Progress on maintenance and health & safety of the A5036

Background

As you'll remember from our updates last year, we have been seeking the implementation and publication of a regular maintenance programme for the A5036.

This is so it is clear who-is-responsible-for-what, and exactly when maintenance activities are due to take place.

Better communication would mean, for example, if people have been assured that weed spraying will take place in June, that's when it should happen. If it doesn't, the relevant body (National Highways) will be responsible for explaining why.

Similarly, if road infrastructure is broken or falling into disrepair, being able to see how frequently these things are being checked, and being advised when repairs are scheduled to take place, is vital for public confidence and trust.

We believe that a publicly available maintenance plan will go a long way to addressing the frustration many of our communities feel, reduce complaints to both the Council and National Highways, and help to foster a belief that 'someone cares'.

We're slowly seeing better communication with recent developments along the route, even if the disruption itself still causes frustration.

When it comes to health and safety improvements, we raised several points with both the Council and National Highways as part of this process, which we cover below.

With this as the backdrop, we are sharing an update on the progress we have made by working with National Highways, Sefton Council and a number of residents' groups along the route.

This follows a meeting which took place on Tuesday 24th February and the subsequent approval of minutes, a copy of which can be found at the foot of this page.

Here's our summary of where we're up to.

Representation

Currently, we have representation for the following residential sections of the A5036, following an invitation for people to contribute in January of last year.

• Princess Way - Seaforth Village Friends

• Dunnings Bridge Road - Local Residents, including a residents' association

The representatives we had for Church Road opted out of this process late last year, so we would welcome approaches from any Church Road residents' groups interested in working positively and constructively with us, National Highways and Sefton Council. If you are interested in doing this, please email info@southseftonalliance.org

Accountability

• National Highways have assigned this piece of community engagement work to a dedicated member of their team, their Route Manager for Cheshire and Merseyside

• Sefton Council have had senior officers present at both meetings held to date

We view each of the above as positive, and a commitment to this process.

National Highways Presentation

National Highways' Route Manager began by giving a presentation on plans for circa £27m of investment in maintenance work for the entire A5036 route – from Princess Way up to and including Switch Island, over a 5 year period.

This figure includes the roughly £7m currently being spent on improvements to the Park Lane Junction and other improvements including the completed Switch Island Safety scheme and other pieces of work.

Rather than repeat everything in the presentation, you can view it here by downloading this PDF:

A5036 Community Groups Meeting 240226.pdf

Download PDF • 1.65MB

Key Points

The most important things we learned from National Highways are summarised here:

• There is a commitment from both National Highways and Sefton Council to work more closely together, including with any subcontractors to plan more effectively, and minimise disruption

• This includes work such as resurfacing, drainage, fencing, weed control and ancillary replacements, such as signage

• National Highways will be carrying out walked surveys of the entire route ahead of planned works

• National Highways is exploring the possibility of relocating all manhole covers from wheel tracks, which are those which collapse and create noise, prioritising those near residential properties

• Weed spraying is being introduced this financial year and they are seeking to deliver twice yearly weed killing in months when weeds are growing

• National Highways is liaising with the Ministry of Justice to arrange for the cleaning and painting of subways under community payback scheme

• We were told that, if funding is approved, the work outlined in their presentation will leave the route looking ‘as new’ which is a bold statement and something to aim for.

So, when is this happening?

It will take some time to plan the renewals and improvements listed above, but the works are in the programme for the next 5 year road investment period 2026/27 to 2030/31.

This means that if and when funding is agreed, there will be a formal and regular programme of maintenance for National Highways' responsibilities for the A5036 for a 5-year period.

Section-specific queries

We then covered issues relating to the individual, residential sections of the route, as follows.

Princess Way

• Highlighted the lack of a traffic-light controlled pedestrian crossing across Crosby Road South

• Highlighted the importance of the Rawson Road subway as a result of the above, with a request for regular cleansing and additional safety features such as lighting and mirrors

• A request for improved signage to address regular misuse and driver error, incorrectly accessing Rawson Road from the A5036

Church Road

As we had no representation at this meeting, we referred to a document we had been provided with, listing some of the concerns of Church Road and District Residents' Association, which is no longer active. These included:

• A request for triple glazing for residents most affected by noise levels

• A request for better air quality monitoring via the installation of real-time DEFRA-compliant monitors next to houses and schools, as seen in locations such as Millers Bridge and South Road

• During the meeting, we also raised a request to explore a reduced speed limit from 40mph to 30mph, either alongside residential / school sections, or the entire route to improve both safety and air quality - highlighting that the difference in journey time would be negligible

Dunnings Bridge Road

• Communicated we disagreed with decision not to replace the footbridge at Park Lane junction, irrespective of road safety improvements being delivered by new junction

• If new junction is 'best in class' and a benchmark in health and safety, we stated it should be replicated at all other junctions along the route

• Highlighted that Copy Lane needs a right filter - regular accidents, near misses and HGVs blocking the route

• Asked for clarity on the proposed reopening of all lanes of the A5036 upon completion of the Park Lane Junction improvements after uncertainty at public information events

• Expressed concern over the scheduling of public information events and suitability for working people

• Highlighted the impact these works have had on local businesses

• Highlighted damage that HGV traffic supporting these works have had on surrounding roads, which are unsuitable for HGVs

• Highlighted issues with verges alongside newly completed cycle paths pooling water

• Highlighted issues with leaves and vegetation blocking drains

  
  

Actions for next meeting (or sooner)

The above led to the following actions from our meeting:

• Noise: SSCA and local residents to establish if any sections of the A5036 fall under DEFRA category

• Air Quality: National Highways to discuss further internally and to liaise with Sefton Council

• Speed Limit: National Highways to refer this to Safety & Improvements Team & Environmental team for safety and air quality considerations, respectively

• Park Lane junction reopening: Sefton Council to provide reasoning for each option

• Junction Safety (not just Park Lane): National Highways to refer this to Safety & Improvements Team

• Verges: Sefton Council to liaise with sub-contractors responsible for cycle lanes

• Leaf litter: National Highways and Sefton Council to discuss approaches for tackling this

• Section-specific issues: National Highways to raise with relevant contacts internally

• Church Road representation: SSCA to seek new representatives for future meetings, if willing

Conclusions

Although there are no quick fixes to addressing the key issues along the route, we believe this meeting - and last year's - represent a good starting point.

Residents at both meetings have had an opportunity to 'vent' and communicate how bad things have got, so now, it's all about moving forward constructively with those responsible for maintaining the route AND protecting public health and safety.

As an alliance, we are happy to continue to facilitate this process, including arranging meetings and engaging residents who are willing to work in this way.

Ultimately, we want to see:

• A published programme of maintenance

• The implementation of better health and safety measures, and

• The establishment of a quarterly A5036 working group, where residents, schools, community groups, businesses and any other organisations can raise concerns - and/or give positive feedback on any work completed, or changes implemented.

Download Meeting Minutes here:

20260224 Meeting Minutes FINAL.pdf

Download PDF • 222KB