Thursday 18^th December 2008 - A long running battle has been in place between Alton Towers and the local villagers, over the problems caused by traffic moving through Alton village. The narrow roads through the village often see large coaches struggling to pass, and has witnessed many accidents caused by such vehicles. Earlier this year an out of control bus ploughed off a bridge and landed in the back gardens of nearby houses, as previously reported here.

The proposed route of the bypass would see visitors approaching the resort from the east completely missing out Alton village. After a long investigation into the possible route Alton Towers Resort, announced at a parish council meeting last night that the plans would not be going ahead. The reasons given was that from their investigation the relief road would only be required over a small number of weeks during the busy summer period, and that the expected cost of £15 million was not feasible for this reason.

The investigation also highlighted that traffic to and from the resort had lightened in the last year with only 425,000 cars visiting the park this season, which is down by approximately 100,000 on last season. This has been attributed to the continued investment in the family side of the resort encouraging more families to attend than singles or couples which increase the number of cars. Also the popularity of the short stays at the resort have resulted in the traffic being spread out over busier times.

Head of development for the Alton Towers Resort commented, "No business would be expected to invest such a substantial sum of money for something that may only make a difference for a month or six weeks of the year. That said, we are mindful of the effects of the Alton Towers Resort on our local community. Indeed, we have spent many hundreds of hours, and hundreds of thousands of pounds investigating the various routes that were suggested. We believe this decision is the right one to balance the significant economic benefits that Alton Towers brings to the local community."