Bury Council have denied claims made by one of the town’s MPs that they plan to reduce one of the major roads in the town centre to a single lane in each direction. In a recent newsletter, Bury North MP James Daly said a section in the council’s Bury town centre masterplan suggested what he termed a ‘ridiculous’ plan to narrow Angouleme Way to one lane in each way in order to increase spaces for cyclists and pedestrians.
However, the controlling Labour group said such changes were not currently being considered by the council. Bury Labour accused Mr Daly of ‘scaremongering’ and said he had ‘plucked one of many illustrative examples of what Bury town centre might look like 15 to 20 years from now to scare residents into thinking the council is making immediate and drastic changes’.
The controversial section of the town centre masterplan is under the section ‘Reconfiguration of Southern Ring Road’. It states: “The masterplan proposes a comprehensive transformation of the southern half of the ring road including Angouleme Way, Jubilee Way and Derby Way in response to Greater Manchester’s Streets For All agenda.
“This seeks to reduce the major severance created by this major arterial route and significantly improves conditions for pedestrians and cyclists including improved access to the Interchange. It is anticipated that proposals would include focusing primary vehicle traffic to the north (Peel Way) along primary routes and highlighting gateways into the town centre through the creation of key priority junctions.”
An illustration in the plans visualises a proposed ‘green street’ to replace the current arterial route which shows a four metre wide single traffic lane in each direction alongside a two-metre cycle lane and two-metre footway. Another diagram shows Angouleme Way as it passes Bury Market as a single lane road.
Bury Labour said that the masterplan had been in the public domain for more than a year and was welcomed at the time by Conservative councillors including their leader, Coun Russell Bernstein, who said he was ‘totally supportive’ and ‘particularly excited’ about the plan.
Mr Daly said: “In the latest released proposals from Bury Council relating to the town centre masterplan, it has been suggested Angouleme Way should be reconfigured to reduce the highway to a single lane in order to increase spaces for cyclists and pedestrians.”
He said he was undertaking a survey of residents on this aspect of the masterplan and would then make representations to Bury Council on behalf of them.
A spokesman for Bury Labour, added: “The masterplan was widely consulted on so we could gather the views of residents about the many different ideas and options it contains. It received broad public support. We’re not aware that Mr Daly raised any concern about this at the time.
“Changes to Angouleme Way which would reduce it to a single lane of traffic are not being considered by this council. We have an exciting vision for our town centre to make it more accessible to visitors by improving public transport connections and walking and cycling routes but it is not our intention to ban or restrict cars.
“Our approach is and always has been to give people reasons to leave the car at home rather than to punish car drivers.”
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