REPAIRS to a road into Northwich damaged in a landslip look set to take at least another 12 months, as the council said a local MP was 'inadvertently conflating' two separate incidents after she accused it of ‘kicking the repairs down the road’.

Soot Hill was closed in both directions nearly three months ago at the end of December as a result of a landslip under the carriageway opposite Cosgrave Business Park in Anderton.

But speaking in the Commons, Tatton Conservative MP Esther McVey told MPs the incident had occurred in January last year and that the road had been closed for 13 months.

She said: “Back in January 2021, during Storm Christoph, there was a landslip and the edge of the road gave way.

“However, for 13 months, the road has been closed, causing huge upset to local residents, business and visitors, and now rumour has it that Cheshire West and Chester Council is kicking the repairs down the road for another 18 months, which would be absolutely unacceptable.”

But the council said it appeared Ms McVey had 'inadvertently conflated' two different incidents and that there was a landslip nearby, resulting in the closure of a public right of way footpath, running through private land that linked Nursery Road to the junction of Runcorn Road/ Soot Hill and Winnington Lane.

This had been closed since just after Storm Christoph in January 2021. But Soot Hill Road was closed at the end of December 2021 due to a separate landslip.

Councillor Karen Shore (Lab), cabinet member, environment, highways & strategic transport at Cheshire West, said: “From the comments made, it appears that two different incidents appear to have been inadvertently conflated and I would be happy to meet Esther McVey to explain the work involved with Soot Hill.

“We’ve made significant progress since the emergency closure of Soot Hill Road at the end of December 2021.

“We have completed 3D scans, diagnosis, and assessment of the extent of the damage, and the first stage of the stabilisation process this month by propping the adjacent building to protect it from any further collapses.”

She said a structure to temporarily support high voltage electric cables and a BT Cable were being developed and that the council planned to remove the heavy concrete blocks above the live high voltage cables in early April. A work platform will then be installed to allow works on site to dismantle the safety barrier and its footings.

Cllr Shore added: “The footings are currently resting on the two live electricity cables. The high voltage cables need to be permanently diverted to the opposite side of the road to allow repairs to the retaining wall dating from the 1800s that supported the highway.

“It is vital that we repair the landslip as promptly as possible, this is a complex engineering project that we anticipate taking at least a further 12 months.“