Council leader steps in to help ease road issues

A view from the A62 down Lower Turf Lane

Oldham Council’s leader has stepped into a saga surrounding problems at a key road junction which has bedeviled a Saddleworth community for years.

Councillor Amanda Chadderton has promised a detailed survey by the council’s highways team into the A62 Huddersfield Road junction with Lower Turf Lane at Scouthead.

The junction has been a major cause of concern for many years with worrying issues surrounding visibility for traffic and pedestrian access to the A62 from the narrow lane itself.

The latest move comes after Saddleworth parish councillor, Rob Knotts, chair of Scouthead and Austerlands community group, sent photographs of the junction to the leader and suggested a plan to ease the problems. .

And, in an accompanying letter, he said: “The situation gets more demanding from a road safety position when a vehicle is trying to emerge from Lower Turf Lane at the same time one is trying to enter it from the A62. 

“Such a situation places heavy demand on road safety, particularly when trying to view the A62.

"In such a situation the vehicle trying to enter Lower Turf Lane needs to give way to the vehicle leaving Lower Turf Lane, adding to road safety hazard.”

In her response, Councillor Chadderton wrote: “The Highways Team are arranging for a detailed survey of the junction to help determine what improvements can be made to the levels, which will improve visibility for motorists, and what can be achieved in terms of pedestrian provision.

“The alterations may not result in an ideal solution, as we are working with constrained carriageway widths and an awkward alignment with Huddersfield Road, but will hopefully be better than the existing arrangement.”

Over the years locals have raised concerns regarding the junction, which have included walls being damaged and concerns over pedestrian safety.

In 2013 one local said: “The lane is simply not wide enough for two vehicles to pass in comfort.”

Now Pam Byrne, a ward councillor and chair of the Saddleworth parish council, has revealed she is also having talks with the highways team.

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