Rail closure sparks gridlock fear

Shaw and Royton district partnership reports

AN attempt to replace rail services travelling through Shaw with buses when the line is closed for Metrolink work prompted worried members to call for a radical rethink by transport bosses.

Changes to bus services will be brought in a month before the line is closed to allow commuters who catch trains from Shaw to “try it out”

First’s 181 and 182 services from Rochdale to Manchester through Shaw will be doubled and the number 20 service will be converted to create a Buckstones, Shaw and Royton express.

Paul Lucas, from the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive (GMPTE) said: “It won’t be as fast as the railway, but it will be as good as a bus can do.”

He also told the meeting the “bad news” was the number 24 would be halved in frequency, which would affect Royton — a service Councillor Bernard Judge said was important for workers travelling to Manchester, and a decision he described as “madness.”

Mr Lucas said it was an unusual situation, adding: “Effectively the railway line stops, and for a considerable period of time there will be no service. But, he said, the replacement bus service largely seemed to be “approximately what will be required,” although there was still room for “tweaks” to the overall package.

Concern was also raised about the Milnrow Road Bridge at the Jubilee bends. Members wanted to know how it would accommodate trams.

Either way, they said, it would affect a well-used route by HGVs and delays would effectively gridlock Shaw. A representative from the main contractors NPT, told the meeting he had no answer, but the company was aware of the issue and was still trying to work through the options to find the best solution.


Councillor’s concern at poor turn-out

ONLY three members of the public turned up to last night’s first meeting of Shaw and Royton District Partnership.

Councillor Steven Bashforth expressed his concern, saying: “I thought we were supposed to be engaging the community.”

But the body’s new chairman, Councillor John Dillon, pointed out it was “a business meeting” with much of the agenda given over to forming new sub-groups and deciding how the committee would work.

The partnership involves a wide range of groups, from councillors and the police to youth services, Groundwork, First Choice Homes and Oldham Primary Care Trust.

They heard the partnership, which covers the four wards of Shaw, Crompton, Royton North and Royton South, has an annual budget of £24,000. It also has £38,000 to spend on making the area safe, clean and green, with councillors each having a £3,000 budget to spend as they like — either individually or as a bigger pooled amount.

Money already committed included £12,000 for Christmas lights, but members agreed to find out what they could get for £10,000 after Councillor Bashforth said it seemed a lot to put aside for the project — amounting to half of the entire year’s general budget.

A list of alleygate schemes were also put forward for consideration under the “safe, clean and green” heading, at a total cost of £88,000, — more than double the amount of money available for the year. Any decisions were deferred until after the next Cabinet meeting which Councillor Rod Blyth said could change the way alleygate schemes were funded.