Hollingworth BypassHollingworth BypassA blog which opposes the construction of the Hollingworth Bypass with a commitment to preserve green areas. Articles
Op-Ed: Sean & Johnny - come on down
2008-04-01 23:10:00 What follows is a post from the alternative Active Longdendale blog that has been set up to shadow the posts from Sean Parker-Perry's 'Environmental Clean-Up' and/or 'Community Tool Hire' official blog:"... Just what is the point of Active Longdendale? What is its role or raison d'etre? What values and/or aspirations underpin its foundation? More intriguingly, how does it differ to already existing groups that provide a similar service?Trawling the Internet in an attempt to find some answers reveals that information on Active Longdendale is very thin on the ground. What little information that is available tends to be somewhat contradictory.Nevertheless, buried in the Minutes (paragraph 42) of the Longdendale and District Assembly, which was chaired by Cllr Sean Parker Perry (Labour) held on 07/12/2006, lies the following nugget in which the Town Manager appears to provide a succinct definition of its aims and purpose:(Active Longdendale is a) "project that provides an opportu... More About: Johnny
April is for Fools
2008-04-01 21:02:00 Today is All Fools Day, and for the next calendar month we'll be focusing a lot of our attention on one fool in particular.It's the local elections on 1st May, and the Longdendale Councillor, Sean Parker-Perry is up for re-election in 2008. Readers of this weblog will be more than familiar with this individual, but not so much with what we will be revealing over the next few weeks.As a Longdendale Labour councillor, Parker-Perry has marched in step with his fellow councillors, and has always backed plans for the bypass. But his activities have always gone beyond those of a traditional Councillor. Last year, we revealed our suspicions that it was he that was the blogger behind the (now deleted) weblog 'Support the Hollingworth Bypass' (since restored to the internet by us). This month - a year on - we'll present the evidence.Plus, we'll be looking in depth at Sean's own 'environmental' organisation 'Active Longdendale' - who and what are they, and what do they do? You've ... More About: April
Exclusive - Longdendale Siege's new fundraising drive
2008-04-01 07:00:00 Word has reached us that the Longdendale Siege Committee are getting very worried about the PI delays. So much so, they have decided to do what they can to raise money in case the government decide the scheme is too costly.In what must be a clear indication of discontent within their ranks, an anonymous source inside Siege has emailed us a copy of a press release sent out last night which reveals the plan. You have read it here first (click on the thumbnail below to get to the larger image). We'll see how this one runs... More About: Exclusive , Fundraising , Drive
Roadmunkey's Rail Conversion
2008-03-31 01:56:00 Whilst doing a search for new local blogs I discovered that Longdendale Councillor and pro-bypass fanatic Sean Parker-Perry (nee Sean Perry) a.k.a. Roadmunkey, has a new web presence.No, I'm not talking about the resurrected Roadmunkey blog, or even the blog of all Sean's Wikipedia edits, this is something entirely different. The road lobbyist-cum-fake environmentalist appears to have a new hobby horse which is the hiring out of tools to the local community. The website can be found here in exactly the same style and design as the old Roadmunkey blog!Ironically, in his first and only post to date, there is no mention of his beloved bypass ('will fight to the end') but rather a picture of a railway arch in Broadbottom which is to be the home of Active Longdendale (AL), its 'community toolshed depot' so to speak. Indeed, Sean himself has sought and unsurprisingly achieved planning permission for the project himself (documents here).So who's a good, public spirited, altruistic... More About: Rail , Conversion
Trying to hide the facts
2008-03-27 13:46:00 Even after disposing of the Project Leader for the Mottram Bypass scheme Stephen Greenhalgh and appointing Alex Bywaters from Yorkshire to take over his mantle, the Highways Agency is still trying everything in the book to stop you knowing the facts. This latest example should appal everyone throughout Tameside and Longendale.Because a Bypass will now cost YOU far more than the £200 million anticipated, plus of course the absolutely disastrous failure to back up the road scheme with factual evidence (which cost TMBC Council Tax payers around the £1 million mark for absolutely nothing), then of course the £16 million plus which YOU have paid for the absolute trash presented by the Highways Agency as evidence, I wanted to know who are the members of the Highways Tender Selection Panel and their specific backgrounds. Who are the people who are determining how and to whom YOUR MONEY is being allocated?Back came the reply that we have been unable to offer the details as yet because we a... More About: Facts , Hide
We are one today
