A55 Posthouse roundabout relief road plan to ease traffic

The dotted purple line shows the route the Chester Western Relief Road could take

A study will look into plans for a new road aimed at easing traffic congestion in Deeside, north of Wrexham and west of Chester.

Flintshire council has asked consultants to advise on a preferred route for the scheme to be known as the Chester Western Relief Road.

It aims to reduce traffic on the A55/A483 Posthouse roundabout and the Chester inner ring road.

It is considered essential to unlocking future development in the area.

• New £250m road backed for Flintshire

• £200m A55 road upgrade talks to be held

A report out last year by Mersey Dee Alliance, called Unlocking Our True Potential, identified a possible route leaving the A483 near Balderton, passing east of Broughton and Hawarden, and into Sealand.

A study of the viability of the route will now start and is expected to take four months, before a further report is presented to Flintshire's cabinet members with recommendations.

Carolyn Thomas, Flintshire council's cabinet member for streetscene and countryside, said: "This is an exciting time for our region and this joint commission is an opportunity to look at the region as a whole and how best all counties could benefit.

"The benefit for us would be removing traffic congestion from the local area, direct access onto the A55, improved access to new and emerging development sites in the areas around Hawarden, Saltney and Broughton and the provision of direct access to Broughton Retail Park.

"There is also the possibility of opening up access to a proposed new rail-based park and ride station in the vicinity of Broughton serving the Chester - North Wales Coast railway line."

If approved, any scheme would see Flintshire council work with partners in England as well as the Welsh Government and Wrexham council.