Golborne Road/Bolton Road junction - reply to queries

In reply to questions from residents which I have forwarded to the Engineering Services about the proposed change to the Bolton Road/Golborne Road junction I have received the following reply. If you would like to contact the Engineering Services Department directly with your comments about this proposed change you can e-mail on S.Dawber@wiganmbc.gov.uk

The proposed improvements to the junction of Golborne Road / Bolton Road in Ashton are designed to reduce road collisions

The build out will reduce the radius of the existing kerb and reduce vehicle speeds exiting Golborne Road.

The foliage will reduce visibility slightly on approach, too much visibility can result in drivers looking towards the oncoming traffic from the right and the driver may not be paying attention to what's happening in front of him. This can result in rear shunts. Also if the driver spots a gap in the traffic from a distance he is likely to speed up to make the gap exiting the junction faster that they should. This is typical behaviour at junctions like this and can easily be observed at the road side. By reducing visibility to an appropriate distance it can encourage drivers to slow down / stop at the junction and give way as they should. In this case we need to approach the Church and find suitable foliage / screen that would do the job that they are happy to live with and isn't obtrusive. We have not yet spoke to the church about these proposals.

The pedestrian island will reduce entry speeds to the junction and also assist pedestrians to cross this junction.

Again this proposal is subject to change.

Wigan Lift Programme

A reader has asked me what our current campaign Ashton Forward is hoping to achieve for Ashton in the way of medical facilities with regard to the LIFT programme. To give people an idea of what we hope to achieve I have copied below information from the Ashton Leigh and Wigan web page. More details and pictures of the existing projects can be obtained from:

http://www.alwpct.nhs.uk/Health%20Developments/LIFT/LIFT.asp

Wigan’s LIFT Company, Foundation for Life (FfL), was established in December 2003 as a result of a Department of Health initiative to develop Public/Private Partnerships to deliver high quality facilities in community settings. FfL’s shareholders include the PCT, Partnerships for Health (Department of Health) and Eric Wright Group (Private Sector Partners).Since January 2004, FfL has built 6 LIFT facilities with a capital value of almost £40million. They are:

1. Ormerod House, Atherton
2. Claire House, Lower Ince
3. Chandler House, Worsley Mesnes
4. Kid Glove House, Golborne
5. Boston House, Wigan
6. Platt Bridge Community Health Centre

The range of services provided varies in each facility but include the following:

1. Primary Care Services – in every facility. Cover over 60,000 patients
2. Community services – in all but Kidglove House. Services include District Nursing, Health Visiting, Counselling, Dietetics, Speech & Language Therapy, Family Planning, Midwifery, Podiatry
3. Child Health Services
4. Children’s Hearing Services in 4 facilities*
5. Physiotherapy departments in 4 facilities*
6. Hydrotherapy at Platt Bridge*
7. Integrated Therapy Services for Children with Complex Needs*
8. Diabetic Retinopathy in Kidglove House*
9. Long Term Condition Services in Boston House*
10. Renal Dialysis Unit in Boston House*
11. Wheelchair Service*
12. Adult Community Mental Health teams in Claire and Boston House
13. Minor Surgery Suites in 4 sites*
14. Pharmacy in all but Kidglove House
15. PCT’s Education and Learning Centre in Chandler House*

* Borough-wide services

There are plans to provide Sexual Health Services and Independent Sector diagnostic services from Claire House within the next year. Wherever possible, the LIFT developments have used regenerated land to help redevelop previously deprived areas of the Borough. As well as providing high quality facilities that meet all current standards on energy conservation, health and safety etc, there has been a deliberate intention to design landmark buildings that add value to the local area.

