{"id":874752,"date":"2026-04-06T00:39:21","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T00:39:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/874752\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T00:39:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T00:39:21","slug":"aigburth-road-is-now-a-nightmare-and-we-cant-see-it-ending-anytime-soon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/874752\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Aigburth Road is now a nightmare and we can’t see it ending anytime soon’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Major repair work on the busy south Liverpool road is causing dismay among residents\"liverpoolecho\"<\/p>\n

14:21, 05 Apr 2026Updated 14:22, 05 Apr 2026<\/p>\n

\"Peter<\/p>\n

Peter Metcalfe and Joan Groves on Rookery Drive, with queuing traffic on Aigburth Road seen in the background(Image: Jamie Greer\/Liverpool ECHO)<\/p>\n

People living on and near Aigburth Road in Liverpool say they are \u201cincensed\u201d by major repairs to a gas pipeline which have created a \u201cvery dangerous\u201d situation. One lane is currently shut on the busy south Liverpool road between Barkhill Road and Aigburth<\/a> Hall Avenue, heading towards Garston<\/a>, Speke <\/a>and the Mersey Gateway Bridge<\/a>,<\/p>\n

Cadent Gas, which manages a large network of gas distribution across England, are carrying out the works, which began last month. People living nearby say travelling by car or bus has become a \u201cnightmare\u201d with long traffic jams on what is one of Liverpool\u2019s busiest roads.<\/p>\n

Some<\/a> also claim they weren\u2019t told at all about the major repairs<\/a> taking place on their doorstep<\/a> until they began. When the ECHO <\/a>approached Cadent with these concerns, a senior figure apologised to anyone who wasn\u2019t informed and said steps have now been taken to reduce the length of the closed lane.<\/p>\n

\"Aigburth<\/p>\n

Aigburth Road roadworks and queuing traffic(Image: Jamie Greer\/Liverpool ECHO)<\/p>\n

Paul Cottrell, 73, lives on Aigburth Road and his driveway backs onto the closed lane. When the ECHO explained that we wanted to know his thoughts about the works, he started shaking his head and audibly sighed.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cThey came out (Cadent) and told us it would start in January. That was pushed back five weeks. It seems like it’s going to go on for a long time.<\/p>\n

\u201cLuckily me and my wife don\u2019t go out much because we\u2019re retired. It\u2019s the people stuck in the queue I feel sorry for. Luckily it\u2019s half term as well so it\u2019s not as busy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paul said space is always left to get their cars out of the driveway but it\u2019s \u201cwhether people let you out\u201d that is the bigger issue.<\/p>\n

Another Aigburth Road resident, who asked not to be named, echoed these concerns and condemned \u201cselfish\u201d drivers not letting residents out of their driveways, but overall felt \u201cthere are bigger things going on\u201d such as the war in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

\"Paul<\/p>\n

Paul Cottrell(Image: Jamie Greer\/Liverpool ECHO)<\/p>\n

According to traffic monitoring service Inrix, the works are due to finish on June 12.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just those living on the main road who have been affected. People who live on the cul-de-sac Rookery Drive have no option but to use Aigburth Road to get in and out.<\/p>\n

Several people living there told the ECHO they were not told about the works. Joan Groves, 79, argued walking across the busy four lane road was very difficult because of the disruption, which has taken away space on the pavement.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cI just can\u2019t cross the road. It\u2019s a nightmare. Nobody told us about it. We had nothing. I can\u2019t see it ending any time soon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her neighbour Peter Metcalfe, 55, agreed. He said: \u201cI just crossed the road with my dog and had to be careful. I had to walk on the road. It\u2019s potentially very dangerous. What if someone had a disability? It\u2019s causing ill feeling. \u201d<\/p>\n

Peter says he understood that the works are important, but was dismayed that he and others on the street weren\u2019t warned about it at all. He said: \u201cAll it takes is someone knocking on your door or putting a leaflet through.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so important to canvas people who are paying their bills. We used to be proud of local politics in Liverpool. Now, that\u2019s not the case.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Tony<\/p>\n

