Hollingworth Bypass

RSS Feed Homepage

Articles: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

BBC on the bandwagon
2007-07-27 21:27:00
The story which we broke 11 days ago has now reached the monolith that is the BBC, featuring on North West Tonight this evening. It's not dissimilar to the Channel M feature, and the wind blew a copy of it into our hands...On the Advertiser website, the comments still roll in, overwhelmingly negative, but no-one from the media has still acknowledged where the story came from.
More About: Wagon , The Band

Where do they build Travelodges?
2007-07-26 23:58:00
If anyone has any doubts that Hadfield is doomed and Oldham & the Highways Agency want a motorway through Longdendale, all they need to do is go to High Peak Borough Council's planning website.There they will find a planning application (full plans can be downloaded) for a 40-bed Hotel, alongside the point the Glossop Spur is supposed to join the A57. The Hotel will have 120 car parking spaces and measure 1525 square meters in floorspace. It will have 15 employees, and feature a bar and restaurant (both separate, i.e. like a Little Chef or Burger King at Travelodge hotels), and will be open 24 hours a day.Sound familiar? If you've every visited a Travelodge or similar hotel, this fits the description. And why build such a place? Well, you find them at the end of motorways or alongside major dual carriageways or similarly very busy roads.What's surprising is that outline planning permission was granted in 1999, and renewed in 2004. The current plan has been under 'consultation'...
More About: Build , Lodge , Where

Now the papers get their stories from us...
2007-07-26 17:56:00
After our post last week about the Mottram-in-Longdendale plaque, it seems the MEN have been visiting us and decided to poach the story (they haven't published the comment we left, unsurprisingly). Channel M (they're joined at the hip) have now jumped in, so we've grabbed it for YouTube and now the story is back home again.The Advertiser article has a few good nuggets. Firstly, it cost £3000. Second is Oldham, quoted in all his arrogant, obnoxious glory:"I?ve lived there for 50 years, represented the ward for 40 years and was born in Mottram.It?s like when a carpenter works in a church and carves a little church mouse on the bottom for an emblem. I don?t see why anyone should make a problem but there are sad people in all walks of life.?So did Roy make it himself then? No, of course not, the implication is that he has MADE LONGDENDALE. I'm running out of words to express how vile this individual is ... and he's just branded most people in the area 'sad'.And of course, the med...
More About: Stories , Papers

Beer Goggles
2007-07-24 21:33:00
Anthony McKeown must have had a crate of his namesake brew before last Thursday's Glossopdale Area Forum, because he seemed to have attended a different meeting than some of our correspondents.Rossington Park finds itself relegated to one paragraph in his latest blog, yet the issue dominated the meeting, with the anger being palpable. Whilst the council officers prattled on about distracting 'trinkets and baubles' such as new bins and playground equipment, they also did all they could to wring to their hands about the whole issue, going on about 'creating jobs' (which the area doesn't need as there's full employment) and being ham strung by planning regs. No one brought a violin.McKeown was present, but chose to keep quiet (as did other more local councillors present - i.e. Mann and McKeown senior). Now he blames it on the Tories, for not being there. But it's one thing to not bother to turn up (for God's sake, we know they don't give a shit!), and another entirely to do s...
More About: Beer , Goggles

How convenient...
2007-07-24 21:07:00
People travelling along Woolley Bridge Road from Hadfield will have noticed the slow and steady destruction on the road surface over the past few months, in particular the 50 yards or so leading up to the mini-roundabout at the (former) Spread Eagle pub with became very dangerous (virtually lethal for cyclists).There's little doubt that the rapid deterioration is due in no small part to the increased HGV traffic coming to and from Rossington Park, because the wear was worst where the A57 meets Woolley Bridge Road.So isn't it so convenient that a complete resurfacing has been completed this weekend gone - just in time for Inspector John Watson's site visits, which commence tomorrow?