2008-03-27 07:00:00 We're one year old today. Hasn't the time flown?I'm not surprised we're still here - after all, unlike the opposition, we always expected the Public Inquiry to drag on (although it's now even surpassing our own expectations). Plus, we are in this for the long haul. The politicians may look forward to 2012/2013 (the planned date of construction of the bypass), but even if all goes the way of the destroyers of the earth A LOT can (and will) happen to try to knock this project off the rails. There is a war, this is a weapon.One thing can be sure, if you want to know what's going on, you will read it here first.Last year, we set out to fill gap that existed in the coverage of the debate about this road. This blog fully intended to become the only regularly updated website which tackles the core and broader issues of the bypass. 12 months later, it remains so. It's not that we want to hog the limelight, but given the glacial progress of this scheme, the devil often makes work for ... More About: Today
Climate Change and the Decisions that Matter
2008-03-23 19:00:00 The Acid Test - Government Policy Decisions on Climate Change Before proceeding with this article it is best to state at the outset that the issues are qualified to some extent by prevailing uncertainty regarding Climate Change being man made/anthropocentric. Dripping glaciers and collapsing ice floes make the national and indeed global headlines with alarming - perhaps to some tedious - regularity. Two very recent examples were headline news recently, where the increased rate of melting glaciers was ?bettered? by a gloomy prognosis on the decrease of even stable ice continents, that are not supposed to be so susceptible to fluctuations in temperature.Seemingly, there is also little doubt that the consequences of climate change could be considerable in political, economic and ultimately human terms, hence the urgent need felt by many to ?do something? to avert this crisis ? i.e. promote the Nuclear Industry. Hence also the globe trotting Al Gore - hopefully not contributing too signi... More About: Matter
Tameside - bailing out the BOAT
2008-03-21 22:40:00 In 2005, the Trail Rider's Fellowship (TRF) - an organisation set up to open up the countryside to motorcycles - applied to make Coach Road, Stoney Road and Rabbit Lane in Longdendale a BOAT ('Byway Open to All Traffic'). Although Tameside MBC have consistently objected to this, the TRF have so far succeeded in their plans.In our view, Tameside's tactics and the way they have handled this matter have led to this outcome - they screwed up big time!First of all they failed to advertise the issue so that people couldn?t object. When challenged over this by one of our readers, Tameside merely stated that there was "no provision in schedule 14 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 for giving public notice" - they didn't have to, so they decided not to bother. Great.Secondly, they submitted evidence that the lanes in question were ancient highways. Now, because of that and as a direct result of the Council incompetence, the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food & Rur... More About: Boat , The Boat
John Watson's lonely hearts club
2008-03-17 22:50:00 We did promise more about the further postponement of the Public Inquiry and today we have the sad tale of the lonely figure that is the Inspector, John Watson.What prompted the Highways Agency's latest announcement was in fact a letter from John Watson published the week before. He makes it clear that he has not heard from the Highways Agency by their promised date of February 2008 and published a series of questions, to wit:Does the Highways Agency still intend to submit revised evidence to the Inquiry?If the Highways Agency still intends to submit revised evidence to the Inquiry, when does it intend to do so?These are the words of a man kept hanging on. He has no role without his consort, and sounds rather lost and desperate. He is eager to please, but is really the Highways Agency's plaything. And they have decided not to play, at least for the time being.The reason Roy Oldham and the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce are huffing and puffing and getting steamed up, and t... More About: Club , Hearts , Lonely
Siege must be choking
2008-03-16 18:27:00 After a long, long wait, the Longdendale Siege Committee have finally updated their website, and the most noticeable addition is a new page about Nitrogen Dioxide pollution in Hollingworth.From an academic point of view, the data they provide is useless - in the sense that they do not provide sources for their data. If there are no points of reference for the information they provide, then it cannot be effectively verified or checked.Now don't get us wrong: we are not saying that there is not pollution in Longdendale or Hollingworth, but we would like to be able to examine the validity and accuracy of the data they present. We feel that this is not unreasonable.So in the absence of proper references, we can only turn to the information put before the Public Inquiry . The Highways Agency's Air Quality expert, Mr Bean (seriously), presented a lot of information about pollution. The accuracy of his data and the methodology deployed may be looked at in a future post here, but for the t...
