton Green estate is one of many housing developments across the area to have been left unadopted by Cheshire East, including Loachbrook Meadow in Congleton, which was built by Vistry Homes, previously Bovis, in 2014; Brereton Grange in Arclid, constructed by Morris Homes in 2016, and Scholars Place in Sandbach, built by Zenith House Developments in 2014.
Cheshire East Council was asked to comment.
Zenith House Developments was wound up by the court in 2024 after a petition from Stark Building Materials, which trades as Jewson’s.
