Agenda item

The District Executive considered 2 public questions.The first question was submitted by Steve Ivell:

“My company is based in Failsworth and employs 32 people and we are constantly held up in traffic when exiting Wickentree Lane onto the A62 heading towards Oldham. The problem is caused by poor phasing of the traffic lights at the junction between the A62 and M60. The current setup allows the M60 traffic to exit onto the A62 towards Oldham but the lights stay on green for so long that the traffic snakes across the junction and blocks A62 Oldham bound traffic from moving when the lights turn green. By the time the traffic clears only a few cars are able to cross the junction before the lights return to red. This causes total gridlock at the junction but also well back into Failsworth (often well past Failsworth Pole).

I asked the Executive for help with this some time ago after I had written to SCOOT (who control the traffic lights for Greater Manchester) and no improvement was made. I enclose a copy of the response from UTC from 2014. Nothing has been done to improve the situation and now a yellow box has been added to the junction but is actually making matters worse in Failsworth

What can the executive and Oldham Council do to improve the situation which is not only troublesome but dangerous due to cars ignoring the red signals out of sheer frustration.”

Members were provided with details of the response from Transport for Greater Manchester. (TfGM)

The Executive discussed the issue around the junction of A62 and M60 and agreed that it would be beneficial to check with TfGM if the lights had been phased differently to try and alleviate problems at the junction but also recognised that parking/traffic enforcement would be beneficial at the junction also.

RESOLVED – That Councillor Briggs would be the point of contact for the questioner and contact would be made with Oldham Council Traffic Section, Transport for Greater Manchester and Parking Enforcement.

The second question was submitted by Mr. Davis:

“Some time ago I asked Councillor Bates via this District Executive a question regarding his allowances that were to be spent in the local community.

I was worried at the time as we were coming to the end of the financial year and that Councillor Bates would spend these allowances and people in the local community would miss out.

I’m glad I asked this question because Councillor Bates did spend most of his allowances that year. However £1300 was spent on a fancy dress outfit and I was wondering how many times this had been used and what were the events it was used at, were they local event?”

Councillor Bates responded by explaining to Mr.Davis that the money was spent on a PCSO outfit for Greater Manchester Police to use in schools to educate children about crime/antisocial behaviour and he could not provide the information about how many times the outfit had been used. The District Co-coordinator agreed to contact the police in order to gain this information and provide this to Mr. Davis.