STOP PRESS! - Public Inquiry dead as a Dodo?
2008-03-12 18:37:00 We've missed this one, but so has everyone else. On Monday, the Highways Agency informed the Inspector of the Public Inquiry, John Watson, that they will not be ready to present proper finalised evidence until OCTOBER 2008.One wonders if the PI will ever reconvene. More soon... More About: Press , Dead , Stop , Public Inquiry
John Watson's Worldwide Fanclub
2008-03-10 21:05:00 Older readers of this blog may well remember the joke we had at the expense of the Inspector John Watson prior to the commencement of the Public Inquiry last year. We'd rumbled his textbook on road building and called for a book signing session on his behalf.And he even commented upon our blog at the Pre-Inquiry Meeting:I have written a textbook called Highway Construction and Maintenance which was last revised in 1994. You can still buy it, should you wish to. I will not be signing copies today because it is out of date, apart from anything else. (page 7, lines 9-12)(Much to hoots of laughter & applause from the members of Siege Mentality who were present - not recorded in the transcript. The joke's on them anyway)OK, it was a joke - but why not? After all, one or two visitors to the blog over the past few weeks have been seeking out this tarmac-junky-tome for far-flung shores. Here's one from Jakarta and another from Dubai.Of perhaps John's on holiday and is looking himsel... More About: Worldwide , John Watson
John Hall on TMBC's 'smoking gun'
2008-03-08 23:10:00 February 28th 2008 in the Glossop/Tameside Advertiser saw Councillor Jonathan Reynolds belting out the rhetoric again regarding the Mottram Bypass. Well, it's time the confirmed and accurate truth was given out regarding the serious deception that has been produced concerning the Longdendale Valley which MPs, Councillors etc have been aware of and have decided to keep hidden from the electorate of Tameside and Longendale. So here it is.The Bypass planned for the Longdendale Valley form part of a transpennine route linking the Humberside ports and their facilities plus all the Yorkshire Regions to the Western ports. It will provide road links to airports linking Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic with Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield & Yorkshire and from Eastern ports to further afield: Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, the Balkans and other European Countries.What is needed by the Government & TMBC is a Bypass to create an 'M62 mark 2' linking all these locations whi... More About: John , Smoking , Smoking Gun , Hall
What's in Action Man's pants?
2008-03-04 20:40:00 Chronicle & Reporter readers had a rare treat last week from one of Longdendale's seemingly shyest councillors. 'Our friend from the North' Jonathan Reynolds - a trainee solicitor and seemingly a career politician in the making - clearly feels he has to do his bit to calm the troops in the pro-bypass lobby:His use of the term "unanswerable case" demonstrates his contempt for those who dare to dissent - something he has in common with his fellow Councillors and the Labour Party in general.He clearly feels so strongly about this that he feels no need to put his "unanswerable case" before the Public Inquiry. He feels there in no case against the road, so much so that he doesn't need to answer any difficult questions. Or rather, that he doesn't want to. It seems he's a slimy as his former boss, James Purnell. He's been trained well. You'd have thought that a trainee solicitor would relish the opportunity - but not this one, it seems he's yellow.Pro-bypass people of Longdend... More About: Action , Pants
Village Green Preservation Society
2008-02-28 13:35:00 There has been a lot of coverage in the press recently regarding the issue of housing in High Peak for younger persons from the locality who cannot get a foot on the housing ladder. MP Tom Levitt has added his voice to the debate, and put the boot in for good measure to the concept of Village Green s, which according to our MP have allowed a few selfish individuals to stop developments and sports halls in Buxton.At first sight Mr Levitt’s indignation with such selfish individuals seems wholly in the right, but sometimes - or perhaps quite often in his case - it is worth looking that little bit further, and this seems one of those instances.It is worth noting that there are many houses in High Peak, which are not in the complete sense of the word “homes†because they are wholly or mainly unoccupied. These are second homes or houses bought as investments. It is not unusual in fact to find a worryingly high percentage of the housing stock on many local streets out of effective cir... More About: Society , Preservation