Traffic safety proposals on Bolton Road

It was good to receive an e-mail from the Council last week regarding safety measures that they intend to take on Bolton Road. Myself, Ian McCartney and Ann Rampling have been campaigning for years now to make this road safer and it seems that we are in sight of achieving our aims - especially in relation to improved pedestrian crossing of Bolton Road

The council is proposing to improve the junction of Bolton Road / Byrn Road in Ashton - see above sketch plan. Their proposals are to introduce a pedestrian crossing to the existing layout of the junction and install anti-skid on Bolton Road. Road markings are also to be renewed on Bryn Road to improve clarity and help drivers position themselves in the correct lane. This scheme forms part of the Capital Programme 08/09 and its' aim is to reduce road casualties.However we are disappointed that the pedestrian crossing lower down Bolton Road will not be upgraded to a puffin crossing and we will be still be campaigning for that improvement.

Over a recent 36 month period an accident investigation revealed 7 collisions resulting in 9 casualties. 5 collisions was a result of rear shunts on both approaches on Bolton Road. There has also been a pedestrian casualty crossing Bolton Road near to the proposed crossing.

A pedestrian count survey was also carried out at this junction and revealed a high pedestrian flow at the location of the proposed crossing.

I would stress that these are only proposals at the moment and the more support I get for these plans the better it will be. All comments should be in to the Council by 1st July 2008.

Traffic safety on Bolton Road - part two

The second part of these safety measures is the improvement of the markings and visibility at the Golborne Road / Bolton Road junction as seen in the sketch map above. The measures that are proposed are as follows:
1. The building of a pedestrian island at the top of Golborne Road
2. Red reflective surfaces along Bolton Road and Golborne Road as marked on the map
3. The planting of trees in the church grounds as indicated on the map
4. Reduction of the junction radius on Golborne Road

Once again all comments should be in to the Council by July 1st.

Gerard Street - latest news

I have just received this piece of information from Wigan Council.

As of Monday 16th June, for a period of 5 weeks, Gerard Street will become a temporary one-way street only permitting travel from the Wigan Road / Bolton Road / Princess Street junction towards the Warrington Road / Liverpool Road / Bryn Street junction. Bryn Street and Wigan Road will remain two way. This traffic management system will be in place from 9.30am until 4pm (i.e. during the off-peak period).

I have asked for this information to be put in the various notice boards in Ashton and Bryn and that the residents who live in the town centre be informed of this by letter.

Brown bins

I was asked after a previous post about the future of the brown bin scheme and I have the following statement from Wigan Council

We started a trial of brown bins to recycle cans, plastics and glass to approximately 10% of the borough (13,000 properties).

We have within our Waste Strategy that all properties within the borough, will be receiving this service by the end of 2009, subject to funding. As you will be aware, all our kerbside recycling schemes can only be expanded and/or introduced when sufficient enough funding is available.

So as yet there is no detail but I am hoping for more news by the end of the year.

Football coaching

I detail below a list of football coaching sessions that are being held in the area and which are being part funded by the local town Centre Safety group. The sessions are for 8 to 14 year olds.

Monday 6-8pm at Ashton Leisure Centre. Multi sports and football sessions
Wednesday 6-7pm at Ashton Leisure Centre (Indoors). Multi sports and football sessions

These sessions will be changing for the summer to the below:-

From Monday 7th July until the end of September - 6-8pm Grange Park in Bryn (multi-sports and football)
From Wednesday 9th until the end of September - July 6-8pm Jubilee Park (multi-sports and football)

For more detail you can contact :

Helen Browne
Sports Development Officer
Wigan Leisure & Culture Trust
Sports Development Unit
Robin Park Arena, Loire Drive
Wigan, WN5 0UH
Tel - 01942 828510; Fax - 01942 404980
Email - h.browne@wlct.org
www.wlct.org; www.wbsc.org.

The 600 bus route

Several residents have contacted me since the diversions from caused by roadworks on Old Road have caused the 600 bus to run along Wigan Road. Many have told me that they welcome this change to the route especially if they have to visit the doctors or clinic.

For those who can remember the 601 bus used to run along Wigan Road alternately with the 600 which ran along Old Road. Now residents are asking me why a similar bus route cannot be re-instated now. I do not think that they want to totally re-route the 600 along Wigan Road - they just want the 601 to run more frequently.

I have contacted First Buses with this suggestion and will report back when I hear from them.