Stafford Roadworks: A51 Shut Overnight 22 and 23 Sep

Two overnight closures are running tonight, and the Stafford roadworks diary now has a date for the biggest one of the fortnight.

• Tonight and Thursday night, 9 and 10 September: the M6 is closed southbound between junction 13 at Dunston and junction 12 at Gailey, 9pm to 6am. These are the last two nights of the run.
• Wednesday to Friday, 9 to 11 September: the A449 northbound is closed between the Gailey roundabout and the Brewood Road roundabout, 9pm to 6am. That is the parallel route to the shut stretch of motorway, closed on the same nights.
• Friday 11 September: the M6 northbound entry slip at junction 13 closes, 9pm to 6am, and phase 2 of the Creswell Grove works starts at junction 14.
• Tuesday 22 and Wednesday 23 September: the A51 at Wolseley Bridge closes completely overnight, 7pm to 6am, for surfacing. This is new, and it is the one to plan around.
• Monday to Thursday nights to 16 October: A520 Radford Street in Stone is closed 7pm to 6am.

Six county council schemes are running or scheduled in Stafford borough, and two of them run into 2027. Below is what is happening on each, what is closed right now, and the smaller closures booked for the rest of September.

Most day-to-day disruption is utility work rather than council schemes. Staffordshire County Council publishes a live roadworks map that shows both.

What is closed right now

• Bishton Lane, Little Haywood is fully closed from the A51 junction, and stays shut until 18 December.
• A5013 Creswell Grove is one-way towards Stafford only, so you cannot reach Great Bridgeford this way from M6 junction 14.
• A51 at Wolseley Bridge is on temporary traffic lights until 20 November.
• Sandon Road has a road closure and multi-way temporary signals in place for the duration of its scheme.
• A519 Newcastle Road at Cotes Heath is on temporary signals and a reduced speed limit across about two kilometres.
• A520 Radford Street, Stone is closed at night, Monday to Thursday, 7pm to 6am, until 16 October.

The M6 and the A449 are shut on the same nights

This is the change since our last update, and it is the one most likely to catch people out. National Highways books motorway closures a week at a time. Its seven day closure report, covering Tuesday 8 to Monday 14 September, lists a full carriageway closure southbound between junction 13 at Dunston and junction 12 at Gailey on three nights, and a full closure of the A449 northbound between the Gailey roundabout and the Brewood Road roundabout on three nights that overlap it.

Junction 13 is Stafford’s own southern motorway access, off the A449. Junction 12 is the A5 Gailey interchange near Cannock. Between them the motorway runs past Penkridge, and the A449 runs alongside it through Penkridge as the obvious alternative.

Night	What is closed	Times
Wednesday 9 September	M6 southbound, junction 13 to junction 12	9pm to 6am
Wednesday 9 September	A449 northbound, Gailey roundabout to Brewood Road roundabout	9pm to 6am
Thursday 10 September	M6 southbound, junction 13 to junction 12	9pm to 6am
Thursday 10 September	A449 northbound, Gailey roundabout to Brewood Road roundabout	9pm to 6am
Friday 11 September	A449 northbound, Gailey roundabout to Brewood Road roundabout	9pm to 6am
Friday 11 September	M6 northbound entry slip at junction 13	9pm to 6am

Both jobs are recorded as maintenance work. There is no closure on Saturday or Sunday night. The northbound M6 closure that ran on Monday 7 September has finished, and Thursday is the last night of the southbound run.

The overlap matters on Wednesday and Thursday nights. If you are heading south from Stafford late on either night, the motorway is shut below junction 13 and the A449 is shut in the opposite direction, so northbound traffic coming up from Wolverhampton is being pushed onto the same local roads. National Highways describes both diversions only as “via National Highways and local authority network” and does not name the roads, so follow the signed route rather than assuming one.

The Friday night slip closure at junction 13 is part of a separate job covering the junction 13 to junction 14 slip roads. The M6 southbound entry slip at junction 16, up beyond Stone, also closes that night.

