30mph speed limit to save the swans

The animal lovers met with representatives from British Waterways, Cheshire County Council Highways, Cheshire Police, Middlewich Town Council and the Cheshire and Wirral Ornithological Society in an attempt to come up with a permanent solution to stop the troublesome swans crossing the busy Booth Lane.

Resident Diane Bridle, who is a member of the Swan Support Group, said it is vital that something is done before there is an accident.

“Where the swans are crossing it’s a blind bend so there’s no way cars can stop,” she said.

“Yesterday there were five in the road and cars were swerving everywhere, how none were killed I don’t know.”

Cheshire County Council will erect signs warning motorists to slow down.

David Palmer, from the Highways Department, said: “The signs are on order and I would anticipate that they should be erected in the middle of January.”

Mr Palmer also said the council had plans to reduce the speed limit to 30mph.

“I’m fairly certain that it’s going to happen,” he said.

“But I don’t want to give the impression that it’ll happen next year because it won’t.”

The group also discussed the possibility of erecting a fence, planting a hedge or building a swannery, but eventually decided that installing a temporary fence while a hedgerow grows was the preferred option.

Assistant town clerk Stephen Dent said: “I would like a temporary fence until the plants grow because we have to think about the look of the area as well – we don’t want to be looking at a bright orange fence for years.”

The Swan Support Group agreed to find out how long the fence needs to be and how much they anticipate it will cost before meeting with the authorities again in January.

The agencies involved agreed to investigate how much they could contribute to the scheme ahead of the next meeting.