TMBC, Longdendale Siege & David Moore: the truth
2008-02-26 21:50:00 Hands up who believes the propaganda of Tameside MBC & Longdendale Siege Committee that the Longdendale Bypass is meant to relieve the three villages of congestion? If there are any that read this weblog, then this post may make you think again. For those who already suspect it is lies, here is the evidence that seems to have lain buried, until now.Readers of local newspapers may be familiar with one David Moore . A person of that name used to regularly write in to advocate pro bypass views, as well as launch vitriolic attacks on anti-bypass campaigners (to be fair, we could be said to be the 'anti David Moore' in that respect, as it's our style too). Some examples are here and here (notice the classic Chronicle/Daily Mail/Fascist headline for the latter - 'Minority views are not valid'). We're not sure whether or not he had any direct affiliation with the Longdendale Siege Committee, but given his views and willingness to write to the newspapers (and regularly get publish... More About: Truth , The Truth
Free Speech for the Dumb or 'If you don't like bad news, don't shoot the me
2008-02-24 01:35:00 Our spies have reported that Longdendale's biggest mouth, Roy Oldham (after his brother-in-law Mike Flynn) has been throwing his weight around again.At the last full Council meeting on 14th February, Roy Oldham poured scorn on the recent Manchester Evening News article about TMBC's costs for the Glossop Spur. He reportedly said that the MEN journalist Brian Lashley was 'biased' and that he should 'reconsider his job' and also said that he would be 'speaking to the editor'.The MEN get a lot of shit from both sides for their bypass coverage - including us, for differing reasons. But just who does Oldham think he is? He's so brazen that he thinks he can call for the resignation of a journalist on a regional newspaper for merely reporting how much TMBC have spent on their pet scheme.But we're not going to call for Oldham to resign or even shut up. Because these bully-boy tactics can only further tarnish his already shitty reputation as an intimidating gobshite ... and help us ... More About: Free , Bad News , Dumb , Free Speech
Free Speech for the Dumb or 'If you don't like bad news, don't shoot the me
2008-02-24 01:35:00 Our spies have reported that Longdendale's biggest mouth, Roy Oldham (after his brother-in-law Mike Flynn) has been throwing his weight around again.At the last full Council meeting on 14th February, Roy Oldham poured scorn on the recent Manchester Evening News article about TMBC's costs for the Glossop Spur. He reportedly said that the MEN journalist Brian Lashley was 'biased' and that he should 'reconsider his job' and also said that he would be 'speaking to the editor'.The MEN get a lot of shit from both sides for their bypass coverage - including us, for differing reasons. But just who does Oldham think he is? He's so brazen that he thinks he can call for the resignation of a journalist on a regional newspaper for merely reporting how much TMBC have spent on their pet scheme.But we're not going to call for Oldham to resign or even shut up. Because these bully-boy tactics can only further tarnish his already shitty reputation as an intimidating gobshite ... and help us ... More About: Free , Bad News , Dumb , Free Speech
Mottram Tesco - update
2008-02-21 22:50:00 You may remember our exclusive article back last month about TMBC's plans to bring Tesco to Mottram.Well now the press has caught hold of the story since the issue was raised at last week's Longdendale & Hattersley District Assembly. And quite rightly, concerns are being raised about the increased traffic it will bring to the area. And it seems Tameside will have a fight on their hands if residents like Jane Whyte have anything to do with it:"If I have to walk round every house on this estate and Broadbottom and Mottram and get a petition, I will do that rather than see these children hurt."Jane wants an entrance/exit to the store either on Mottram Road or Stockport Road, rather than Ashworth Lane. But that will clearly really mess with traffic projections - if they aren't already hugely affected by this development. And we revealed last month that this is the reason for the delays in the Public Inquiry into the bypass, as the existing traffic models will be severely comprom... More About: Update