The six schemes, and when they finish

Creswell Grove, A5013 at M6 junction 14

The biggest one for anyone using the motorway. New junctions and a widened A5013 Creswell Grove serving the Stafford Gate commercial development, plus a new puffin crossing, footway and cycleway improvements, drainage and utilities. Work started 5 May 2026.

Creswell Grove itself is one-way, towards Stafford only. That means you cannot get from M6 junction 14 to Great Bridgeford this way. That arrangement started 18 May.

Phase 2 starts this Friday 11 September and runs to 18 November. The one-way continues. Added to it are reduced lanes on the junction 14 circulatory and one week of night-time works with the M6 junction 14 northbound exit slip closed. The council has not yet said which week that is.

The Creswell Grove works themselves are due to finish in November 2026. Phases 3 and 4 then move to A5013 Eccleshall Road from 18 November to 18 December, under temporary traffic signals. Three weeks over Christmas have no traffic management at all. A final phase of mostly night working runs 11 January to 1 February 2027, changing access from Eccleshall Road to the junction 14 circulatory.

The contractor is Alto Construct. The scheme is paid for by the developer, Strawsons Holding Limited, not the county council.

Sandon Road, Stafford

The longest scheme. Three new priority junctions on Sandon Road, new footways and cycleways, drainage, street lighting and utility diversions. The speed limit drops from the national limit to 30mph through the scheme, with a 40mph buffer on the approaches where needed. Work started 8 June 2026, runs about 11 months and finishes in summer 2027.

A road closure and multi-way temporary signals are in place for the duration. Night-time closures with diversions are planned for around two weeks at the end of October, and again at the end of April for surfacing. Access to homes and businesses is maintained. It is a Section 278 agreement funded by Bloor Homes and delivered by Amey.

New this month, and it lasts a long time. The county council made an order on 1 September imposing a temporary 7.5 tonne weight limit at Hopton, to keep heavy traffic off the lanes while Sandon Road is realigned. It covers:

• Within Lane
• Hopton Lane
• Hopton Hall Lane
• Willmore Hill Lane

The limit came into force on 4 September 2026 and the council anticipates the works finishing by June 2027. If you drive anything over 7.5 tonnes through Hopton, that is nine months of detour, not a fortnight.

Wolseley Canal Bridge, A51 at Little Haywood

Bridge refurbishment: a new vehicle restraint system and ground beam, re-waterproofing the deck, parapet work and resurfacing. The scheme started 7 July 2026 and runs 24 weeks.

Temporary traffic lights on the A51 run to 20 November 2026. The more disruptive part is Bishton Lane, fully closed to 18 December 2026. The closure runs about 60 metres north from the A51 junction, as far as the Wolseley Bridge Farm entrance.

The diversion is via Bellamour Lane. Coming from the north, turn east about 200 metres before the Bishton Lane junction, then right onto Bishton Lane. From the south, reverse it. Residents keep access to their properties.

The A51 itself now has dates. The council has scheduled two full overnight closures of the A51, on Tuesday 22 and Wednesday 23 September, 7pm to 6am, for surfacing. That is a complete closure of the Stafford to Rugeley road at Wolseley Bridge, not traffic lights, and it is the single biggest closure booked in the borough over the next fortnight.

Radford Street, A520 in Stone

A £680,000 structural maintenance scheme: replacing ironwork, repairing damaged kerbs and resurfacing the carriageway. It started 13 July 2026 and runs about 11 weeks.

The night closures are now running. Radford Street is closed between 7 September and 16 October, Monday to Thursday, 7pm to 6am, for resurfacing. Through traffic is diverted and no through traffic is permitted. Daytime access to homes and businesses is maintained. The council says it will advertise more detailed phasing as the works progress, so the pattern may not be identical every week.

A519 Newcastle Road, Cotes Heath

Easy to be caught out by, because it is not a closure. Investigatory works on the A519 started 6 August 2026 and run about two months, so into early October: carriageway coring, trial holes, laboratory testing and drainage and utility surveys along nearly two kilometres between Cotes Heath and Mill Meece, to plan a future structural maintenance scheme.

