County council says sorry for ongoing traffic chaos in Cramlington due to complicated roadworks

Parts of Crow Hall Lane, Station Road and Westmorland Way have been closed as part of ongoing work agreed as part of plans to build a new housing development.

The works are being carried out by a private contractor, Fred Mence Construction, on behalf of Bellway Homes and Persimmon Homes and are to fulfil the requirements of planning permission for the housing developments at St Nicholas Manor, adjacent to the A1171 Crow Hall Lane.

The overall works include the complete remodelling and reconstruction of Station Road roundabout and its approaches, the construction of a new roundabout at the junction of the A1171 and Nelson Village as well as road widening of the A1171 and the creation of a number of new footpaths.The current focus is the creation of a much bigger new roundabout at the Station Road intersection with Westmorland Way and Crowhall Lane, but the works have been going on for months now and residents are understandably fed-up with enduring daily traffic jams.Councillor John Riddle, cabinet member for local services, said: “We are very aware that the works are causing disruption for people across the town and I’d like to apologise for the disruption and inconvenience this is causing.“It is fair to say that from the outset it has been known that construction of this scheme would be very difficult given the works to be carried out at the junction of four busy roads.

"Having to close multiple legs of the roundabout simultaneously was unfortunately necessary to undertake the work safely due not only to the scale of the new roundabout in comparison to the existing one, but also the substantial level changes and installation of new drainage.“Safety will always be our absolute priority, but levels of acceptable disruption and the quality of the works are also factors and we are continuing to press the contractor to carry out the works in a way to minimise disruption and get them completed as quickly as is possible.

Fred Mence say some of the delays have been caused by unidentified services located in the ground, which were not picked up during surveys.

Coun Mark Swinburn, who represents the Cramlington Village Ward on Northumberland County Council, recently met with senior officers to discuss the roadworks and see if any improvements could be made.

He said: “I was surprised, but pleased to hear that officers have already blocked yet more traffic management that the developers contractors were trying to install on the current roadworks which would have brought yet more misery by slowing traffic movement even further.

"However, itt was disappointing to see that the agreement set up back in 2016 had no allowance or possibility of financial penalties or any compensation for delays or other issues caused.

"I fed back residents’ concerns and comments about the early finish times and lack of Saturday working, which will only delay further this work which is already expected to last for a number of months yet.

"This work is unlike the work carried out previously by the council nearby where there was a focus to complete the work as quickly as possible with minimum inconvenience to residents."