Mottram Tesco - update
2008-02-21 22:50:00 You may remember our exclusive article back last month about TMBC's plans to bring Tesco to Mottram.Well now the press has caught hold of the story since the issue was raised at last week's Longdendale & Hattersley District Assembly. And quite rightly, concerns are being raised about the increased traffic it will bring to the area. And it seems Tameside will have a fight on their hands if residents like Jane Whyte have anything to do with it:"If I have to walk round every house on this estate and Broadbottom and Mottram and get a petition, I will do that rather than see these children hurt."Jane wants an entrance/exit to the store either on Mottram Road or Stockport Road, rather than Ashworth Lane. But that will clearly really mess with traffic projections - if they aren't already hugely affected by this development. And we revealed last month that this is the reason for the delays in the Public Inquiry into the bypass, as the existing traffic models will be severely comprom... More About: Update
Glossop Spur costs & Tory opportunism
2008-02-19 21:30:00 Today's Manchester Evening News has a story which is well-known in anti-bypass circles, but perhaps less so more widely: namely, that Tameside Council's costs for the Glossop Spur have reached £800,000. There are two aspects of this we would like to concentrate on in this post.Firstly, that this is in fact old news, to us at least. Indeed, our fellow campaigner John Hall submitted a Freedom of Information nearly 2 years ago and received a response indicating that the projected costs to March 2007 would be approximately £836,000. Given the hiccups with the Public Inquiry, the costs must surely be far more by now.Perhaps it's time we rigged up another cost-counter for the Glossop Spur?The second aspect is the fact that this article is effectively a press release for Tameside Tories. All you need to know about this lot is summed up by these words in the article:"Councillor Bell said while the Tory group supports the proposal..."We'd have to assume they do because there's been no o... More About: Costs
Glossop Spur costs & Tory opportunism
2008-02-19 21:30:00 Today's Manchester Evening News has a story which is well-known in anti-bypass circles, but perhaps less so more widely: namely, that Tameside Council's costs for the Glossop Spur have reached £800,000. There are two aspects of this we would like to concentrate on in this post.Firstly, that this is in fact old news, to us at least. Indeed, our fellow campaigner John Hall submitted a Freedom of Information nearly 2 years ago and received a response indicating that the projected costs to March 2007 would be approximately £836,000. Given the hiccups with the Public Inquiry, the costs must surely be far more by now.Perhaps it's time we rigged up another cost-counter for the Glossop Spur?The second aspect is the fact that this article is effectively a press release for Tameside Tories. All you need to know about this lot is summed up by these words in the article:"Councillor Bell said while the Tory group supports the proposal..."We'd have to assume they do because there's been no o... More About: Costs
Carillion's big visit
2008-02-19 00:45:00 Around the time of the visits to the blog about James Purnell last week, we had one particular visit that really stood out. Carillion - contractors for the bypass (and not an 80s prog-rock group) - spent a lot of time on this blog, checking all the contributors out (to no avail) and also trawling through our archive. Yes, they spent nearly 90 minutes here.If only they knew the time (and money) we spent trying to get the correct matching typeface to détourne their logo (info for font nerds: ITC Giovanni). More About: Visit
Carillion's big visit
2008-02-19 00:45:00 Around the time of the visits to the blog about James Purnell last week, we had one particular visit that really stood out. Carillion - contractors for the bypass (and not an 80s prog-rock group) - spent a lot of time on this blog, checking all the contributors out (to no avail) and also trawling through our archive. Yes, they spent nearly 90 minutes here.If only they knew the time (and money) we spent trying to get the correct matching typeface to détourne their logo (info for font nerds: ITC Giovanni). More About: Visit
Incident on the Snake Pass...
