Market mayhem for Shaw

Plans for Shaw Market to be moved to Market Street.

TRADERS are up in arms over plans to trial Shaw Market at the opposite end of the street to where it was originally planned.

When Oldham Council revealed plans to invest £120,000 in the market, traders and residents were offered the choice of the Milne Street car park or the end of Market Street connecting to Greenfield Lane.

But fresh proposals, due to be trialed later this month, show how the market will now run from near Tesco on Market Street to its junction with Beal Lane.

Traders say they have not been asked about the new trial and have questioned the purpose of the original consultation only for their views to be ignored.

Dennis Broadbent, owner of the Bluebell Shop, said: “I can’t believe it, they did a proper consultation last year. Then suddenly they said they were going to put it outside my shop. There’d been no mention of that before.

“I thought they were crazy. It’s not a little side street, it’s the main way through the town.

“I’ve been told I can object to something going outside my shop, and I will be.

“The traffic is one of the biggest concerns, it’s horrendous at the best of times. It’s not going to be any good for trade either, when they tried to pedestrianise it before it nearly killed the area.”

Leader of the Liberal Democrat group, Councillor Howard Sykes has echoed traders concerns and called for a revamped market on the existing site.

He said: “This is the latest in a series of things that show how ill thought out this has been. A redeveloped market on the existing site is the best option.

“Other people seem obsessed with making it work somewhere else but this is going to cause traffic chaos. Buses will be pushed onto Eastway, the same road used by HGV’s from JD Williams, and it will snag up the rest of Shaw.

“Buses won’t stop on Market Street any more and you will lose the footfall. We need to have a sensible conversation about a revamped market on the existing site.”

Steve Taylor, who has owned the cobblers for 22 years, said: “I just don’t know what will happen. A lot of people usually just park up out the front and pop in but they won’t be able to to that anymore.

“There have already been attempts to pedestrianise to area but it hasn’t happened.”

Jude Atack, who runs Market Street Butchers, said: “The traffic is already bad enough, but this will cause chaos.

“It will kill trade on the street when they should be trying to help local businesses like us.

“We’re really annoyed about it and it’s getting worse and worse now.”

However, Oldham Council said the original plans were never subject to formal consultation and nothing is final with the new trial.

A council spokesperson said: “Letters were sent out last week. The original proposals were not a formal consultation.

“After feedback from traders on the two sites we’ve arrived on this proposal along Market Street.

“We have sent out new proposals for feedback as part of a formal consultation and we would love to hear the views of traders.

“There is also a proposed experimental traffic regulation order to monitor how the new location will affect traffic in the area.”