Andrew Garner

Details of a traffic calming scheme for the southern part of Heywood Road (from Heys Road down to Scholes Lane) have been announced.

The proposals include a 20mph zone as the road nears the area of Park View Primary School (Rectory Lane roundabout to Scholes Lane, including Park View Road itself.

Local residents on our road banded together to help a stranded lorry that took a wrong turn in Prestwich - it took over two hours but the lorry was finally able to get back onto the main road.

Bury Council have announced that all refuse collections in Bury have been cancelled today due to the bad weather conditions.

I will update this post when I have more information about what this means for people’s rubbish.

The Chief Executive of Bury Council has issued the following statement:

Owing to the continuing severe weather conditions the council is only able to run very limited services today. The refuse collection service has been suspended. People wishing to contact the council should only do so if it is an emergency.

Due to a national shortage of grit the council has to prioritise the roads which are treated. In order to keep traffic flowing through the borough, main arterial routes and bus routes are the only roads which can be treated with current resources.

At the St Margaret’s end of Heaton Park, ‘Bury Old Road Camp’, where Goals Soccer want to replace quiet parkland by Astro-Turf, men trained before they went to fight in a war - from which many didn’t return. There was even a no-go area - the house by the park wall where soldiers returning after curfew would try to return to their barracks! This post card was to a girlfriend or Sister (Katie) in June, 1917. She didn’t seem to have time to write back. I wonder what happened to Jack? Featured is the Cook House - and its basic! The post-card is from local historian Craig’s collection – thanks for sharing it with us!

Transport bosses in Greater Manchester are encouraging people to take advantage of two days of free travel on the Metrolink network.

Greater Manchester Integrated Transport Authority (GMITA) is providing free travel on Metrolink all day, from the first tram until the last tram, this Saturday, 14 November, and next Thursday, 19 November, as a ‘thank you’ to passengers.

Councillor Keith Whitmore, Chair of GMITA, said: “We’ve invested a significant amount in improving the Metrolink network this year; projects that will make journeys smoother, quieter and more reliable.

“We’ve completely replaced the city centre tracks, provided high quality new street finishes, upgraded two of the busiest city centre stops and installed the first sets of new ticket machines – major improvements that were completed on time and on budget.

“However, we fully appreciate that passengers were left without a full service while all this work was done, and we want to thank them for their patience and understanding during that time – that’s why we’ll be providing these two days of free travel.”

The city centre section closed in April and services returned on 2 November.

Major overhauls of the St Peter’s Square and Piccadilly Gardens stops – two of the most heavily used on the network – have been completed.

The St Peter’s Square stop has been widened and the platform heights modified to allow level boarding for all passengers. The Piccadilly Gardens stop has also been widened and new canopies have been installed to provide better shelter for even more people.

New state-of-the-art ticket machines that take bank notes and credit and debit card payments, have also been installed on the two revamped stops. They will be rolled out across the Metrolink network by spring next year
All the city centre stops now bear Metrolink’s new identity, which will be rolled out across the remainder of the network.

Councillor Ian Macdonald, Vice Chair of GMITA, said: “Shoppers will be able to benefit from free travel this Saturday and I hope more people will choose to leave the car at home and try the tram instead.

“Commuters will benefit from free travel next Thursday, but I hope people will also take the opportunity to travel in to the city centre in the evening to sample the Christmas markets and get into the festive spirit.

“Meanwhile, the investment in Metrolink is going to continue, with several brand new trams in service by the end of this year, all-new ticket machines installed across the network by spring next year and four new lines being built.”

A total of 40 new trams have been ordered to provide more room on existing services and to cater for passengers on new lines being built to Oldham and Rochdale, Droylsden in Tameside, Chorlton in South Manchester and MediaCityUK in Salford.

Passengers who have a season ticket which covers the days valid for free travel can claim a refund by writing to Customer Service Secretary, GMPTE, Freepost MR7 116, Manchester, M1 9QL, by 7 January 2010 with their name, address and telephone number.

They will also need to provide a photocopy of their Metrolink Travel Club membership card as well as a photocopy of their season ticket if it is still valid, or the original ticket if it has expired.

