Uppermill Parking Consultation Coming Up Soon
One of the signs in the museum car park giving details of the restrictions.
The promised consultation on the parking restrictions in Uppermill will take place during October.
Cllr Royce Franklin, who chairs the Saddleworth and Lees Traffic and Transport group, updated his fellow parish councillors with the news during Monday night’s regular meeting at Uppermill Civic Hall.
The review was pledged following the introduction of the time limits by Oldham Council in February. Restrictions of two and three hours were brought in on most village car parks in an attempt to prevent some drivers from hogging spaces for days at a time, and to increase the turnover of shoppers and tourists visiting Uppermill.
There’s been a mixed response, with some people pointing to the increased number of free spaces in the village car parks, but others concerned about whether that has also led to a drop-off in trade for local shops. Residents of Lee Street and Court Street in particular have expressed frustration that their streets are now being effectively used by drivers as car parks, now that all-day parking is no longer allowed at most of the official ones.
Many of the arguments were aired at a public meeting staged by the Parish Council back in July, and you can read a Saddleworth News report of that event here.
A similar review is already taking place in Royton, where time limits were also introduced. It’s not exactly clear what form the review will take or precisely how local people can get involved, so watch this space for more details.
Also during Monday’s meeting, parish councillors endorsed various recommendations made by the transport group. They include the reconfiguring of the parking bays and the removal of the bins at the museum car park, the re-lining of the Smithy Lane car park, and the imposition of new restrictions on Uppermill Square, including no parking at all on market days.
Those proposals will now go before Thursday night’s meeting of the Saddleworth and Lees District Partnership.
A train passes the site of the old Diggle Station on the Huddersfield Line.
Meanwhile, Cllr Franklin also filled his fellow councillors in on developments in local rail travel. He said he was concerned at one idea which has been suggested, which would see stopping services on the Huddersfield Line stop less frequently after the end of the current rail franchise in 2014.
Under the idea, one stopping service an hour would call at Slaithwaite and Marsden only, with another only stopping at Greenfield and Mossley, in effect breaking the rail link between the villages on either side of the Pennines.
Cllr Franklin, a member of the Stalybridge Huddersfield Rail Users Group, said members of the group were contacting local MPs to stress their opposition.
He also revealed that Greenfield-based borough councillor and transport expert Richard Knowles would soon be meeting Transport Minister Theresa Villiers and the Chair of Transport for Greater Manchester to discuss the issue.
(Editor’s note: I wasn’t able to attend Monday’s meeting because I was babysitting, but Cllr Franklin has passed on the above details of what took place, so many thanks to him)
Author: Jude Gidney - Editor
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