Royton roadworks plans spark traffic mayhem fears

People in Oldham are worried planned roadworks this summer will cause ‘absolute mayhem’ on the roads.

Oldham Council and Transport for Greater Manchester are unrolling a new road layout plan, which will see some major changes to Royton town centre.

The scheme is supposed to improve the roads for public transport, bicycles and pedestrians by changing the location of one of the bus stops and removing a right turn from High Barn Street onto Rochdale Road.

Works will start in July and last for nine months.

But residents and a local councillor have called the scheme ‘pointless’ and worry it will cause ‘major disruption’ to commuters and local residents.

“I’m quite annoyed,” Gary, a local resident, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

“Our nice little town will just get more congested.

"I think it will cause more problems for people living on the back roads, because people will use them as cut-throughs.

“And because they’re impatient, they speed.

"This can only end badly.

"It won’t be long before there’s an accident.”

“It will be a mess,” another resident added.

The concerns were sparked after a series of roadworks caused traffic carnage in the small town earlier this week.

Drivers took to Facebook to air their grievances, with many believing the works were related to the TfGM and council scheme.

Oldham Council have since confirmed these roadworks are in fact due to Eclipse Power, who are installing EV chargers outside the Royton Co-op, and Cadent Gas maintenance works.

Traffic was regularly backed up all the way from High Barn Lane to past Hindle Drive off Middleton Road throughout this week, even outside of peak times.

Elizabeth, a local driving instructor, described how she had spent 40 minutes sitting in traffic with one of her students.

“My poor student had to waste that much of his lesson time sat there,” she said.

“I have had to change all my students’ lessons around who live in Royton, just so they don’t waste their lessons sat in that crazy traffic!”

Another local claimed: “It took me the same amount of time to get from Royton to Oldham as it took my colleague to get from Leeds to Oldham the other morning.

"Absolutely mind boggling.”

While all of the current roadworks are due to finish by the end of May, the impending nine-month project is likely to bring further disruption.

The council claims it will limit the impact of the works as much as possible.

Councillor Chris Goodwin, cabinet holder for highways and environment, said: “Work is expected to start in July and will take around nine months, depending on weather and other factors.

"During this time, the Council and its contractor will put diversions in place for vehicles and pedestrians to keep people safe and reduce disruption as much as possible.”

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