Tony Scanlon<\/p>\n

Clive Newton, 67, bemoaned what he called the lack of planning, with roadworks also taking place on the key routes of Rose Lane and Queens Drive in Mossley Hill<\/a> nearby. He said: \u201cThere\u2019s roadworks all over the place. I\u2019ve taken to going up the hill towards Rose Lane.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow there\u2019s roadworks there too. It\u2019s crazy. The main issue for me is the complete lack of planning.<\/p>\n

\u201cI get the need for gas replacement, that\u2019s not an issue. There’s a sort of lethargic laziness about the way it’s done, especially leaving cones across the middle when there’s no work being done. Why can’t they move the cones back in to release the two lanes at night time?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just doesn’t make any sense at all and to me that’s down to laziness unless there’s some legal requirement. I’m quite incensed about it.<\/p>\n

“It’s absolutely terrible. It’s adding about 10 minutes (to my journey home). I go swimming in the dock every morning. I come back up from the dock onto the traffic lights at Jericho Lane to turn right, and then you\u2019re straight into the traffic jam.<\/p>\n

\u201cNormally I could just come back straight away, it’s really quick, but I can’t at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not everyone in the area was feeling angry however. Tony Scanlon, 69, who lives on Barkhill Road, said he liked that the works had closed off his street temporarily as it had prevented drivers using it as a rat run for the first time in years.<\/p>\n

In response to these concerns, Lucy Sterry, head of work management (north west) at Cadent, said: “This work is part of our major gas mains upgrade programme – replacing some of the oldest pipes in the north west region with new tough plastic pipes so that our customers can continue to get the gas they need to heat their homes, as well as for hot water and cooking.<\/p>\n

“The pipeline under Aigburth Road is nearly 100 years old and, in recent years, has started to show signs of its age. This includes gas leaks, requiring unplanned emergency gas works, which are more disruptive to the local community. This upgrade work will bring that to an end.<\/p>\n

“More than 80% of homes in this area of Liverpool are heated by gas, and the pipeline we are upgrading is an important part of our commitment to safely transport it to them, 24 hours a day. In total, it’s 2.4km of pipe that we’re upgrading in this scheme.<\/p>\n

“The pipe runs underneath the carriageway and in the footpaths. In order to create a safe work space, we have reduced the two lanes of traffic to one, in one direction of travel only.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Queuing traffic on Aigburth Road where it has been reduced to one lane. The gas pipe repairs are expected to take months. (Image: Jamie Greer\/Liverpool ECHO)<\/p>\n

“We did send letters to properties we knew would be directly impacted by our work activity and I apologise if local residents in nearby roads did not get to hear about these works.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have listened to our customers’ comments and we have taken steps to reduce the length of the filtering lane, starting from last night (Wednesday April 1).<\/p>\n

“We expect to finish this current phase of work by early May. There will be a small section of pipeline left to upgrade, which we will return to once we have agreed permits with the highways authority. We do not expect this to be more than a couple of weeks of additional work.<\/p>\n

“I appreciate this work is disruptive and I want to assure everyone that we have taken on board this feedback to improve how we plan and communicate our work in the future.”<\/p>\n

A Liverpool City Council spokesperson said: “Cadent are carrying out essential replacement works, for which Liverpool City Council have granted them a Street Works Permit until 12 June, and we will monitor progress.<\/p>\n

“The authority receives a high number of requests to undertake essential work on the highway and, as such, works may be carried out in close proximity to each other.<\/p>\n

“We have undertaken a number of inspections on these works whilst they have been in progress, with some minor issues being reported back to Cadent.<\/p>\n

“We have not received any complaints from residents or other stakeholders; however, we will make Cadent aware of the concerns that have been reported and look to arrange a joint meeting to assess.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Major repair work on the busy south Liverpool road is causing dismay among residents 14:21, 05 Apr 2026Updated…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":874753,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[8815],"tags":[21726,748,393,4884,179,14487,11653,760,16,15],"class_list":["post-874752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-liverpool","tag-aigburth","tag-britain","tag-england","tag-great-britain","tag-liverpool","tag-liverpool-council","tag-premium","tag-traffic-and-travel","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116354978662065535","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874752","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=874752"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874752\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/874753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=874752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=874752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=874752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}