What concerns local people about the current Mottram bypass plans?

Broadbottom resident Jo Dagustun has shared some of the concerns about the proposed Mottram bypass raised by local people she has spoken to so far as part of her 42-day talkathon. 

We reported last month how Reporter and Chronicle reader Jo is challenging herself to talk to a different person every day during the current six-week Highways England consultation on the A57 link road proposals, in order to get a deeper understanding of all the different arguments surrounding the issue. 

Jo, who has lived in the area for 16 years, has provided an update on how her personal challenge has begun and has found there are still more questions than answers. 

"What I’m mainly hearing, including at the three Highways England webinars that took place recently, is a lot of dissatisfaction," Jo said.

"Whether people are for or against the bypass - and I’ve talked to people now with a range of views - many concerns and questions are being raised. Whilst it’s true that some people are keen just to ‘get on and do something’ (including, it would seem, our local Councillors and MPs, with just a few exceptions), I’m increasingly feeling that there is a huge gulf between the current proposals and what local residents have been asking for decades. 

"There’s a sense that this current consultation process has got it badly wrong, with much disappointment that a ‘three-village solution’ isn’t on the table. At the same time, I’ve found people who still haven’t caught up with the fact that the current proposals aren’t the full three-village bypass they want and think they’ve been promised. I think that there might be a lot of anger when more people find out that this partial scheme is being pushed through during the pandemic. Few are convinced by the political promise of an early bypass for Hollingworth and Tintwistle as a next stage." 

Jo Dagustun 

Jo plans to report further on what she's been hearing about how the community can best move forward on the issue but, in the meantime, she has shared some of the concerns that are being raised locally. These are: 

1. The local congestion problems are affecting people’s health and lives now, yet this scheme promises only limited improvements, in a limited number of areas, in five years time. Why are there no emergency interim measures in the package, e.g. a temporary ban on HGVs over the Woodhead Pass until the three-village bypass is complete?

2. What happens next if this scheme isn’t taken forward? How can we as a community get to a set of proposals that actually make sense?

3. Local politicians are promising a bypass extension for Hollingworth and Tintwistle, but where is this in the plans? What’s the timescale and how will the extension fit with current plans? Why are we not progressing a three-village bypass in one go?

4. Why are Tameside councillors not standing up for Hollingworth? Are the Mottram votes more important to them? 

5. Why is the option of reducing HGV traffic through the three villages not included in these plans, even though that has been the major local concern for decades? And why do we need such a wide bypass. If we didn't have to accommodate HGVs, then the scheme could be more modest and we could probably afford to bypass the three villages with not much more than the budget for the current scheme.

6. The flyover video provided by Highways England is helpful, but why doesn’t it show actual predicted traffic flows? This is simply misleading.

7. What’s the sense in consulting on these new roads in isolation: where is the broader local sustainable transport strategy?

8. The consultation focusses narrowly on changes to the road design since the 2018 consultation, building on the way forward decided by the authorities in 2015. But lots has happened since 2015. So where’s the discussion about the changing context? The climate emergency, the commitment to for more active travel and less car journeys, the changes to working patterns accelerated by Covid-19, the greater focus on health disparities and public health? Why is it that all of these issues are being ignored?

9. Whilst it’s clear that Mottram village will no longer be cut in half by a very busy Trunk Road, and the reduction in motorway traffic will be great news for Hyde Road residents in particular, what are benefits of this proposal more widely across the village? The outlook for traffic flows in the areas around the junctions at Broadbottom Road/Ashworth Lane and Back Moor/ Stalybridge Road seems gloomy. Will these areas really see any real improvement?

10. Tameside Council might well introduce traffic calming measures along the detrunked A57, but will these really be effective? Broadbottom already has these measures, with a 20mph zone and plenty of speed bumps, but speeding remains a big problem.

11. What’s going to happen with traffic coming from the direction of Stalybridge? Presumably people in Stalybridge should benefit from the new Link Road? But how can we be sure that traffic from that direction will join the Link Road via Back Moor, rather than taking a short cut via Mottram junction? Don’t they need to get onto the new link road before they get to Mottram, at Roe Cross as previously proposed?

12. What does this mean for children walking or cycling to school? How many more roads will they have to cross? Will it be more or less safe? How safe are the new super-junctions for children? Do we really need a new junction on Mottram Moor? Wouldn’t it be safer for the new link route to go under the existing road?

13. If this scheme attracts more traffic, as looks likely, what will this mean for queueing times at the Denton Rock interchange, M67?

14. Why is there no mention of how the local population of deer will be protected, given that these are regularly sighted in the local area, on both sides of the proposed works?

15. What impact will this scheme have on road safety in Hollingworth? To be frank, the outlook seems scary. If the traffic will be flowing faster in Hollingworth, as proposed, what will this mean for drivers trying to get out of side roads safely? This scheme looks to make things worse in Hollingworth, not better, and it will be us - the local community - who’ll pay the real cost in terms of any road accidents.

16. This scheme is presented as good news for Glossop commuters, but is it? It does nothing to address the huge problem of traffic queueing to get into Glossop through Dinting Vale. What’s the point of this scheme, without incentives for commuters to reduce their car use? What about encouraging lift shares and car pools, via HOV (High Occupancy Vehicles only) lanes?

17. Hobson Moor Road is a much-loved area for outdoor exercise, for its views, stillness and fresh air. How will the proposals affect this area? How will the scheme affect people’s desire to get out and exercise in other local areas?

18. If it’s correct that Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has already said that he is in favour of the scheme, how can we trust his objectivity on this (if the proposal gets as far as his desk)?

19. How can we be sure that the input from local councils will properly represent the up-to-date concerns of local residents when they are not even consulting us?

20. This feels like just another step towards turning a huge swathe of the Peak District National Park, over the Woodhead Pass, into a new motorway, with our local villages just pawns in that plan. But just recently, the Prime Minister was talking about more protection for nature. Putting these two things together, how does this make any sense?

Anyone who wants to find out more about Jo's talkathon or speak to her as part of it can email her at jdagustun@hotmail.com

What has been proposed and how can I have my say? 

The new two-mile dual carriageway bypass will run from the roundabout at the end of the M67 (junction 4) to a new junction on the A57 in Woolley Bridge, which will separate the Glossop-bound traffic.

It will become a single carriageway 30mph section between Mottram in Longdendale and the Woolley Bridge junction.

Highways England have confirmed that plans to create a link road connecting Roe Cross Road, together with a new junction and Cricket Ground roundabout, have been scrapped.

Roe Cross Road will now run over the western end of the underpass on a bridge.

Back in late August, Highways England said the entire project would cost £200 million but they have since said it will cost £228 million. 

They also say the scheme is designed to take traffic away from Mottram, where around 25,000 vehicles travel through every day - including over 2,000 HGVS, as well as improve journeys between Manchester and Sheffield.

Long-suffering residents of Mottram and surrounding areas have waited over 50 years for a bypass to be built, amid increasing traffic problems on the congested route between Greater Manchester and South Yorkshire. 

People have until 11.59pm on Thursday 17 December to express their views and opinions in the Highways England consultation. 

Visit www.highwaysengland.co.uk/A57-Upgrade to take part, find out more about the proposals or complete a consultation response form.