Issues (cont'd)

The Future

It is difficult to see how a massively expensive bypass is going to provide the villages of Tintwistle, Hollingworth, and Mottram with the glorious changes that they are being told it will bring. The supposedly faster car journey times into Manchester promised by advocates of the proposed bypass/spur road infrastructure do not seem feasible, yet no attempt is being made to persuade residents to use rail links, or to improve the rail services in the area, as the recent troubles with the Metrolink development demonstrate.

Were the villagers to be assured that post bypass the A628 Trunk route is to be detrunked and fully calmed then the supposed benefits that the Highways Agency claim for the villages might possibly have some substance. Without such assurances they can only look forward to the route through the villages becoming a rat run, with the problems returning several years down the line.

What we do know, despite the Highways Agency's claims to the contrary, is that the bypass will remove at a stroke a huge asset of environmental worth that has been centuries in the making. Tragically, this decision seems quite without good reason.

Conclusion

Look very hard as to why a road is being so seriously advanced and whose interests, apart from a very few, are being served in promoting it.

Questions need to be asked and comprehensive answers sought from our elected representatives and particularly the Peak District National Park Authority whose policy for protecting the national park is entirely inconsistent with their support for the bypass scheme.

References

[1] A57/A628 Mottram - Hollingworth - Tintwistle Bypass: Selection of Routes for Public Consultation
[2] South Pennines Integrated Transport Strategy: Final Report
[3] Transport and the economy: full report (SACTRA), §2.71.
[4] Transport and the economy: summary report (SACTRA), §8.

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