The Mottram Bypass is Finally Approved (2014).

Mottram will finally, after almost FIFTY years get its bypass!

On 2 December 2014, the government announced that it will be investing £170m on the A57, A628 and A628 trans-Pennine route, including a long-awaited bypass for the village of Mottram-in-Longdendale that residents have been campaigning for, for decades.

We even had Nick Clegg walking about Mottram a few days ago. Didn’t notice? Us neither. But every little helps.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, has just [December 2014] given the go-ahead for an initial scheme of at least £170 million to resolve the traffic issue through Mottram and to build a link road to Glossop.

The Government will also consult on whether to extend the proposed scheme to relieve pressure on Tintwistle as well. In addition to the works announced, there will also be a study into the possibility of a tunnel under the Peak District to link Manchester with Sheffield.

Anyone who knows Mottram knows about the traffic problems and the historical lack of funding for the Mottram Bypass.

We have another article on Real Deal about the Mottram Bypass here: e-petition deliver Mottram – Mottram Bypass – Stuck in Traffic?

Local MP Jonathan Reynolds some time ago took up the reins on the issue and sent local residents a long and informative letter on the subject detailing what he was doing.

More recently, Andrew Bingham MP has took up the reins. He said recently on >>his blog<<:

“I am delighted with the news and would like to thank the Chancellor for his announcement. This is key to the local economy for Glossop and the surrounding area and also the connectivity between the northern cities. I have campaigned long and hard for this, and with the consultation on a further extension to help residents in Tintwistle it is a great day for the High Peak‎. After years of disappointments and false promises I am delighted that it is a Conservative Chancellor who has at last committed to solve this long running issue for my constituents.”

The locals of Mottram are glad that someone is finally back on the case and the Conservative government has earmarked the money.

It is clear to anyone who lives in or near Mottram that the bypass is a much-needed road. Children walk to Mottram Primary and other nearby schools choking on truck fumes each morning (some even wear Chinese smog masks), and nobody likes to sit in the soul-destroying traffic to go home.

Amazingly, there are a handful of grumpy old, bearded, fuzzy-thinking leftists who actually oppose the bypass. There are even a few amateurish “protest” websites out there still active from previous campaigns. Some people, it seems, want to see Mottram choking with truck fumes into eternity. As if half a century isn’t long enough.

One “protest” website, recently said this:

The old offer still stands, to contributors old & new: if you have something to say which is reasonably articulate about the issue (or even just ‘lol’), then drop us a line, and we may well publish it.

Well, we at Real Deal replied. It was most articulate. And guess what? They didn’t publish it. Funny how the weird-beards work isn’t it?

The actual grounds for protest for these people – apart from general protest about any change whatsoever – is unclear. Is it newts? Owls? Lesser spotted Staly Vegas snails? Rare slugs? Like creatures are more important than people?

If you spot one of these “bypass protesters”, and can get him to put his pint of real ale – with bits of twigs floating in it – down for a moment, and can decipher the mumbling through his beard, ask him why he wants to see Mottram deprived of such an essential thing.

Ask him why he would like to see little children walking to school develop asthma, pneumonia and choke on cancerous articulated truck fumes each day, twice a day. Ask him why he begrudges £170m of taxpayers money, after half a century, going to build a much needed road, but doesn’t mind £53m a DAY going to the EU.

Lord Tom Pendry, who was member of parliament for Stalybridge and Hyde from 1970 to 2001, sent a Real Deal contributor a while back newspaper cuttings of him campaigning for a bypass that date back to the early 1970’s when asked if he supported the Mottram bypass. We can scan and publish them here is anyone is interested.

The need for a Mottram bypass has been on the agenda in Mottram, Hattersley, Hyde, Glossop, Tintwistle and Longdendale for decades. After many false starts, abandonments and false promises, it has finally been given the go ahead.

This site told its readers several years ago:

Sitting in the soul-destroying traffic hoping someone else will do something for you will make it never happen.

MP’s and Councillors wont fund it unless forced to by public opinion. They find it easier to fiddle the expenses and have some lunch (on you) than do something about a very real decades old issue which Mottram traffic congestion is.

You need to contact your elected representatives. Its easier than it used to be. There is no getting out the pen and paper and trudging to the mailbox and paying for an over-priced stamp any more. Its all online. You can do it in a few clicks.

And people did. People read the signs in gardens while sitting in the traffic. People tweeted. People started petitions on the Number 10 website. People wrote to politicians. Some of them listened.

They are the ones who deserve your votes. 

However, some local politicians didn’t listen. Some didn’t even bother to reply when contacted via the “Write to Them” website. Want to know who? We published them already but will do so again:

The internet is a most powerful tool nowadays, elected politicians who do nothing on this issue will be lampooned here. If you are an elected politician serving Tameside, listen up: We are watching you, and if you do not reply your constituents on this issue, and be seen to campaign to help solve Mottram’s traffic issues, you will be exposed here.

Several months ago, our Mottram resident used the site writetothem.com to contact the following representatives:

• Councillor Janet Cooper (Labour)
• Councillor Adam White (Labour)
• Councillor Gillian Peet (Labour)

The three Councillors either didn’t reply or replied with some generic copy/pasted bullshit.

If you care about the Mottram Bypass issue, we urge you to NOT vote for Councillors Janet Cooper, Adam White or Gillian Peet. They do not care about this issue or your opinion.

The Mottram Bypass has had a lot of false starts in the past.

Can you spot the common denominator in those who didn’t reply to questions? Hint: Labour. 

Can it be derailed again? What if a Labour government get in next year? As we know, Labour governments prefer to spend money on one-legged, Albanian asylum seekers, traffic wardens, Lesbian outreach workers and Methadone for junkies than do sensible things like build roads to stop little kids choking while walking to school.

When asked this on Twitter this last week, both Jonathan Reynolds and Andrew Bingham declined to reply if a new Labour government could derail this.

The next BIG question to our politicians is: When will work start? 

The government CPO’d much property and land years ago where the first stage of the bypass will run. Most of the land is already sitting there owned by the taxpayer. There is years and years already saved. The bypass is good to go in theory!

The first stage will run from the M67 roundabout, across the fields behind the petrol station on Hyde Road, it will tunnel under Roe Cross Road and curve round to an interchange off Mottram Moor.

The work announced includes:

• Building of the Mottram Moor link road. A new dual carriageway link road from the M67 terminal roundabout to a new junction north of the A57(T) at Mottram Moor and a new single-carriageway link from there to the A57(T) to bypass Mottram.
• A57(T) to A57 link road. A new single carriage link from the A57(T) at Mottram Moor to a new junction on the A57 at Brookfield, bypassing the existing A628/A57 and A57 Woolley Lane/Hadfield Road junctions.

The long term plan is to tunnel through the moors and provide a decent connection to Sheffield.

Remember, this wasn’t the Socialist Borough of Tameside that brought this one home. It was the Tory party. I might even hold off voting for Farage on the back of this. The Tory boys did good!

As long as its not all hot air like Cameron’s last EU referendum. So that begs the next all-important question: WHEN?

This site says: “Yes please! But when will work start?” 

All local politicians will be contacted with a link here and asked that question. The ones who ignore the question will be published here. 

 

Please use the buttons below to share us on your Facebook page, Twitter feed, G+ or whatever you use.

Follow the “Yes” campaign on Twitter here: >>Yes to the Mottram Bypass<<