'Heart-broken' farmer's wife slams parking chaos at popular Greenfield beauty spot
Reporter: Ken Bennett
Date published: 16 April 2025
Image courtesy of Ken Bennett
A distraught farmer's wife has described Easter holiday chaos at a Saddleworth beauty spot which she believed led to a pregnant sheep being found dead.
Hundreds of car drivers crammed the car park at Dovestone reservior in Greenfield, causing major problems on Sunday.
The car parks quickly filled to overflowing and visitors double parked on the link roads and blocked entrances to farmers fields where flocks of pregnant sheep had gathered ready for lambing.
Angela Crowther said: "Visitors were parked all over the place including blocking entrances to our fields, which meant we simply couldn’t drive into field to check the conditions of our pregnant flocks.
"It was very worrying.
"We couldn’t get into our field for cars and we are lambing.
"The consequence this morning is a dead ewe who died lambing.
"We have logged it with the police.”
She added: "It’s heart-breaking, so sad and so unnecessary.
"We just t get into the field to check the flock over the night before.
"The driver was nowhere to be seen.
“And visitors forget to close gates leaving mothers and their lambs to wander all over the place. It’s frightening.”
Oldham Councillor Helen Bishop has been highlighting problems at the site for years.
“I have been consistently pushing OMBC and UU to do more to resolve the issues at Dovestones," she added.
"United Utilities are at least engaging.
“At the last full council meeting recently I again asked what the council to put as much effort into protecting our rural environment as they do the town centre.
"I am still waiting for a response.
“The situation with the car park and facilities at Dovestones is untenable.
"If Oldham are incapable of managing it effectively, as well as insisting on continuing to promote it on their social media, then maybe it is time that they handed the management of the car park to someone who can use the six figure sum it raises to actually re-invest in the infrastructure.”
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