USING a ‘unique’ Mossley road as an access point for construction vehicles on a multi-billion pound rail project will create ‘unwarranted risk and havoc,’ an inquiry has been told.
Those behind the Transpennine Route Upgrade have earmarked Mill Lane, Archer Street and Brookfields as a location for and access to a compound as the town’s railway station would be moved and the lines electrified.
But chair of Mossley Town Council, Cllr Dave Joens, has warned the public inquiry into the project of the problems he feels that may create.
The fact Mill Lane is a steep hill, with Milton St John’s Primary School on it and small streets running off it, makes it already dangerous.
Adding vehicles travelling to and from the compound is a recipe for disaster.
Cllr Jones told the haring at Uppermill Civic Hall: “Blockages, collisions, near-misses for vehicles and people, vehicles getting stuck, wing mirrors being knocked off, sudden braking and vehicles careering out of control downhill in rain, ice and snow are all too regular occurrences and are well documented.
“Mill Lane is widely known as one of the most precarious and dangerous locations in Mossley.
“It is fraught with unavoidable risks and this seems to provoke impatience, nervousness and tension in drivers, which only serves to further heighten those risks.
“It is only by a combination of care, enforcement, awareness raising, warnings and sheer chance and luck that no one has been seriously injured or killed to date.
“But everything has a moment of critical mass, a point at which a situation becomes intolerable, spirals out of control and breaks down into a crisis and we believe that allowing the proposed access to the railway down Mill Lane is potentially that very moment in this scenario.
“The location is a breaking point and these proposals will plunge it into peril.”
Now former Tameside Councillor for Mossley, Tafheen Sharif, backed up Cllr Jones’ view, particularly around the traffic Milton St John’s causes.
She also asked chair of the inquiry, Matthew Woodward, to visit at a peak rime – drop off or pick up, so he can see for himself the impact adding construction traffic would have.
And Cllr Jones, who was cross-examined by Network Rail’s lead barrister, Richard Turney KC, told how a real-life view will give a different impression than looking at a map.
He added: “I know the Inspector will personally walk around the proposed site and I hope that he is enlightened by this.
“But there may be others who will not do the same and for whom Brookfields, Mill Lane and the surrounding streets are no more than lines, illustrations and numbered references on thousands of pieces of paper.
“But for those of us who live our lives in Mosley, this is our town, our home, our history and our future.
“The new station will change Mossley forever, but we don’t want the legacy of that change to be destructive, damaging and traumatic, or to be marred by serious injury or worse.”
In rebuttal evidence to campaigners concerned about the impact of the TRU scheme, Network Rail contend: “To provide a safe access route across the Brookfields area, a suitable temporary running surface, such as stone, will need to be installed and removed upon completion of the works.
“This surface is proposed to extend from the existing layby on the south side of Spring Street, along the existing path line across the Brookfields area.
“It is not envisaged that any vehicles the size of a refuse collection vehicle or scaffold delivery vehicle will be required to use this access route, given the surrounding roads to reach this area are not suitable for such sized vehicles.
“Therefore, only smaller vehicles will be used on the approach to Spring Street and via the access route.”
The inquiry continues.