A £1.2 MILLION contribution from housing developer Gladman to the Middlewich Eastern Bypass could disappear in five years.

A Cheshire East Council report states that the proposed £1,223,645 will be reallocated to affordable housing or education if the relief road does not progress within five years.

Gladman was granted approval to build 235 homes on August 2 and clarification on the section 106 terms has to be voted on by the Strategic Planning Board on August 30.

Cllr Jonathan Parry, Middlewich Town Council, said: “Here we go again.

“The previous bypass project was half the price of this one, was half completed and yet section 106 funds were reallocated then so this doesn’t fill me with confidence now.

“The bulk of the funding for this project is all hanging on a government grant and if we don’t get the response we want then it just isn’t going to be built.

“Obviously I want what’s best for Middlewich, but I’m not naïve to think there aren’t other towns across the UK which have applied for funding similar to ours.

“This is a massive gamble by Cheshire East Council.”

CEC has applied for £47 million from the government to fund the Middlewich Eastern Bypass with a decision due in the coming months.

If approved, residents are expected to be driving along the road in 2020.

Cllr Mike Parsons, CEC ward member, said: “We won’t know what we are dealing with until we get the response from the government but I fully expect the bypass to be built by then.

“Everybody who has looked at the bypass funding application, such as auditors and developers, have all said that it is a viable business case.

“It wouldn’t go to government if that wasn’t the case. Other applications that are similar have been granted and this should be the case here.

“If we’re here in five years with funding up in the air then something has gone radically wrong.”