Overnight work is due on Bury Metrolink line. Residents are being advised of overnight work taking place on the Metrolink line running to Bury next week.

Work is expected to take place overnight at a number of stops along the line between Sunday 1 November and Friday 6 November while the trams are not running. Work is anticipated on the following dates:

Crumpsall – 1 November
Bowker Vale – 2 November
Heaton Park – 2 and 3 November
Prestwich – 3 November
Besses o’ th’ Barn – 4 November
Whitefield – 4 November
Radcliffe – 5 November
Bury – 5 and 6 November
Woodlands Road – 6 November

Metrolink aims to keep any disturbance caused by the work down to a minimum.

Anyone with any queries can contact the Metrolink team on 0161 244 1555 during office hours or email future.metrolink@gmpte.gov.uk. Anyone who wishes to report issues or incidents relating to the work should call 0161 205 2000

The Council is consulting on a proposed new traffic safety zone and 20mph area art the southern end of Heywood Road.

The area covered includes the bottom of Heywood Road, from the Rectory Lane mini-roundabout to the junction with Scholes Lane. It also includes the Park View Road as a 20mph zone, through to its junction with Bury New Road. The scheme includes four sets of “raised cushions” along Heywood Rosd (perhaps similar to those on Whittaker Lane). North of the Rectory Lane roundabout it is proposed to have some speed reduction signage and other features, but not to make this a 20mph zone or to have physical restrictions.

The area has been identified as a dangerous area for accidents, particularly because of the amount of school traffic that uses the area, particularly Park View Primary, but also there are walking routes to other schools.

The full consultation letter is here. The deadline for comments is 20 November 2009. The report of the consultation will come to the Prestwich Local Area Partnership in January 2010.

Please get in touch with your local Councillors if you have any other comments, ideas or concerns.

The Council is consulting on some significant improvements to the junction on Bury New Road and Hilton Lane/Scholes Lane.

Local Lib Dem Councillors with Parliamentary Candidate Vic D’Albert

Why are the works being carried out?
Following receipt of a petition handed in by your local Lib Dem Councillors from local residents in March 2007 investigations have been carried out to assess the feasibility of installing controlled pedestrian crossing facilities within the Bury New Road / Scholes Lane / Hilton Lane junction, Prestwich.

Pedestrian surveys have found that large numbers of school children cross the junction travelling to and from school particularly across the north arm of the A56 Bury New Road.

In the period from April 2004 to March 2007, 13 road traffic accidents were recorded at the junction, resulting in 25 casualties. 1 of these was recorded as a serious injury accident with the remainder recorded as slight injury accidents. This was the highest number of collisions reported at any site in the Borough.

What’s happening?
Assessment of the existing junction capacity found that it is insufficient to provide controlled pedestrian crossing facilities on all arms without major widening works. It is therefore proposed to provide controlled crossing facilities on the two arms of the junction which have the highest pedestrian flows, namely Bury New Road north and Scholes Lane arms (see
the plan on the attached leaflet).

In order to achieve this localised widening of the existing junction at its south west quadrant is required. To facilitate this a small pocket of Barnfield Park land has been appropriated as Highway.

The works include refurbishment of the existing carriageway and footways within the junction, construction of a retaining wall, tree felling and new landscaping to Barnfield Park.

When will the works begin and how long will they last?
The civil engineering highway works are planned to commence on 25th October 2009 with completion anticipated in April 2010.

The works will mainly be carried out Monday to Friday; however some works including the carriageway surfacing and tree felling will be carried out at weekends.

Inevitably the works will create disruption for local residents and road users, however Bury Council will
endeavour to keep this to a minimum.

CONTACT DETAILS FOR ENQUIRIES AND COMPLAINTS
If you experience any problems with the construction works then please contact us.
During office hours 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday:
Mr Peter Stokes on 0161 253 5791
If you would like to discuss the principal of the scheme in more detail please contact us.
During office hours 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday:
Mr Ken Asquith on 0161 253 5809
Email: engcon@bury.gov.uk
In an emergency out of the above hours on: 0161 253 6606

Please contact your local councillors if you have other questions, comments or ideas on this scheme.