WARRINGTON Borough Council has addressed the need for another entrance and exit on a retail park known for its ‘horrendous’ traffic.

Shoppers often speak of their frustrations with the traffic problems when visiting Riverside Retail Park.

They say a visit to the site, which is home to a number of shops such as B&M, Home Bargains, and Next Clearance, leaves them ‘trapped’ in huge queues.

It has even been slammed as having the ‘most ridiculous car park’ one person has ‘ever come across’.

Earlier this month on Saturday, October 14, some shoppers were stuck in queues for an hour and a half just to leave the retail park.

This led to many people claiming that Riverside Retail Park needs another entrance and exit to solve the problem.

One person said: “It is an absolute joke. There needs to be an outlet road at the back or something. It is just horrendous on there at the minute.”

The Standard's sister title The Warrington Guardian asked the council whether this is something it would consider to ease the congestion.

Chester and District Standard: Traffic on Riverside Retail Park at peak hours in the past

But a spokesperson said how any time gained through a faster exit from Riverside would result in ‘knock-on delays’ throughout the town centre.

They said: “We have checked the traffic signal timings at Bridgefoot, specifically the exit from Riverside Retail Park on Saturday and no faults were found.

“Bridgefoot is particularly complex and acts as a hub where a number of strategic routes converge.

“Our main priority is to keep this network as free-flowing as possible to prevent gridlock, therefore the retail park runs the maximum amount of time that can be accommodated without impacting the rest of the network.

“If we were to further increase the time allocated to the retail park, Bridgefoot and the surrounding network would very quickly would soon become gridlocked.

“Therefore any time gained through a faster exit from the retail park would be countered by knock-on delays throughout the town centre.”

On the particular Saturday in question, queues were stretching not only across the whole car park, but back to Wharf Industrial Estate which is located behind the shopper park.

One person claimed it took them 40 minutes just to drive from Sports Direct to the exit at McDonald’s.

The council has ‘apologised’ for being unable to provide a ‘more direct resolution’ to the problem.

A spokesperson added: “We do sympathise with the problems that retail park customers experience during busy periods and assure you that the safe and efficient operation of the whole network is our priority.

“We apologise that we are unable to provide a more direct resolution to the problem but we are working hard to ensure that congestion is kept to a minimum for all users of the network.

“We will continue to monitor this junction (including the use of CCTV) to ensure it is operating as it is designed to.”

More traffic concerns for Riverside Retail Park were raised by residents last week after the Warrington Guardian reported that plans have been submitted for a drive-thru Starbucks on the site.

The plans relate to the demolition of the former Harvester Unit which shut in 2018 and proposals outline ideas to bulldoze the site and replace it with a smaller drive-thru coffee chain.