31/08/2026
ROUNDELS/LONDON ROAD SOUTH - DRAINAGE UPDATE
Cllr Whitaker had a meeting on site at the Roundels with the project leads on Friday last week. They walked her through the ongoing drainage problems outside Gochu and the work they were doing last week.
A few key points from Cllr Whitaker from the site visit:
• As we know, the drain in the lay-by outside Gochu isn’t draining properly. The team have spent last week carrying out further investigations to try to establish exactly what is happening – and it’s fair to say that what lies beneath LRS is rather messy!
• The original intention was to connect the drain in the lay-by outside Gochu into the new main drainage system. Unfortunately, once the road was dug up, the team discovered no fewer than 12 different services running through a relatively small area, and at different depths.
• Many of these services didn’t show up on the topographical surveys because they are encased in concrete. This means they couldn’t be detected by the surface surveying equipment and were only discovered once the road was physically excavated.
• Amongst everything underground is a high-voltage cable running through the centre of the road, as well as gas lines crossing it. This has made accessing the deeper drainage system extremely difficult and means the lay-by drain cannot simply be connected to the new drain as originally planned.
• The team are now working through alternative options. One possibility is connecting the lay-by drain into the main drain running through the Roundels. However, they need to investigate the surrounding drainage network further first to make sure this would actually solve the problem rather than simply move it elsewhere.
• Another possibility involves underground storage tanks, but again, finding a suitable location amongst so many existing services in such a small area could prove difficult.
Summary for Cllr Whitaker:
I have visited the site twice in the last week. I spent around 45 minutes with them on Friday, watching them camera the drainage system and work through the different options. Thanks again to the team for taking the time to show me the issues and talk me through the possible solutions.
Seeing it first-hand demonstrated just how much of a historical jumble of services lies beneath LRS. The sheer number of cables, pipes and other infrastructure packed into such a small stretch of road is making access to the much deeper drainage system particularly challenging.
I completely appreciate that the ongoing works, delays, and disruption are frustrating for residents, businesses and everyone travelling through Poynton. Yes, the disruption is bad, and nobody wants these works continuing any longer than necessary. But having seen the problem for myself, the team are clearly trying to find a workable solution to an unexpectedly complicated situation underground.
I will meet with the team again next week to see the result of the further investigations and keep everyone posted.
Fingers crossed there aren’t any more uncharted services waiting to throw another spanner in the works! 🤞
