Towpath improved for bikes

CYCLISTS are to be given an alternative to battling with traffic on the busy A62 Oldham Road . . . the Rochdale Canal towpath.

Almost £100,000 is to be spent improving the towpath, one of 11 schemes in Greater Manchester to benefit from £2.5m of Government money from its congestion performance fund.

The area has won the money — the maximum allocation possible — by hitting congestion-busting targets on 15 monitored routes in 2008/09. One of them is Oldham Road and overall the average journey time fell by 5.8 per cent.

Although Oldham is getting £96,600 from the fund, it has returned £140,000 which was previously allocated but unused. Neighbouring Rochdale has returned £95,000 but has not won approval of any new schemes.

More than half the funds are going to schemes which will directly benefit junctions that are a known cause of delays to buses.

And Oldham’s drivers will also benefit from a bid by district engineers for £175,000 to develop and deliver a street works permit scheme in Greater Manchester, similar to ones operating in London and Kent

It would mean that utilities would have to get permission — and pay for it — before digging up roads and councils would be able to limit how long they could take and impose conditions.

Greater Manchester could receive another £1.4 million if it maintains the current level of performance and as much as £1.9million if the target is exceeded.

However, the future of the congestion performance fund is under review by the Government.