2008-02-18 01:20:00 Perhaps not what you were expecting, but to celebrate the re-opening of the Snake Pass , here's a little helping of the wonderful John Shuttleworth (aka Jilted John) with his song 'Incident on the the Snake Pass':
Incident on the Snake Pass...
2008-02-18 01:20:00 Perhaps not what you were expecting, but to celebrate the re-opening of the Snake Pass , here's a little helping of the wonderful John Shuttleworth (aka Jilted John) with his song 'Incident on the the Snake Pass':
Lots & lots of visitors...
2008-02-12 22:30:00 Well well well. It seems we've attracted a lot of attention today from lots of different quarters, and mostly all landing on the same post. Guess which one?It seems that lots of interesting visitors are into the story about Purnell, Parker-Perry & Co. What's helped is being linked to from a very popular weblog. But the devil is in the details, so let's press on.Firstly, 3 visits from the Houses of Parliament. Here, here and here. Friends coming to mourn, or foes gathering for the feast?Secondly, our natural enemies - Sean Parker-Perry himself and good old Tameside. Are you afraid Sean? Time to build up that Olive Air Freshener business (a feature is coming along soon...).Thirdly, the media. So far, Associated Newspapers & British Sky Broadcasting. Yum!It also looks likes vultures are sniffing around. Two PR firms have turned up - Randall's Parliamentary Service and 'Good Relations'. Time to make the call James, good job you sold the house, you may need the cash... More About: Visitors
Lots & lots of visitors...
2008-02-12 22:30:00 Well well well. It seems we've attracted a lot of attention today from lots of different quarters, and mostly all landing on the same post. Guess which one?It seems that lots of interesting visitors are into the story about Purnell, Parker-Perry & Co. What's helped is being linked to from a very popular weblog. But the devil is in the details, so let's press on.Firstly, 3 visits from the Houses of Parliament. Here, here and here. Friends coming to mourn, or foes gathering for the feast?Secondly, our natural enemies - Sean Parker-Perry himself and good old Tameside. Are you afraid Sean? Time to build up that Olive Air Freshener business (a feature is coming along soon...).Thirdly, the media. So far, Associated Newspapers & British Sky Broadcasting. Yum!It also looks likes vultures are sniffing around. Two PR firms have turned up - Randall's Parliamentary Service and 'Good Relations'. Time to make the call James, good job you sold the house, you may need the cash... More About: Visitors
Outraged of Tunbridge Wells (via Hyde)
2008-02-11 21:16:00 As folk both locally and nationally will have noticed, it's not been a good few months for James Purnell, with this last week being no exception. Now you may think that this blog is just about the bypass, and other pressing environmental issues in Longdendale & Glossopdale, and you'd be right. But in for a penny, in for a pound...So firstly, people with a short memories (and with a press cutting library less extensive than ours) may be surprised to learn that Mike Doherty is not the only one of Purnell's staff members to write into the press to support his boss, when it seems his constituents are less than supportive on an issue.Just over 12 months ago (14th December 2006 to be precise), another member of Purnell's staff called Barbara Charlesworth (that's her with Sean & Mike above, presumably taken by James) wrote to support Purnell following a letter from an anti-bypass campaigner which criticised Purnell's contradictory stance on environmental issues and his suppo... More About: Hyde , Wells
Outraged of Tunbridge Wells (via Hyde)
More articles from this author:2008-02-11 21:16:00 As folk both locally and nationally will have noticed, it's not been a good few months for James Purnell, with this last week being no exception. Now you may think that this blog is just about the bypass, and other pressing environmental issues in Longdendale & Glossopdale, and you'd be right. But in for a penny, in for a pound...So firstly, people with a short memories (and with a press cutting library less extensive than ours) may be surprised to learn that Mike Doherty is not the only one of Purnell's staff members to write into the press to support his boss, when it seems his constituents are less than supportive on an issue.Just over 12 months ago (14th December 2006 to be precise), another member of Purnell's staff called Barbara Charlesworth (that's her with Sean & Mike above, presumably taken by James) wrote to support Purnell following a letter from an anti-bypass campaigner which criticised Purnell's contradictory stance on environmental issues and his suppo... More About: Hyde , Wells 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
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