John Watson's tour of Longdendale - ' On the Road Again'
2007-07-22 20:06:00
The latest dates have been announced for John Watson's 'Tour de Longdendale' - the itinerary for his tour locations (and impromptu gigs) has been announced and can be viewed here. He'll be taking to the road on Wednesday 25th and Thursday 26th of July, to view the sites and areas the Highways Agency/TMBC wants to devastate with the bypass.Take your place by the roadside to wave him on his way. Though groupies will not be encouraged, there is a chance that he will sign copies of 'Highway Construction & Maintenance' at selected locations for his fans. The tour's secret last date is at Number 8 Back Moor, where JW will play before a select, invite-only audience of his biggest fans.
More About: Public Inquiry , John Watson , Road

The Tale of Jeremy Fisher
2007-07-17 22:13:00
Many people know that Beatrix Potter had an intimate association with our area - though I personally cant remember for the life of me what it was. It only emerged at about the time of her biopic, at a time when local news was somewhat thin on the ground.What is less well known is that claims have been made that a sequel has been discovered (pages 23-97)- an until recently undiscovered sequel to her internatially (spelling courtesy of Cllr "roadmunkey") acclaimed work about a frog, "Jeremy Fisher ".Apparently and quite strangely, it represents a departure for Ms Potter being less overtly about homely Lake District animals, and mystifyingly more about a "deregulatory approach to town planning and road proposals in this other area that meant so much to her".In the sequel an ambitous town planning frog manages to land a plum chief job in his Planning Department due to the very sudden departure of his predecessor. Cue all kinds of relaxations on planning applications. Retrospective permis...
More About: Tale

Showdown
2007-07-17 20:10:00
Following on from our last post, we're genuinely excited by another of Councillor McKeown's blogs today. He announces that Thursday's Glossopdale Area Forum meeting (7.00 p.m. Glossopdale Community College, Newshaw Lane) is all about 'Regenerating Hadfield'. Since the current policies of HPBC vis-a-vis Rossington Park are all about degenerating Hadfield, and because hundreds of people in the area are very pissed off, this should be a meeting worth attending to watch the shit hit the fan.

Having your cake and eating it
2007-07-17 19:34:00
Older (or should that read 'weary'?) readers of this weblog will remember that amongst our first posts was an attempt to have a dialogue with a Glossop Councillor, Anthony McKeown, about High Peak Borough Council's decision to support the bypass. This fell flat on its face, largely because he refused to allow 'anonymous' comments on his blog (although that doesn't seem to have stopped certain Longdendale Councillors...).But after months of tedious posts about things that are mostly only of interest to himself, he has now given us something to go on. Today, he reveals that HPBC are steamed up because the National Grid want to use the remaining accessible tunnel at Woodhead to carry electric cables, thereby putting it beyond other uses. His conclusion is that we should all support HPBC:"...the proposals should not be supported and instead referred to the relevant government office where hopefully the proposals can be stopped or at (word missing Ant!) amended to prevent the loss ...
More About: Cake , Translink , Eating , Ving

Shit rolls downhill...
2007-07-17 18:35:00
Well, we have the Houses of Parliament visiting us today. And when you look how they arrived at us and what they were looking for (click through image to see the full screen grab), it would suggest a few possibilities:1) Someone is in the shit, as news travels of his adventures on the internet2) Said person is on an away-day to ParliamentEven more interestingly, we had the Guardian Media Group visit us yesterday too, so I'd like to think it's the former. We'll see...
More About: Shit

Writing yourself into history
2007-07-16 20:09:00
Inserting yourself into history before your time is up takes a certain amount of audacity, not to mention arrogance, but it seems Roy Oldham has those qualities in spades. Either that or lickspittles who anticipate his vanity. TMBC's latest wheeze is to erect a plaque next to the Lowry statue which shows important places and landmarks in Mottram-in-Longdendale.There's quite a selection of places (with the obligatory reference to Lowry's last home) but this monument betrays some interesting concepts.Firstly, the route of the Longdendale Bypass cannot be traced since it falls outside the frame. Perhaps TMBC are conscious that it may never be built? Perhaps they're embarrassed? Or maybe they thought this would be tempting fate. After all, even the most arrogant know their limits.And if you didn't know where Oldham lived, you'd think it was on the corner of Back Moor, which it isn't. Perhaps Roy or one of his minions spotted that he wasn't present are ordered the sculpture to be...
More About: History , Writing , Tory

'Councillor' Brocklehurst at the Public Inquiry (again)
2007-07-14 23:16:00
Still with Day #5 of the Public Inquiry, there's no point in talking about the boorish figure of Duncan Hollows (Siege) and his babblings apart from a priceless quote he awarded us - "I have not got the ability to foresee the future, so I am not omniscient" (page 52, line 13). Yes indeed, he is not God. Glad that's cleared up.The best bit of the day is reserved for Joyce Brock lehurst, someone who we've talked about before, with particular reference to her contradictory calls for less traffic and more Industrial Development for Tintwistle.But hang on - why does the Inquiry Programme call her 'Councillor'? She used to be, but now she's a Parish Councillor, and she admits as much, but has to point out she held this post for 16 years. 16 long, long years. And it's all over now. Shame that.She's against public transport - "I do not think public transport is a good option for our area" (page 57, line 15). Well, I'm sorry but IT HAS TO BE. Private car ownership and the complete su...
More About: Public Inquiry

