Wrexham’s New Industrial Estate Access Road

July 2012 Update

Wrexham new Industrial Estate road was officially opened in a blaze of publicity by Carl Sargeant, AM, Minister with responsibility for transport. The opening was marked by a cavalcade of over 100 vehicles that made its way along the new road and through the industrial estate. Work continues to complete the road ahead of schedule at the end of the summer. Landscaping will take place during the Autumn.

May 2012 Update

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Northern Access

Southern Access

January 2012 Update

The programmed construction period for the Wrexham Industrial Estate Access Roads Scheme is now over half way complete. Wrexham Council’s Executive Board Members will receive a presentation at the start of next Tuesday’s Executive Board Meeting to update them on progress to date.

The southern section - from Cross Lanes to Five Fords - is expected to be complete well ahead of programme, with the northern section also still on target, for completion ahead of August 19th this year.

The scheme, funded by Welsh Government, is also currently within the budget.

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Northern Access

Southern Access

Update November 2011

Works are progressing well on the northern and southern roads. Around 6 months into the 66-week construction period, work remains on target

The northern section, is the dual carriageway from the existing Borras roundabout on A5156 right through to the Bryn Lane roundabout adjacent to the JCB factory, and this should be open to traffic by August next year. It is expected that the southern section, predominantly a new, arrow-straight, single carriageway route from Five Fords in the north to A525 at Cross Lanes in the south will be open to traffic by early summer next year.

The weekend of 21st/22nd October saw a major change in the traffic layout in the northern section. Traffic was switched, from the existing A534 Holt Road onto a newly constructed temporary road alongside. This will allow safe construction of the new dual carriageway section over this length. On completion, traffic will switch again onto the new permanent dual carriageway and the “temporary” route will become a permanent combined footway, cycleway and agricultural access.

The whole site team is hoping for reasonably kind weather through the winter months so that works can continue to progress to schedule.

Update October 2011

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Update September 2011

Works on the site are progressing well as we approach the autumn. Good progress has been made on the construction of what will become the new northbound carriageway between the Holt Road and Borras roundabouts and the enlarged Holt Road roundabout itself.

Major earthworks have been carried out to what will ultimately become the footway/cycleway and agricultural access between the new Gourton Hall roundabout and the new Holt Road roundabout. A key element of the programme is to temporarily divert all A534 traffic onto this route to allow construction of the permanent dual carriageway route in this section, free of public traffic. This key switch is currently programmed to take place in November this year.

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Northern Access

Southern Access

Earthworks on the link from the new Gourton Hall roundabout to Bryn Lane roundabout are also well advanced.

Construction work on the southern section, between Five Fords and Cross Lanes is also well in hand, including that on the proposed new bridge crossing the River Clywedog.

Works are on programme for both northern and southern sections to be open to traffic by late August 2012.

Main Construction Works

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The scheme comprises two distinct access roads.

The northern access road will see a dual carriageway from Borras Road Roundabout running southwards to the Holt Road Roundabout which will be enlarged and relocated to the south.

From there a new section of predominantly off-line dual carriageway will be constructed to the north of the existing road, which will run to the north of the Gredington Arms public house – rather than the south side as now.

To the south of the junction of the A534 and Borras Hall Lane a new roundabout will be constructed in the fields immediately to the south of the existing A534 from which a new dual carriageway will extend across green fields, finally to connect to the existing Bryn Lane Roundabout adjacent to the JCB factory on the north side of the Estate.

A new bridge will be provided to carry the new dual carriageway A534 over the existing Tarmac Quarry Access Road.

The southern access road is predominantly single carriageway (traffic volumes are lower than those in the northern section) and connects the existing A525 Whitchurch Road by means of a new roundabout to be constructed immediately north of A525.

The new single carriageway road runs across green fields, replacing the poor quality Bedwell Road and providing a new link to the existing Tetrapak factory.  Two further roundabouts and a short length of connecting dual carriageway make the connection to the south side of the Industrial Estate at Cefn Road and Clywedog Road South respectively.

A new bridge will replace the existing very narrow sandstone structure to take the new road over the Clywedog River.

Advanced Works Summer/Autumn 2010

The advanced works dealt with the complex ecological matters surrounding the protected species within the site which included bats, badgers, nesting birds and great crested newts. The advanced works contract resulted in the site being enclosed with temporary fencing, badger fencing and newt exclusion fencing. An artificial badger sett was also constructed.

In addition trees and hedgerows were removed to prevent any risk of birds nesting in the 2011 season which would prevent the main works starting this year.

Great crested newts were carefully captured by licensed handlers and safely relocated outside the site. A strict regime of regular capture was observed and it was necessary to demonstrate that there were no remaining newts within the site before it was declared “newt-free”. From that day on the newt fencing has been surveyed every day to ensure that there can be no re-colonisation.

Once the artificial badger sett had been established for six months, badgers were tempted – using a trail of peanut butter – to the new sett to allow the old sett to be closed under strictly controlled conditions.

All felled trees were inspected to establish whether they had bat roost potential. Those that had this potential were inspected using endoscope cameras. Bat boxes were erected to provide alternative roosts.

The advanced works meant there was very little minimised the risk of a delay to the commencement of the main works contract.

History

The need for improved access to the industrial estate was identified in 1970 and funding for the project finally became available in the 1990s. Since that time extensive preparation and a Public Inquiry have been undertaken to bring the project to its long awaited start in June this year.

Wrexham is well served by the A525 and A483 which gives good links to the motorway network, however, links to the Industrial Estate are woefully inadequate from both north and south approaches. 40 tonne articulated wagons are regularly required to pass each other on roads which are little more than country lanes, which are too narrow and unsuitable.

The poor access also risks Wrexham’s industrial estate losing its competitive edge which is a barrier to existing and new businesses.

Wrexham Industrial Estate

The Industrial Estate is located about 4 km to the east of Wrexham town centre. It is a major employment zone, covering around 513 hectares with around 300 companies providing employment for about 7,200 people.

The employers include such household names as Kellogg’s and JCB, it is home to Wrexham’s state of the art household amenity site and Wrexham’s Recycling Park run by Waste Resources Group who manage the county borough’s green and food waste on behalf of Wrexham Council. It is also home to many small family run businesses and medium sized operations.

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