ALMOST £2 million has been spent preparing Handforth and Disley for a new relief road – and more money could be spent in future.

At a strategic planning board meeting on Wednesday, Neil Jones, principal development engineer at Cheshire East Council, told members that cash will be spent if the villages face traffic problems once the A6 to Manchester Airport relief road (A6MARR) opens next month.

A report at the meeting said that before the A6MARR opens, CEC had to provide road improvements – which in Handforth included a new mini roundabout at Welland Road and Dean Road, and the reconfiguring of traffic lights at Station Road.

It added that the improvements will be reviewed 12 months on from the opening of the A6MARR, and again five years after the new road has opened.

Cllr Toni Fox, CEC member for Wilmslow Dean Row, said: “I would like to know what has been spent.

“My understanding is that while most of it has been spent, some of it is going to be retained for any further potential mitigation measures that may be needed when the post-one year opening survey is done on the affected roads.

“I think it’s really important that we know where the money that we have – which is a significant amount of money – is going to be spent and what we have got left.”

Cllr Dennis Mahon, CEC member for Handforth, added that he was ‘very interested’ in any problems that could arise in his ward following the road’s opening.

Mr Jones told the independent members that not all money set aside for the mitigation works was spent, and some could be used for additional works – but he was unable to put a figure on the amount.

“I can’t give an answer on exactly how much money is left because I haven’t got that information today,” he said.

“But it has not been fully spent as far as I understand, and we do need to do some monitoring post-scheme.

“If it is the case that we need to introduce more traffic calming measures or whatever it is, speed management measures, then that will be used for that – but I can’t give an exact figure at this point in time.”

CEC has been unable to confirm how much money could be spent improving Handforth and Disley’s roads in future if the A6MARR causes congestion woes.

A CEC spokesman said: “Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council provided CEC approximately £1.5 million to contribute towards the mitigation measures required for the new airport link road. The key areas for this were the A6 corridor through Disley and Handforth, by Dean Row.

“The spending sum to date for the works is just below £2 million. The additional cost for the mitigation work has been met through a combination of developer funding – through what is known as section 106 funding – as well as through the council’s local transport plan.”