Tuesday, 7 February 2023 14:21

By Charlotte Green, Local Democracy Reporter @CharGreenLDR

The junction of West Street and Cheapside in Oldham. Image: Google Maps.

A scheme to develop an enhanced cycling and walking route in the heart of Oldham town centre has received more than £2 million in funding.

The Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) has agreed to fully approve a project to improve walking, wheeling and cycling infrastructure between Oldham West Street and Cheapside bus stations, by the Civic Centre.

The scheme which forms part of the council’s ‘Accessible Oldham’ project and which will cost £2.144m, is to be funded from the Mayor’s Challenge Fund cycling and walking programme.

It will also see the access to the leisure and education facilities on Rochdale Road and King Street, including the Oldham Leisure Centre, made better for non-drivers.

New improvements include widened footpaths, segregated cycle paths and a new bicycle parking hub.

According to the local authority it could also involved re-routing buses away from West Street to create a ‘traffic-free zone’.

It forms part of Oldham’s council ambition to be the greenest borough in Greater Manchester, and make the authority carbon neutral by 2025, and the whole borough by 2030.

The report to the region’s combined authority states that the scheme, which has been developed and delivered through Greater Manchester’s Active Travel Capital Programme, will be subject to ‘detailed local engagement and consultation’ to ensure that the needs of all users are considered in producing designs which ‘provide equity of access’.

The Mayor’s Challenge Fund is being used to deliver the first phase of the Bee Active Network, which is the walking, wheeling and cycling element of the wider Bee Network, which aims to transform Greater Manchester’s transport system.