Residents take up frustrating road junction issue

The problem junction, with Lower Turf Lane on the immediate left with the A62 Huddersfield Road towards Oldham straight ahead. Image courtesy of Linda Bennett

Concerned community group members have met Oldham Council’s principal highways engineer to discuss a proposed traffic management order at one of the town’s most frustrating junctions.

The Council will be consulting on a  draft order which suggests the top of Lower Turf Lane is one way only in a downward direction from the A62 Huddersfield Road at Scouthead.

The proposal was discussed at the Scouthead and Austerlands Community Group meeting earlier this month.

And afterwards, Robert Cragg, Community Group chair, wrote to the Council saying it was the unanimous view of the meeting the extra traffic the proposed change would route down Heywood Lane was unacceptable, detrimental and considerably outweighed any advantage to be gained at the Lower Turf Lane junction.

The meeting’s view was it would be better to leave things as they are with the exception it supported no left turn at the junction for traffic coming up Lower Turf Lane, and no right turn for traffic turning into Lower Turf Lane from Huddersfield Road.

The committee promise to keep locals informed of developments.

Local resident and former chair of Saddleworth Parish Council, Rob Knotts, said: "The junction of Lower Turf Lane with the A62 – this has been a cause for concern for many years.

"Joining the A62 presents viewing difficulties.

“The most important thing a driver needs when accessing a side road onto a main road is to be able to enter the main road safely by being able to see what is coming from both directions.

“If Lower Turf Lane was being developed as a new artery onto the A62 there should be visibility splay (field of vision) with a clear view of 70m in both directions.

"That situation does not prevail in the current arrangement.”

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