Bypass put back to 2016

BUILDING of a £300 million bypass has been put back yet again.

Council leaders in the North-West have decided that the controversial Mottram Tintwistle bypass, which would relieve traffic congestion in several villages in Tameside and Derbyshire, will not now go ahead until 2016.

4NW, the regional leaders forum for the region, has reviewed its priorities in the light of the withdrawal of Transport Innovation Fund money on offer to Greater Manchester — following the massive No vote in last year’s congestion charge referendum — and decided not to submit the scheme for finance next year.

Emma Lawrence, from Save Swallow’s Wood, a pressure group opposed to the bypass, said: “Of all the schemes being proposed, Mottram Tintwistle was the most expensive and the most environmentally damaging.

“This is the first time a sensible decision has been made relating to the bypass and is a real cause for optimism among campaigners, as it effectively kicks it into the long grass.

“The decision shows the region is way ahead of local politicians in understanding the transport needs of our villages. What we need is an integrated transport solution not a damaging and expensive road scheme.

“The next step is for local politicians to accept that the bypass is never going to happen.

“We would ask them to show their support instead for a lorry ban across the Peak District National Park, a proposal that is popular with residents and would bring immediate relief to the villages for a fraction of the cost.”

The Highways Agency has put its route management strategy for Manchester to the M1 on hold after the public inquiry into the bypass — which began in June, 2007 — adjourned until May this year.