EPW037233 ENGLAND (1931). Lache Lane, Cliveden Road and environs, Lache, 1931

Following the First World War, traffic flow through Chester increased rapidly. In 1922, Cheshire County Council proposed to build a ring-road outside the city boundary Planning began in 1924. A short section in Lache opened in 1928 and was named Circular Drive. However the completion of the road was impeded by protracted negotiations with neighbouring authorities ie Wales, cuts in local government expenditure in 1931, the reduction of the central government grant for road-building in 1934, the outbreak of the Second World War, and post-war lack of funds.



As the Ministry of Transport failed to make it a priority, council houses had been built along Circular Drive in the 1930s converting it from a trunk route into a suburban street.



Today the short section - once earmarked to be an equivalent of the East Lancs Road or A41 Birkenhead bypass - is now just an over-engineered stretch of road linking Lache Lane and Boundary Lane.