Potholes at busy junction will be "patched" up after apparent council U-turn

A busy junction scarred by twenty potholes is to be "patched up" after an apparent council U-turn. The Manchester Evening News reported in an opinion article yesterday that crossroads in the middle of Whitefield were dangerously damaged.

The location is the junction of Bury New Road, Church Lane, and Stanley Road through which tens of thousands of vehicles pass every day. While new road signage for cyclists has been installed at the bottom of Church Lane, a cluster of craters ten yards away remain.

Earlier this week Bury Council issued a statement to the M.E.N. which said: "Whilst this section (Church Lane/Bury New Road) is not currently included in our HIS3/CRSTS funding, it will be monitored, as we do with all of the borough’s network and considered for any future funding that is available."

But Councillor Alan Quinn, Bury Council's cabinet member for the environment, climate change and operations, said in a statement today: "We plan to complete over 200m2 of carriageway patching at this junction overnight on 29th April 2024.

"We were notified by TfGM of their proposals for major works to the Metrolink tunnel that runs beneath this junction in early 2021. This junction was therefore not considered for resurfacing due to the potential for the carriageway surface to be opened up by TfGM as part of their works. TfGM’s works were not completed until March 2024. In other words, TfGM could have ended up digging the carriageway we had just resurfaced.

"The resurfacing and road marking work on Church Lane was carried out by TfGM at their own expense in order to reinstate following their works to the tunnel following lobbying from Labour councillor Liz Fitzgerald.

"The carriageway surfacing material used when the junction of