Highways Agency - Safe roads, Reliable journeys, Informed travellers

Update July 09

In March 2009 The Highways Agency withdrew from the adjourned Mottram-Tintwistle bypass Public Inquiry- see Scheme History for details.

The decision had been taken after the Regional Leaders Forum, 4NW, informed the Department for Transport that after assessing its priorities for funding from the Regional Funding Allocation it wants to delay the proposed start of the scheme by at least four years, until 2016/17. 

The decision also comes in view of the extended period of time between the publication of the draft proposals for the scheme in 2007 and the earliest date at which the Inquiry might be reconvened.  It is important that all parties to the Inquiry have a fair opportunity to understand and test the evidence base for the scheme given that the traffic model, environmental statement and cost estimate will have changed since 2007. The additional delay to the scheme will now require further amendments to be made to the traffic model, environmental statement and cost estimate.

Work on the scheme had initially been planned to start in 2012, subject to the completion of statutory processes.

As a consequence of this decision, the Secretary of State for Transport and the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government on 23 July 2009 withdrew all draft Orders and Notices previously published and cancelled the Public Inquiry.

No decision has yet been taken on how or when the scheme might now be taken forward.

Project and Scheme History

The A57/A628 links the Greater Manchester conurbation with Sheffield and South Yorkshire. Where the A57/A628 passes through the villages of Mottram, Hollingworth and Tintwistle there are several junctions causing long delays for traffic, there is on-street parking, making the road narrow for the large numbers of heavy goods vehicles using the route, and together with steep gradients these make conditions difficult for residents, pedestrians and all road users.

The proposed bypass will address the issues within the villages by removing a significant volume of traffic from the existing route.

Following earlier investigations to provide a bypass, the scheme was restored to the road programme in 1989 and following a public consultation process a preferred route was selected in October 1993. After subsequent reviews by the government work was suspended in 1996. In July 1998 the new government published the results of its own review in "A New Deal for Trunk Roads" and included the bypass as a scheme to be progressed through the preparatory stages.

The Highways Agency's submission to the Regional Planning bodies (North West, East Midlands, Yorkshire and Humberside) in November 2002 concluded that there were no realistic alternatives to a bypass of the villages to solve the problems that existed. In April 2003 the bypass entered the Targetted Programme of Improvements (TPI) - this is now known as the Programme of Major Schemes.

As a bypass proposal in isolation could also have the effect of increasing the attractiveness of the whole route, proposals are also being put in place to discourage road users switching to the A57/A628/A616 corridor from other cross - Pennine routes. This is to provide an equitable balance between the problems in the villages and the impacts of traffic on the Peak District National Park.

The Highways Agency appointed Mowlem PLC under the Highways Agency's Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) initiative, to take the scheme forward. This allows for detailed planning work to be carried out while the scheme is taken through the statutory procedures.

On 31st January 2006 The Secretary of State published the proposals in the form of Draft Orders. The published Orders included proposals to;

• Bypass sections of the A57 and A628 passing through the villages of Mottram, Hollingworth and Tintwistle within the Metropolitan Borough of Tameside and the County of Derbyshire. The bypassed sections are between the M67 eastern Terminal Roundabout at Hattersley and Townhead Farm on the east side of Tintwistle over a distance of approximately 5 kilometres [Draft Line Order];
• Provide route restraint measures on the bypass and at Flouch;
  • Provide for a length of the A57 and the A628 that is to be superseded by the bypass, to cease to be a trunk road [Draft Detrunking Order];
• Provide for the stopping up of existing highways and private means of access, to improve and alter existing highways and to construct new highways and accesses that may be necessary for the construction of the new bypass and the route restraint measures at Flouch [Draft Side Roads Orders];
• Compulsorily purchase land and rights required for the construction of the scheme including essential mitigation works [Draft Compulsory Purchase Order].

The Government has, for the first time, given regions a say in decision-making about transport schemes that affect them at regional and local levels. The Mottram to Tintwistle Bypass is one of those schemes that is considered at a regional level. The North West Regional Assembly presented advice to Ministers in January 2006 and provided a revised sequencing of priority schemes in June 2006. On 6th July 2006 The Secretary of State for Transport responded to this advice and confirmed that funding provision should be made for the A628 Mottram -Hollingworth-Tintwistle bypass beyond 2010/11. Accordingly, the Highways Agency will continue to progress the scheme through the statutory procedures so that it is ready to start works as soon as funding is available within the Regional Funding Allocation.

The change to the proposed timing of construction and funding for the project required a review of the published Environmental Statement and its re publication together with the associated draft Orders. Revised traffic modelling was undertaken to represent the new opening (2015) year for the scheme and the incorporation of additional route restraint measures. The Secretary of State therefore published the revised draft Orders and Environmental Statement on 9th February 2007.

The publication of the revised draft Orders allowed interested parties to examine the revised proposals and to offer comments in the form of support, objections or other representations. The period for these comments ended on 30 March 2007. Further letters of objection and support were received during the Objection period.

Following the end of the Objection period the Highways Agency issued a letter to all parties who have provided comments on the original and republished proposals. This confirmed the intention to hold a Public Inquiry commencing on 26 June 2007.

On 27 April 2007 the Highways Agency published its Statement of Case.

A Pre Inquiry Meeting was held on 1 May 2007 at Stalybridge Civic Hall and the Public Inquiry commenced at 10 am on 26 June also at Stalybridge Civic Hall, Trinity Street, Stalybridge, Cheshire, SK15 2BN.

After the discovery of a number of inconsistencies within the traffic forecasts prepared by the Highways Agency's consultants the Public Inquiry was adjourned. The further discovery of more inconsistencies led to a number of further adjournments.  These findings meant that an adjustment was required to the traffic model.

Whilst carrying out the corrections to the traffic model it has been decided to incorporate an updated version of TEMPRO,version 5.3 which was issued in October 2006 and to incorporate revised National Traffic Model growth information which was issued in October 2007.

After a further adjournment to assess the impact of an anomaly with the Highways Agency evidence which affected the traffic model for the scheme, the Public Inquiry reconvened on 6th November 2007. A further adjournment took place until 18th December after the Project Leader confirmed further errors had been found in the consultant's traffic forecast information.

The Public Inquiry was adjourned on 18th December 2007 and formally closed on the 23 July 2009 for the reasons given in the update.