Estate fears on link road

A proposed link road could bring a horrendous volume of vehicles into a Cannock estate, say residents.

People in the Green Heath area say they thought the £3million road planned for Pye Green Valley would be a through road for residents.

But they are now faced with a link road which could see traffic, including heavy lorries, cut through their estate.

Councillor Lisa Pearce has called for a public meeting for residents to voice their opinions on the plans which were submitted to Cannock Chase Council this week.

The council has already given outline permission to Staffordshire County Council for the new road to run from the junction of Cannock Road and Belt Road to join with the Green Heath Road between Florence Street and Blewitt Street, with the finer details now being submitted for scrutiny.

Councillor Pearce has fears that once the road and the 350-homes associated with it are built, the currently unfinished Winchester Road would be extended to meet Cannock Road and create a link road from the A460 Hednesford Road to the A34 Stafford Road.

She also expressed concerns some residents had not received consultation letters from the council and the consultation deadline of August 25 is not long enough.

She said: "This road is going to turn into something much bigger. Even though we were told repeatedly that the Winchester Road extension was never going to happen it seems to be very much on the cards and was referred to as being a saved option in evidence at the Cannock Stadium inquiry.

Cannock's head of planning, John Heminsley's said the Winchester Road extension policy has been in place since 1997 and would be triggered if there was a large enough housing development to justify it.