WORK to create a £7 million road in Crewe will get underway next month.

Cheshire East Council’s developer partner, Goodmans, has appointed a contractor to begin work on the Basford West spine road in August.

The 1km road will provide a link between Gresty Road in Crewe and the Shavington junction of the A500, improving access to Crewe railway station and town centre.

It follows the council’s successful bid to the Department for Transport for ‘pinch point’ funding in order to ease congestion in the area and open up 35 hectares of strategic employment and housing sites.

The council believe the development will create more than 2,000 jobs and boost the economy by an estimated £40m, with 12,500 jobs over the next two decades.

Leader of Cheshire East Council, clr Michael Jones, said: “This is more fantastic news for Crewe and further proves this Council’s commitment to helping this town to grow and thrive again.

“It also means Crewe is being taken seriously as a place for investment, because the Government is recognising the town’s huge economic potential time-and-time again.

“The road itself will provide excellent local and strategic links to Crewe and Nantwich as well as the A500 and M6. It will ease traffic on the existing roads in the area and offer relief to other routes into Crewe, such as the A5020 and Weston Road.”

Delivery of the road is part of the council’s All Change for Crewe project, which includes development of the Crewe Green Link Road South and M6 J16/A500 widening scheme, as well as and the improvements at M6 J17 due this autumn.

The authority is now waiting to hear whether it has been successful in applying for £2.8m to widen the B5078, which leads to the M6 at junction 16 at Barthomley.