People cannot leave their homes due to "unbearable" roadworks causing a town to be "gridlocked".
Roadworks in Halewood are ongoing currently as work continues on the town's housing developments. Around 1,300 homes are currently being built as part of a masterplan with Redrow, Bellway and Miller on board to deliver the East of Halewood development.
The sites are on fields off Baileys Lane and Greenbridge Lane, but nearby residents have previously expressed their concerns over the pressures already being felt in the town. There were concerns services were "not up to scratch" and roadworks were "wreaking havoc".
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Residents also previously hit out at the "dangerous" roadworks as more temporary lights were put in place earlier this year. But now, the town has been "gridlocked" as people says the situation is "out of hand".
Community group Halewood Voice has raised concerns around the "lack of planning" and "unbearable" roadworks. They told the ECHO: "Trying to navigate your way around Halewood is a joke right now.
"Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council need to explain to our community why they have allowed various companies to undertake Road works all at the same time. There’s definitely been no one talking to each other.
"Wednesday night the whole of Halewood was gridlocked from about 4 o’clock. If you want to go to the shops on a Leathers Lane or leave that area to avoid the all the road works, you can only use Wood Road and Hollies Road, as every other way in and out has temporary traffic lights."
With both roads having schools nearby, concerns were also raised about competing with the school traffic, resulting in more chaos. The community group added: "KMBC have allowed developers to build another 1,500 homes in that small area, and this just shows that the road infrastructure is not able to cope.
"We are taking precautions and leaving early but due to sheer lack of planning and time these lights are taking, everyone’s getting stuck and we’re seeing people commenting that they’re late for work and the kids are for school. And then it’s the community who live by these, they can’t get out of their homes.
"It would be nice if someone could explain why, all these companies were granted permission to undertake major work in less than a 1/2mile radius at the same time, sown of these have been going on for months, but they just keep adding more."
Many residents have complained about the problems, with some even saying they have refused to leave their home unless necessary. One person, who did not wish to be named, said: "It's just not worth the hassle.
"Unless it's early or late, you can expect chaos. And some people are inpatient and don't wait for the lights or if a light is broken, there's going to be an accident. It's dangerous. We leave near roadworks currently and all you can hear is beeping some nights. It's out of hand."
A spokesperson for Knowsley Council said highways works are due to be completed in June, with many set to be finished before then. They added: "Significant developments are currently underway in Halewood including more than £4 million of work to improve highways and infrastructure.
"We appreciate that this essential work is causing unavoidable disruption for road users. Yesterday in particular we were made aware of significant congestion in the area and officers were deployed to alter traffic management controls in the area to improve the flow of traffic. Unfortunately the situation was made worse by a separate unrelated traffic collision in the area.
"The current phase of highway works in Halewood comprises of a number of different schemes that are scheduled for completion by June. Many of these will however be finished well before then."
Further works are also planned in the area over the coming months and dates and details will be shared via https://twitter.com/Knowsley_roads.
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