Local plan scoping consultation

The new plan must treat the single vehicular access at Parkgate Industrial Estate in Knutsford as a critical transport bottleneck. Although the roundabout on Mobberley Road has helped with traffic management to some extent, at certain times of the day the queues back up into the industrial estate itself, blocking access for anyone in Parkgate Village or in any of the residential dwellings along and off Parkgate Lane. Traffic is busy from the early hours and goes at great speeds during quieter times, to the extent that Parkgate Lane would benefit from traffic calming measures on the straight up to the railway bridge, such as speed bumps. The amount of residences in the vicinity means that a lot of children walk around this area and it is not safe. The new local plan needs to include policy safeguards to reserve a physical corridor for a secondary access route to reduce traffic in this area, especially given the proposal for more land to be built upon with only this one point of access (land west of Parkgate Farm and Parkgate Lane (parcel 6)) and requires developer contributions (S106/CIL) from nearby allocations to help fund it.

Parkgate Industrial Estate is one of Knutsford’s major employment areas. Heavy HGV congestion along Parkgate Lane and access constraints actively hinder the potential future growth and daily operations of local businesses on the estate. Safeguarding a secondary access route is vital for the long-term economic resilience of Knutsford's primary commercial hub.

The vision for North Knutsford must balance growth with safety, air quality, and infrastructure delivery—specifically resolving historical single-access bottlenecks like Parkgate Lane. Relying on a single access road creates a dangerous single point of failure for emergency services accessing both commercial premises and residential homes on Parkgate Lane. Standing HGV queues along residential stretches compromise both air quality and pedestrian safety.