Rebel traders vent fury over restrictions fiasco

REBELLIOUS Royton traders are setting up their own committee and running a consultation following the recent parking fiasco.

Businesses near Royton precinct were furious when Oldham Council announced there would be two and three-hour restricted parking from 8am to 6pm daily — they say, without local consultation.

Around 1,000 signatures have already been added to a consultation-style questionnaire which is still available to sign in many of the businesses in Royton.

The questionnaire asks shoppers whether they would rather have no restrictions, restricted parking with penalty fines or a pay and display car park.

An overwhelming 997 respondents said they do not wish to see restrictions of any kind on the car parks.

Only three said they would like the current restrictions to remain in place.

The questionnaire will run for a couple of weeks before being presented to Oldham Council.

Craig Simpson, who runs Sparkles Adventure Play, has organised a meeting for business owners and local residents.

He said: “A lot of the public are not happy with leaflets that were handed out by parking wardens.

“The leaflets stated that local people have been consulted on this scheme.

“We haven’t — so we are running one of our own.

“It’s obvious from the questionnaire that people do not want these restrictions at all — we won’t back down over this.

“We are also setting up a committee to deal with matters such as this in Royton.”

The new committee will be voted in at Sparkles on Market Square, from 6pm on Tuesday. Anyone can attend.