Motorists are set for more traffic misery at the Posthouse Roundabout after a massive housing scheme was approved.
This week, Cheshire West and Chester Council (Cwac) gave the green light for two developers, Redrow and Taylor Wimpey, to build 1,269 homes off Wrexham Road opposite the business park.
CWAC officers have admitted the new homes are expected to add 3.5 minutes to journeys heading into town during peak times and critics of the scheme called for work to begin on Chester’s Western Relief Road before the homes are built.
Traffic can back up for miles on the A483 between Wrexham and Chester during rush hour despite a £6m scheme to impove the Posthouse Roundabout which finished in 2015.
Motorists travelling between the Posthouse Roundabout and Chester can face delays on roads struggling with the amount of vehicles.
The new development will also affect drivers using the A55 junction with the Posthouse Roundabout.
Some Cwac counciillors expressed concerns congestion would increase and there wasn't the infrastructure to cope with the huge development.
Motorist Alex Williams, 44, who commutes between Wrexham and Chester said: "Traffic is already backed up from Wrexham in the mornings along the A483 and through Eccleston into Chester.
"The queues can be huge through Pulford and it can take ages to get round the Posthouse Roundabout some days".
Cwac planning committee member Cllr Alex Black, (Lab, Hoole), who is also the Mayor of Chester, insisted there was little that could be done to cut congestion while people still rely on their cars.
He said: “I believe that people will keep using their cars until they actually can’t get off the drive because the road is blocked, and then we will be forced to do something about it.
“I sometimes despair of the way we use our cars in this country, and I am one of the worst offenders. I came here by car today and I am going home by car tonight.”
The Wrexham Road site had been greenbelt land, but it was ring-fenced for housing in Cwac’s local plan, which was adopted in 2015.
Cllr Tom Blackmore (Lab, Winsford Over and Verdin), who seconded the motion to approve, insisted Chester needed the new homes.
He said: “One of the biggest complaints we receive is from Cestrians - that they have got nowhere to live, they have to go out of town or to other parts of the country, that there are no houses for them."
Members approved the development by nine votes to one, while plans for a new great crested newt habitat to mitigate the loss of an existing one at the Wrexham Road site were unanimously approved.
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