Siege's latest 'local' supporter
2007-07-12 22:32:00
Following our post the other day on the hypocrisy of Longdendale Siege's claims to have canvassed support among drivers from everywhere but Longdendale, it seems their supporters stretch even further than that if this comment on the Tameside Advertiser's website is anything to go by:I travelled the route from Glossop to Hyde in the 1960s I travelled the same route thiis year .Stop procrastinating get the bloody bypass built. harry snelson, canada Is this the same Harry Snelson that is the Director of Communications for the American Association of Swine Veterinarians? And was he looking for swine in Tameside (and did he find any)?
More About: Local , Loca

Lies, damned lies and statistics
2007-07-11 22:02:00
More nuggets from Day #5 were amongst the supporting statement of Patrick Jenner. He illustrates more contradictions in bypass supporters' arguments, this time from the perspective of Tintwistle Parish Council in an exchange with John Watson (page 15, line 19 onwards):(Jenner) The need for a Bypass came top of the list, giving a clear indication of village feelings.Q. Well, it is top of the list in the sense that that is where you have put it, but it got slightly fewer votes than keeping the Post Office, did it not?A. Yes. They were near enough on par.Q. Yes, that is right.A. Second to the keeping of Post Office, yes.Q. Yes.A. A need for Bypass came top of the list as far as we are concerned, but on them statistics it came second.So that's OK then...But then, he's rumbled. John Watson clearly points out that his survey is on Derbyshire CC headed notepaper (page 30, lines 9-16). Oh dear:Q. You have used Derbyshire County Council headed paper to tell people about the survey that y...
More About: Statistics , Public Inquiry , Damn , Stat , Lies

Hypocrites
2007-07-11 21:44:00
All we ever hear from Longdendale Siege is how 'outsiders' are responsible for most of the opposition to this bypass. It's a huge part of their argument, that local people all want the bypass. So who do they run to drum up another petition? Motorists stuck in traffic queues. And where are they from? Well, once again, Siege supporter Arthur Stanway on the transcript from Day #5 of the Public Inquiry shows us (lines 17-22, page 9):Q. Thank you. Just a further thought: so you collected the signatures from people passing in cars?A. That is correct.Q. So were these all local people?A. No, no, these were people coming from outside the village. They are from all over.Not local!
More About: Crit , Hypocrite , Hypocrites

John Watson smells a rat...
2007-07-10 21:22:00
Day 2 of the PI, and he's rumbled Tameside. A priceless quote from John Watson (p.94, line 22):There seems to be a large rodent operating in the corner?Some of us have been smelling a rat for years, but there you go...Day 2 was a day marred by sound problems and John Watson 's rapidly diminishing temper. You would have thought these problems would have been ironed out by now, but many people pointed out back in May that a large open space with a stone floor doesn't lend itself to good acoustics. It's not unreasonable to wonder whether this is deliberate, especially as someone from the floor pointed out (p.23 line 25) on the day that Hyde Town Hall has excellent acoustics.
More About: Public Inquiry

Sean of the Dead
2007-07-08 21:39:00
... has been resurrected. Yes, we have received word that some bright spark has managed to bring back to life Sean Parker-Perry's weblog (aka Roadmunkey). Note the change from the original ('bypassedwarrior' rather than 'bypasswarrrior').Now everyone can read his missives which were posted up until his mysterious disappearance from the internet last month. One interesting piece of information to add is that a wikipedia editor in contact with Sean received a reply from the Borough Solicitor of Tameside MBC on a Sunday!Meanwhile, back on wikipedia, Sean's other alter-ego (and IP number) 83.104.50.161 has been editing again - this time James Purnell's page. Indeed, all controversy has been removed from the page, just in time for his new job as Culture Minister. How convenient...
More About: Dead , The D

'Public Inquiry: Day 1' Channel M news report
2007-06-29 21:03:00
Chris Woodward? Since when was he a 'talking head' - although he does try to get himself into the Glossop Chronicle at every opportunity, now he's for the bypass. Ever the opportunist.
More About: News , Public , Report , Public Inquiry , Channel