Temporary traffic signals and speed restrictions are in place throughout. There is no diversion, because access is maintained, so the effect is delay rather than a detour. This is the Eccleshall to Newcastle-under-Lyme road, so it matters for anyone commuting north out of the borough.

A518 Weston Road and A513 Beaconside

Not yet started, and worth knowing about because it changes the rules rather than the tarmac. Phase 1, planned for early 2027, brings:

• a 30mph limit on A518 Weston Road between A513 Beaconside and Blackheath Lane
• a 30mph limit on A513 Beaconside from the A518 junction to about 80 metres north of Gladstone Way
• double yellow lines on Weston Road from the A513 junction to the crossing near Weston Road Academy
• a ban on right turns out of Beaconside Health Centre onto the A518
• a ban on stopping at the School Keep Clear markings outside Veritas Primary Academy

Phase 2, planned for early 2028, improves the shared footway and cycleway between Barona Way and Veritas Primary, builds a new toucan crossing on Beaconside near The Beacon Group, relocates the existing toucan crossing on Weston Road, and takes the shared route across The Beacon Group entrance on a raised crossing. It is funded from the county council’s Highways and Transport Capital Programme. The informal consultation on the traffic order closed on 31 July 2026.

The smaller closures, rest of September

The county council has published no new traffic notice for Stafford borough since 2 September, so the list below is still the current one. Two of those closures are finished: Sash Street in the town centre reopened after 9 September, along with Acton Hill Lane at Bednall and Acton Trussell.

Still running

Road	Reason	Dates
Cotwalton Lane, Hilderstone	Pressure reduction valve works	7 to 18 September
Within, Hopton, Hopton Hall and Willmore Hill lanes, Hopton	7.5 tonne weight limit, Sandon Road realignment	4 September to June 2027

Still to come, and only an intention

The council gives itself at least seven days from the notice for these, so the dates can move.

Road	Reason	Dates
The Rise, Stafford	Pole works	21 September, one day
Shaws Lane, Elford Heath and Eccleshall	Cabling	21 to 23 September
Slab Lane, Little Onn Gorse	Pole renewal	23 September, one day
Enson Lane, Enson	New water connection	23 to 25 September

The Hopton weight limit is the one with a long tail. It keeps anything over 7.5 tonnes off four lanes while Sandon Road is realigned, and the council expects that to run to June 2027. Each notice carries its own access arrangements, timings and diversion on the Staffordshire multiple road traffic notices published on 2 September.

One older M6 order still applies locally, and it is not one drivers need to worry about: National Highways has restricted the service road at the Doxey motorway depot, off the southbound carriageway south of junction 14, to authorised vehicles only, in force from 1 August 2026 until no later than 19 December 2027.

What is coming to Doxey Road

The county council lists the former Saint-Gobain site enabling works on Doxey Road among its scheduled schemes. About 15 acres of former industrial land needs remediating before anything can be built on it. Main works are now anticipated to start in spring 2027, subject to planning consent. A former garage building was demolished in December 2025 and trial excavation took place across three parts of the site in February 2026.

It is part of the Stafford Station Gateway project, backed by £20 million of government support, of which up to £16.5 million is allocated to the Doxey Road reclamation. No road closures or traffic management have been published yet. Worth watching if you use the Doxey Road long stay car park.

Parking in Stafford and Stone

Stafford Borough Council lists 12 car parks in Stafford and five in Stone. The two you are most likely to want in Stafford are the multi-storey in the middle of town and the long stay by the station.

The Waterfront multi-storey is pay on foot and barrier controlled, so you pay for the time you actually used. It takes coins, notes, cards and contactless, and gives change. It opens 6.30am to midnight Monday to Saturday, 9am to midnight on Sunday and 8am to midnight on bank holidays. It is locked overnight, so move the car before closing time. The £1.20 evening and Sunday rate is the best value in town by a distance.

