Gas pipe repairs mean temporary traffic lights will be set up on Bamford Road, Heywood from Monday

Cadent

Repairs to a gas pipe in Bamford Road, Heywood, will mean another set of temporary traffic lights will be in place from Monday (11 March), in a blow to motorists already contending with work to Queen's Park Road bridge and at the junction of Bury Road, Roch Valley Way and Sandy Lane.

Cadent, which manages the local gas network, says that its engineers have found a leak on an underground pipe, near Bamford Road’s junction with River Street and Claybank Street. Using cameras to pinpoint the source, engineers found that roots from an established tree have damaged the pipe. This has resulted in gas leaking out, and water getting in, and this is impacting the supply of gas to nearby houses.

Chris Campbell, customer operations area manager at Cadent, said: “Cutting down the tree is just not an option, so the only way we can fix this is to connect the houses into a pipe that runs on the opposite side of Bamford Road. We’ll put in a new section of pipe between the two locations.

“This means we need to ‘open cut’ in the carriageway, and therefore need to manage the flow of traffic around our work area.

“We’ll work on one side of the road, and then switch to the other, so that vehicles can still travel both ways – but with traffic lights.

“We will start the work after rush-hour on Monday (11 March) and aim to complete everything by the end of the week.

“We appreciate this is far from ideal, particularly given there are other substantial roadworks taking place in the area.

“We are monitoring this leak regularly, and it is under control. We can only do that as a short-term measure. We need to carry out these repairs both for safety reasons and to protect gas supply to these homes.”

Cadent says it has consulted Rochdale Council’s highways department, while customer teams have notified local homes, schools and businesses. Bus operators have been informed and it is expected that buses should still be able to travel in these works.

In addition to the traffic lights, there will be no access from Bamford Road onto River Street at this location, and vice versa – there are two entrances to River Street and the other is not affected. There will also be no access onto Claybank Street from Bamford Road, and vice versa.

If you smell gas, act immediately and call the national gas emergency service on 0800 111 999, day or night. Do not assume it is related to this – it may not be and needs to be checked. All calls are recorded and may be monitored.