Counsel for the Highways Agency: Charles Calvert
2007-06-29 21:01:00
The counsel for the Highway s Agency has made his mark on this Inquiry. On Tuesday, he did his best to avoid using the microphone, pretending that he didn't know how to use it or simply avoiding it altogether. Clearly, his words are intended largely for the Inspector. This man could strut sitting down.But he needs to be taken seriously. His Bio on his Chamber's website makes it clear he is very experienced and this profile shows he has a clear track record in advocating road schemes. It also ironically shows that he finds leisure in the 'country life' - presumably not that of the Peak District and Longdendale, which he helping his client to ruin for eternity.But his manner and deportment are at times ridiculous. He forever reminds me of ' la de dah Gunner Graham' from 'It Ain't Half Hot Mum':Can you see the resemblance?
More About: Arles , Charles , Char

"The light is on but nothing is happening..."*
2007-06-29 20:27:00
Being the words of the Highways Agency Barrister, Charles Calvert, during the opening day of the Public Inquiry last Tuesday, it's a phrase that could not be more apt.It has been widely reported elsewhere, but the Highways Agency had the gall to admit that not only had they failed to submit a huge amount of documents by the statutory deadline, but that they had issued an Errata document to those they had already submitted that was 169 pages in length.Calls for an adjournment were heeded by John Watson, though not as far as would have been desirable (and might have been achievable if the PDNPA and Natural England had showed some solidarity). The Highways Agency bleated that they need the current timetable because "their staff had booked holidays"! What tactical mischief is at play here? And how revealing was it that TMBC agreed with objectors that an adjournment to September would be OK? Some kind of game are afoot ...This Inquiry is bound to produce only one result. That much is cl...
More About: Light , Thing

Welcome
2007-06-14 20:12:00
We'd like to extand a warm welcome to Road Alert Glossop, a new group who have joined the fight against the bypass.Visit their page on myspace for more information and to add them to your friends list if you already have a myspace.

Vanished...
2007-06-11 20:39:00
...but not quite without a trace.In this post, we drew attention to some suspicions we had formed (and also that were out there on the world wide web) about whether or not a Longdendale Councillor, Sean Parker-Perry, was the pipsqueak behind the roadmonkey pro-road weblog.Then, last week, a long article appeared in the Glossop Chronicle about how Sean Parker-Perry (poor iccle lamb) and Roy Oldham (erm, poor old mutton) were the victims of a horrible internet conspiracy to call them potty names on the internet, specifically wikipedia. Or something.Looking at the edit histories their respective pages (here and here), it's clear that there's been something of an edit war going on. But what's more interesting is that the one complaining loudest about editing has been no slacker himself. He outed himself on wikipedia last year, and this list of contributions by the user with the IP address 83.104.50.161 yields a lot of obsessive activity on certain pages, some of which lead back to co...
More About: Nish

From the horses mouth
2007-06-09 18:57:00
The Bypass promoters Proofs of Evidence have now been uploaded to the Persona Website, and there'a a lot of stuff to look at.But we've spotted an interesting nugget in there already. In their Proof of Evidence (situated rather tellingly amongst TMBC's documents) High Peak Borough Council's Head of Planning and Development, Adrian Fisher, states rather blatantly the Council's position on the inter-related nature of the Bypass, Glossop Spur & Rossington Park. All in one paragraph (4.8), but here it is verbatim:In the 1998 High Peak Local plan a large strategic employment sitewas allocated at Etherow Park (now Rossington Park) off WooleyBridge Road in Hadfield. The Plan makes it clear that the plannedconstruction of the Bypass and spur would add to the attractiveness ofthis site for investment and so was a significant factor in its allocation.Following considerable new infrastructure Rossington Park is only nowfully coming on stream and the prospect of the bypass being completedre...
More About: Horses , Mouth , Horse

Beep beep!
2007-06-06 19:17:00
You have to feel sorry for Longdendale Siege Mentality. Being lovers of hopeless causes, they have gone to the trouble of waking up the silver surfer whose job it is to maintain their interweb contraption in order to get as many of their reputed 8,500 supporters to sign their pm.gov.uk petition. Yes, we've gone on and on about that before, but bear with us.Allied with the plea on their homepage, a letter in the Glossop Chronicle exhorted the multitudes to go to this petition (whilst failing to give the URL - which does help), and they did manage to pull their socks up: the total currently stands at 110. They must be congratulated for coming within 30 signatures of ours. Someone put something in their collective Ovaltine no doubt.But - I don't know how to break this. The opposing petition is now zooming off into hyperspace. The Siege are eating our dust......beep, beep!

