Bin collections have been missed for weeks during a road closure for the installation of new gas pipes.
Station Road, at its junction with the A34 in Scholar Green, has been shut since work began during the half-term holiday in February.
The work, undertaken by gas utility company Cadent, also meant that traffic on the A34 has been single file in both directions for several hundreds yards with temporary traffic lights in operation.
But Cheshire East Council, the highways authority, was accused this week of failing to liaise with Cadent correctly about letting bin wagons through.
Station Road resident Mike Stubbs said there had been “no co-ordination” and that residents were getting “zero-level” support from the council.
Mr Stubbs has also been in touch with Cheshire East Coun Patrick Redstone, whose Odd Rode ward covers Scholar Green.
Coun Redstone described the road closure’s impact on bin collections as “terrible” and said he was “putting pressure” on Cheshire East to make sure the work was completed in “the least time possible”.
The junction of Station Road with the A34 is formed by a grassed area that locals refer to as “the triangle” but has now been cordoned off as part of the work and giant coils of gas piping have been left ahead of being laid.
Mr Stubbs said: “The waste collection team refuses to enter the fenced-off civil engineering compound and the highways department has so far made no comment at all on disturbance and disruption around the traffic island.
“There appears to have been no coordination whatsoever on what are large-scale roadworks. Cadent normally prompts and advises local authorities to coordinate services before road works begin. So what’s happened for Scholar Green? Looks like Sleepy Hollow has been forgotten by Cheshire East.”
Mr Stubbs added: “We are now down to the level of suggestions for household waste storage in plastic bags until the collection (team) arrives.”
Avoided
In an email about his concerns Mr Stubbs sent to Cheshire East he said: “Work is scheduled to end early May 2025 so how can this issue be remedied? Problems could have been avoided had the council seen fit to consult with Cadent before the works program started.”
Mr Stubbs also said that previous utilities roadworks had “absolutely savaged” the highway surface in the same area.
He added: “What was a patchwork quilt of different types of tarmacadam has been interrupted by open trenches designed to accept large scale pipework. Motorists have to negotiate through this mayhem. The two avenues of cones are also clearly inadequate for some large vehicles.”
In a response to Mr Stubbs about refuse collection, Cheshire East’s customer service department said: “Your road’s scheduled collections have recently been partially missed on both 18/2 (refuse) and 25/2 (recycling) due to local roadworks but if your refuse bin wasn’t emptied before 26/2 then up to three bags of excess can instead be presented next to your black bins for scheduled collection tomorrow (4/3) in lieu of the failed return, and your silver bin may also still be pending to be emptied before 6pm tomorrow so please continue to leave this outside and accessible in the interim if this has not yet happened since 25/2.”
Coun Redstone acknowledged that the roadworks were a “problem” and that the impact on bin collections had been “terrible”.
He said that as a statutory service the gas company “has the right permissions from Cheshire East to do the work” and that while “it is impacting everybody, so would losing their gas supply”.
He said: “I sympathise with residents regarding the impact of the work by the gas contractor and we are putting pressure on Cheshire East to make sure that the work is carried out in the least time possible, and that the reinstatement of the road is up to at least a good a standard that the existing road is.”
In respect of when the roadworks will be completed he said: “Nobody has told us definitely when it is going to end.”
According to the live online roadworks page one.network, the work was due to have been completed by the end of Friday.
Speaking on Thursday Coun Redstone said: “I hope it will be finished by the end of the week but the problem with these jobs is there are always unexpected things happening.
“Some people residents have contacted me about it. All we can do is reassure them that the work has been programmed properly and that it will come to an end as soon as they can do it.”
Cheshire East Council and Cadent were asked to comment.
