Council to spruce up street for summer

Yorkshire Street.

OLDHAM Council plans to give Yorkshire Street a facelift before the opening of the town centre's £36.7 million cinema.

The council has secured funding to spruce up the street this summer, before the old town hall cinema complex opens in autumn.

The proposed works include; resurfacing of the carriageways, formalising existing kerbside parking with the construction of buildouts, introduction of raised tables to improve safety by calming traffic and improving pedestrian crossing options, removal of a bus lane to formalise bus stops, enhance existing footway surfacing and enhance landscaping.

Oldham Council's town centre department contacted nearby property owners and occupiers to notify them of the proposals earlier this week, giving them an opportunity to comment.

Paul Groves, principal engineer with Oldham Council, told the Chronicle: "The works are proposed to improve the physical appearance along the remaining length of Yorkshire Street to compliment the high quality public realm being introduced in this area of the town centre.

"Traffic orders are also proposed to compliment these works.

"We are proposing to start works on site in the summer with the works programmed to be complete by the time the cinema opens this autumn.

"We intend to start the legal process to remove the bus lane and introduce a new loading bay between Retiro Street and Waterloo Street shortly.

"We will be back in touch at the end of this process to confirm a start date."