Coincidences
2007-06-04 22:51:00
It's like an irritating fly that won't leave you alone...We are loathe to draw attention to pipsqueaks who are largely talking to themselves, but roadmunkey has an interesting blog today.He prattles on about some letter in the Glossop Chronicle 2 weeks ago, where one of Longdendale's less interesting Councillors gets his knickers in a twist over a regular letter writer to the Glossop Chronicle/Tameside Reporter, one Daniel Hooper.Strangely, in this letter Councillor Parker-Perry seems to have as similar an obsession with Mr Hooper as roadmunkey has. Also, he is indignant about Rossington Park - as is roadmunkey. And lastly, the councillor's letter to the Chronicle also goes on about how the CPRE supposedly supports the bypass, as does the 'bypasswarrior' (sic) website. Coin cidental? How the fuck should we know...?Now we thought the latter issue was settled some time ago. We pointed out to CPRE that roadmunkey was blatantly lying about CPRE support for the bypass, and they sent...
More About: Coincidence , Cide

Persona non-grata
2007-05-31 20:26:00
It seems that we're not invited to the Party at Person a Associates Public Inquiry Website.But I guess there would be a certain delicious irony in the bureaucrats using our lovely hand-picked email address to contact us to ask permission.And if there's psychology to the way a list is ordered, then someone clearly favours Longdendale Siege Engine's veritable abortion of a website above all else. Not to mention the glossopspur.com website - last updated nearly a year ago!It seems that if you have friends in high places, it really does make a difference.
More About: Persona , Sona

By their words shall ye know them...
2007-05-29 19:48:00
The only thing worth taking seriously on the letters page in this week's Glossop Chronicle was a little nugget buried in the otherwise standard bleating of a pro-bypass supporter:"The Longdendale route needs modernising and that is a plain fact and it also needs linking to the M1"Of course, the A628 is already linked to the M1 (via Junction 37). But this is clearly an expression for something else entirely - the wish for a motorway to be built in the near future. It seems some people are not only greedy, but also can't wait. These (barely) latent plans can only strengthen the will of those against the road and reveal to those naive enough to think the construction of a bypass will end our traffic problems, or quell the calls for further construction from certain people.
More About: Words

Money talks, bullshit walks...
2007-05-23 22:27:00
A little snippet from last week's Glossop Chronicle:Store signs may be here to stayTesco looks like keeping the signs it erected without advertisement consent at their Glossop store. High peak Development Control Committee is poised to let the supermarket giants keep them.If the company gets the go ahead however, it will be a blow to Councillor Ivan Bell. The Old Glossop Independent claims they on the edge of a conservation area and "out of keeping". The two red, white and blue gantry signs, double sided and externally illuminated, are next to the petrol station and adjacent to the Wren Nest Road store's car park.Council officials say they are not on listed buildings or in the conservation area. And as such are signs normally expected at a large supermarket and are not out of keeping with the general street scene. Do we really need a point-by-point rebuttal? Words fail me (and Ivan Bell contradicts himself again).
More About: Money , Bullshit , Money Talks , Walk , Walks

Public Inquiry Premonitions...
2007-05-23 22:08:00
Today's Guardian carried an interesting item on the progress on the Thames Gateway Bridge Public Inquiry.The assistant Inspector at this PI is John Watson. It seems that despite the fact that the Inspector has yet to issue his report, and the Secretary of State yet to make a decision subsequent to that, Transport for London can't wait, and are putting tenders out already (Cue press releases to the appropriate publications and much excitement, particularly here).Welcome to the world of Design, Build, Finance & Operate (DBFO). The battle lines drawn in the 90s are being drawn again.It seems that days after Ruth Kelly's announcement that the government intends in future not to consider Public Inquiries for 'infrastructure projects' and thereby tear up the 1947 planning act, those without any illusions about how things work anyway can't contain their glee.You can expect similar developments about the bypass machinations to be reported here, as and when they arise.
More About: Public Inquiry , Premonition

Email feed subscribers have vanished!
2007-05-23 21:57:00
I don't know what happened, but you've all vanished!You can resubscribe by using the form in the sidebar. Or if you use an rss reader, copy and pastethis feed - http://feeds.feedburner.com/StopTheA57/a6 28Bypass - into your reader.
More About: Email , Feed , Subscriber , Subs , Scribe