Anger over Townhead 'debacle' intensifies

Townhead junction 4.00pm, Monday 28 September

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Residents living in the North of Rochdale continue to vent their anger at Rochdale Borough Council for the Townhead roadworks 'debacle' that is causing traffic chaos.

The work was originally due to be completed by November 2015 but, as Rochdale Online reported earlier this month, will now not finish until January 2016 following a number of delays.

Residents want to know why the Council is not doing more to expedite the works, such as having the contractors work evenings and weekends. Iain Wight, who lives in Healey, said: “I am asking the traffic department to put some extra hours in, in the evenings and at weekends to avoid further delays. I think they should be tasked to complete by mid-December. I am pretty sure I am not alone in being upset at the cavalier way the delays are being shrugged off.”

In a letter to his ward councillor, Shaun O'Neill, Mr Wight said: "I would ask you again, together with your colleagues, to apply pressure on the traffic people to take some more urgent action to speed up this project. I don't accept that there is nothing more to be done.

"We were all greatly inconvenienced by the work at that junction the first and second attempts to sort it - it is not our fault that the traffic people could not get it right before, but it is us that are paying for their failures.

"Not to even attempt a contingency on Red Lane or Chaseley Road, which would have mollified many drivers, is another abrogation of responsibility from the traffic people. Have you seen the chaos at rush hour as people find 'rat runs' to get out on to Halifax Road - it is very dangerous for people living and working around those side streets, as they are dealing with huge volumes of traffic they were not designed for. If someone was injured as a result, what action would the council take then?"

Mark Widdup, Director of Neighbourhoods at Rochdale Borough Council, said: “We’re working as fast as we can to re-open Townhead. Part of the work has been to lay a protective concrete layer over the gas main which runs through the junction and this takes 28 days to fully set. This process is nearly complete and we are planning to re-open the junction to four-way running in the next two weeks.”

Mr Wight is sceptical about the the Council's claim to be working as fast as it can, he said: "Backed up by anecdotal evidence from fellow citizens of Rochdale, the amount of work being done at the junction is pitifully small and shows no sense of urgency whatsoever."

Rochdale Online observed the junction yesterday morning at 9.15am and could see only two workmen on site and yesterday afternoon at 4.00pm and could see no sign of workmen.