Doxey Road long stay, ST16 2TF, is the one that makes sense for a long day away. It is £4.80 for 24 hours, £9.40 for two days and £23.50 for the five-day maximum, for a walk of about ten minutes into town. It is free on Christmas Day and is pay-by-phone, code 59637. A Band C season ticket covering Doxey Road and Gaol Road is £53 a month, £144 for three months, £246 for six or £415 for a year.

One caution: Doxey Road sits low by the river and the council issues flooding warnings for it. If the Sow is high, park elsewhere.

In Stone, both town-centre car parks charge 90p for an hour, £1.40 for two hours and £2.60 for four. Crown Street has 89 spaces with a four-hour maximum stay. Christchurch Way, ST15 8GG, has 82 spaces and allows all day for £3.80. Both are £1.20 after 6pm and all day Sunday, and motorcycles park free in a designated bay.

Two things Stafford does not have

There is no park and ride in Stafford borough, so there is no alternative to driving in from the villages other than the bus. And there is no direct train from Stone to London, which is why Stone traffic tends to end up on the A34 or at Stafford station anyway.

The routes worth knowing

• M6 junctions 13 and 14 are the borough’s two motorway accesses. Junction 14 is the one under construction until early 2027. Junction 13 at Dunston is the sensible alternative for anything heading south, except on the nights this week when the motorway below it is shut.
• The A34 runs the length of the borough, Stone to Stafford to Cannock, and carries the traffic that does not want the motorway. The town-centre-to-Weeping Cross improvement scheme on it is complete, as is the Beaconside to Redhill roundabout work.
• The A449 is the parallel road between M6 junctions 12 and 13, running through Penkridge.
• The A51 links Stafford to Rugeley through Great Haywood and Little Haywood, past Shugborough. Bridge works are on it until December.
• The A518 goes east to Uttoxeter and west to Newport. The A513 runs to Beaconside and the university.
• The A519 is the Eccleshall to Newcastle-under-Lyme road, on signals at Cotes Heath until about October.
• The A520 is the Stone to Leek road, and Radford Street is the town-centre stretch of it.

What it means for you

The date to put in the diary is 22 September. Two nights of full closure on the A51 at Wolseley Bridge take out the direct route between Stafford and Rugeley from 7pm, and unlike the traffic lights that have been there since July, there is no getting through.

Before that, three things this week:

• Heading south on the M6 late tonight or tomorrow, check before you set off. The carriageway is shut below junction 13 and the signed diversion is not published in advance.
• Coming north up the A449 from Wolverhampton on any night to Friday, expect to be sent off the road at Gailey.
• Driving through Stone in the evening, Radford Street is shut Monday to Thursday until 16 October, not for one week.

If your journey uses M6 junction 14, it gets harder from Friday, when Creswell Grove moves into phase 2 and the junction 14 circulatory loses lanes. If you use the A519 north out of Eccleshall, budget extra time every day until about October, because the signals are there for the duration rather than for a few nights.

Sources

• Roadworks in Stafford, Staffordshire County Council, and the individual scheme pages linked above, for all dates, phases, closures and funding, including the two overnight A51 closures on 22 and 23 September. Re-checked 9 September 2026.
• Staffordshire multiple road traffic notices, published 2 September 2026, for the Hopton weight limit and the other September closures. This is still the most recent notice covering Stafford borough, re-checked 9 September 2026.
• National Highways road closure report, the edition covering 8 to 14 September 2026, for the M6 junction 12 to 13 and junction 13 slip closures and the A449 closures at Gailey, and the M6 depot service road order.
• Waterfront multi-storey car park, Doxey Road long stay car park, Crown Street, Stone and Christchurch Way, Stone, Stafford Borough Council, for tariffs, spaces and opening hours. Checked 5 September 2026.
• Car parking in Stafford and car parking in Stone, Stafford Borough Council, for the list of car parks.

Roadworks dates move. Check the county council’s live map before a journey that depends on one of these routes.